Best Player: Lebron James (Individual +53). If only there was anything important to be gained from a 1st round performance. But, for the best player in the league, there just isn't.
Worst Player: Carmelo Anthony (Individual -54). Most people would have guessed that, going into the series, the outcome would be the Heat in a short series, with a possible outburst from Melo to break the boredom. Well, Melo got 28 a game, scoring 0.84 points per shot, but managed to lead his team to victory with a 41 point Game 4.
Most Valuable Player: Mike Bibby (Net +25). Most of this number is coming from Game 3, which was 84% garbage time. Remember 10 years ago, when Mike Bibby was the closer on the most entertaining team in basketball (the '02 Kings), hitting dagger jumpers in the Western Conference finals? Seems like forever ago, and watching him now, it really was forever ago.
Least Valuable Player: Mike Miller (Net -19). Every championship team usually has a non-star glue guy that provides big moments along the way. After the Big 3 signed in the summer of 2010, Miller was supposed to be that guy. I'd argue that Miller's contract (5 years, $30mm) might have been a worse signing than Bosh's quasi-max deal at this point. Bosh at least had the Bulls series last year.
Jerome James Award: Shane Battier. This was supposed to be a key, savvy addition by the Heat in the offseason. This was the benefit of being the favorite: cherry picking the best free agent who would easily outperform his salary. There's just one part that doesn't fit: he's too old to guard both wings, relegating him to small forwards. But he already plays with arguably the best small forward defender in the NBA as a teammate. That, combined with Battier's pedestrian shooting from 3, and I'm not sure why this is the missing piece over a true center.
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