Power Ranking MVPs of 2012 NBA Playoffs

With one NBA conference final series just finished and another nearing its conclusion, it's time to start taking a look at who has been the MVP of the playoffs.  

As we all know, every year has a regular season MVP. There is also an MVP award given to the best player in the NBA Finals.

However, there is not an MVP award that accounts for the entire postseason, unless you want to say that the Finals MVP is essentially that. Sometimes a player will do more in the series leading up to the finals, but one of his teammates will step up late and win the Finals MVP.

There really isn’t a “postseason MVP,” but if there were, this is who would be in the running for it. 

10. Roy Hibbert

Roy Hibbert was the biggest reason that the Indiana Pacers came oh-so-close to ousting the Miami Heat in the second round.

Even though his team fell short in the series, it says a lot about the underdog Pacers that they were able to push the Heat as hard as they did.

Indiana outscored Miami by 4.5 points per 100 possessions while Hibbert was on the court during the postseason. They were outscored by 36.5 points per 100 possessions when he was not.

That’s a difference of 41 points per 100 possessions. If that’s not enough to get Hibbert on the list, I don't know what is. 

9. Paul Pierce

Paul Pierce is averaging 19.4 points per game and has scored 22.2 points per 36 minutes in the clutch. To put it simply, he’s come up with some big plays in big moments, hitting shots when the Celtics needed a basket most. 

They aren’t always the shots that win games, but they are the shots that turn games around. Pierce has been a steady force throughout the playoffs and is a large part of the reason the Celtics have gotten as far as they have…and could get farther. 

8. Russell Westbrook

More often than not, fans get so fixated on what Russell Westbrook does wrong that they ignore what he does right. 

Westbrook keys the Oklahoma City offense far more than he gets credited for, and he is one of the most explosive players in the league driving to the hoop. The only player even in a conversation with him is Derrick Rose.

He may not ever be defined as a point guard or a shooting guard, but he is the second-biggest reason the Thunder are where they are right now. 

7. Chris Paul

Does anyone want to argue that without Chris Paul, the Clippers don’t make the second round? How about the playoffs? How about a winning record even?

But how good was Paul in the postseason? In complete honesty, he was good but not great, scoring 17.6 points and dishing 7.9 assists per game. But this is a case where stats don’t mean everything.

Chris Paul is the main reason the Clippers fought back to beat the Grizzlies in their first-round series. Making it to the second round with Vinny Del Negro as his head coach speaks volumes about his leadership. 

6. Dwyane Wade

Dwyane Wade has had some big games and some not-so-big games, but one thing is for certain: He’s been bigger in the second half than the first.

So far this postseason, he’s averaged 15.4 points in the second half versus 9.5 points in the first half. He’s also shot lights out in the third and fourth quarters, hitting 54 percent of his shots. 

While it’s admirable that Wade plays so well in the second half, an MVP has to be dominant over the course of an entire game. 

5. Kevin Garnett

The best line of the postseason came on the radio today, and I don’t even know who to credit. It was along the lines of, “The Miami Heat are so unpopular they are making Kevin Garnett a sympathetic figure again.”

Here is the bottom line with Garnett: He’s been huge for the Celtics defense all postseason, especially against the Heat.

However, Garnett’s defensive rating is a mere 88.3 this postseason. Furthermore, the Celtics are outscored by 2.6 points while Garnett is on the bench, compared to being outscored 7.7 points per 100 possessions while he is on the court (via NBA.com).

4. Tony Parker

For those of you who aren’t aware of why Tony Parker started getting so much notoriety during the regular season, I hope you’ve been paying attention in the postseason.

Two arguments that make me want to bang my head on the wall are “the Spurs are boring” and “Parker is not an MVP candidate.” The two arguments aren’t as disparate as you might think. The reason the Spurs aren’t boring anymore is that they are Parker’s team now, and truthfully, they have been the last two years.

Parker is the driving force behind their success, and he averaged 19.5 points and 6.4 assists per game during the postseason. A large portion of those numbers came against two of the top point guards in the league, as he went head-to-head with Chris Paul in the second round and Russell Westbrook in the third.

Much like he was for the regular season MVP award, Parker is a valid candidate for postseason MVP.

3. LeBron James

Statistically, LeBron James is always up for MVP consideration.

In the playoffs, James is averaging 29.9 points per game, 9.1 rebounds and five assists. Those numbers have only been matched four times in NBA history.

Once, it was done by Oscar Robertson. The other three times, it’s been LeBron James. Maybe his postseason disappearing act is just a bit overstated.

If he plays two huge games and carries the Heat to the finals, he will silence a lot (but not all) of the haters. 

2. Rajon Rondo

Here's a stat for you: Rajon Rondo has 203 assists this postseason. The next most is Chris Paul, who has 87. 

Let me give this even more perspective. Rondo has more assists than LeBron James, Tony Parker and Kevin Garnett combined.

And it’s not like he’s not scoring, either. He is having a surreal postseason and is no longer the fourth piece of the "Big Four." In fact, it would not be a stretch to call him the leader of the Celtics team. 

There isn’t a player in the NBA that I personally dislike as much as Rondo. But I also respect him. 

1. Kevin Durant

Do you need a reason for Kevin Durant to be here? How about 16 of them, as in the 16 straight points he dropped in the fourth quarter to lead the Thunder over the Spurs in Game 4?

How about the 37 points per 36 minutes he’s scoring in the clutch this postseason?

How about the 60 percent he’s shooting in crunch time from the field?

How about the game-winner he sank against the Mavericks?

How about the game-winner he sank against the Lakers?

There might be some controversy over whether LeBron James is clutch, but there sure isn’t any over whether Durant is.