NBA Finals: 5 Players Who Could Win the 2012 NBA Finals MVP Trophy

First impressions mean everything in life, but last impressions mean everything in sports.  When you look at the history books, it doesn't tell you the how behind the journey.  It tells you what team won the championship and who was said team's best player (MVP).  

Scottie Pippen is the most underrated player in league history because his name is buried behind Michael Jordan's 11 total MVP trophies.  Having easily discernible paper stats does everything for legacies.   

And when it comes to the playoffs, Finals MVP means everything.  Does LeBron James still get full credit if Dwyane Wade carries him to his first championship?  No, because we equate those three letters with ownership.  If Wade wins the Finals MVP, it's his championship.

As we embark on the Conference Finals, who is most likely to "own" his team's championship and carve out his place in history?

Continue to find out...

(Note: All odds credit goes out to scoresandodds.com)

5. Manu Ginobili

Vegas Odds: 10-1

Perhaps I'm being overly influenced by his 26-point masterpiece in the Spurs Game 1 101-98 victory over the Thunder Sunday night, but I'm starting to think Ginobili is the key to San Antonio's championship hopes.  When Ginobili is in his "I'm going to slice into the lane whether you like it or not and I'm going to make you look stupid while doing it" pocket, the Spurs transform into the most exciting team since the 2004-05 Phoenix Suns.

At 34 years old, Ginobili has to pick and choose his spots.  But if those spots are as brilliant as his Game 1 performance, he could single-handedly swing two or three games and walk away with the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award, which might be the longest name in sports trophy history.

4. Dwyane Wade

Vegas Odds:  10-1

If I were writing this article a week ago, Wade would have ranked somewhere slightly above  Louis Amundson.  But Wade's scoring explosion beginning in the second half of Game 4 against Indiana (33 PPG on 61.5 percent shooting in Games 4-6) serves as a reminder that at any point the switch can go off that transforms Wade into the best player in the world.  

Miami seems destined for a second straight Finals appearance, and if LeBron decides to turn on the shrinkage switch, there's only one person talented enough to drop an iconic performance and take the MVP reigns...and it's sure as hell not Mike Miller.

3. Tony Parker

Vegas Odds:  2-1

The Spurs might have dominated the first two rounds, but the team is going to need a better performance from Parker if they want to hoist the Larry O'Brien trophy.  After coming out scorching in the first round against Utah, the Spurs regular season MVP has shot just 35.5 percent over the team's last six games.  

With Russell Westbrook super-glued to his side in the Western Conference Finals and Rajon Rondo looming if the Celtics overtake the Heat in the East, the Spurs might need to rely even more on Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili.

On the other hand, if the Spurs draw the Heat in the Finals, foul-prone Mario Chalmers and rookie Norris Cole lie in wait to be decimated.

2. Kevin Durant

Vegas Odds:  4-1

If you you're confident that Oklahoma City is winning the NBA championship, then do me a favor.  Stop reading this column right now and bet a KD/OKC parlay.  Vegas is insulting you into taking their money.  This potential windfall is exactly like betting the classic quarterback/Super Bowl champion parlay...only with better odds because there won't be some random fourth round safety who returns an interception for a touchdown to ruin your happiness in this scenario.

You could try to make a "Russell Westbrook goes off" argument, but there is less than a snowball's chance in hell anyone but Durant wins the Finals MVP if the Thunder win the championship.  Reason: Durant's bad games are still 20-point performances that leave the team in a position to win if Westbrook and James Harden have better than average nights.  Westbrook's bad games can torpedo the entire team's effort.

1. LeBron James

Vegas Odds: 9-5

After watching LeBron's virtuoso 40-18-9 performance in Game 4 of the Indiana series, is there even a shred of doubt about who the world's best player is?

He's the league's most proficient volume scorer and has carried Miami through the first two rounds essentially playing two-on-five with Dwyane Wade.  

With Chris Bosh absent, every member of the Heat's supporting cast has been exposed as either geriatric or just plain ineffective.  I don't know who robbed Shane Battier of his competency, but he seems to be aging in dog years.

If the Miami Heat don't win the championship season, the brunt of the scorn will once again fall at James' footsteps—and rightfully so.  That's the responsibility you take on as one of eight players in NBA history to win three regular season MVPs.  But just know that the brunt of the basketball responsibility falls at the front office's inability to surround the Big Three with a competent supporting cast.