Best Player in the Series: Manu Ginobli. Probably the best player for the Spurs for the last several years, Ginobli fought through his Game 1-sidelining elbow injury and showed up on both ends of the floor. Consistently one of the best clutch players in the NBA, it looks like he just didn't have enough help in this series. Looking at the #2 and #3 players on the list, the Spurs brought knives to a gunfight when it came to frontcourt players. But in the arena of plus/minus, he definitely won his matchup against...
Worst Player in the Series / Jerome James Award: Tony Allen. The only double award winner of the 1st round. As the world got a front row seat for all his histrionics throughout the series in highlight packages, and heard about his prowess as a perimeter defender, let's look at how he actually did on defense in this series:
Ginobli in the regular season: 17.4 ppg on 17.9 shots (0.975 PPS)
Ginobli against Memphis: 20.6 ppg on 22.2 shots (0.927 PPS)
Ginobli was a less efficient scorer in the series. Why? His free throw percentage went from 87% to 78%. Pretty sure Tony Allen wasn't contesting those. But I'm sure he'll say he's the reason anyway, because why let facts get in the way of being right? And if you care, all Tony Allen's shooting percentages were down versus his season numbers, yet he still saw his way clear to jacking up more shots. Lockdown defense, or look-at-me antics with no substance? Think it's more of the latter. Anyone believe that Kevin Durant's shooting efficiency is going down in the next series because Tony's guarding him? Didn't think so. Keep showing us the front of your jersey with pride, Tony... because the name on the front is who won the series, not the name on the back.
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