Thunder-Mavericks Summary

The NBA playoffs are back in full swing, which means one thing: the return of the recaps that raise more questions than answers. A brief refresher from last year: the plus minus stats from every game are used to identify how players performed in the series.

Best Player: James Harden (Individual +32). In a change from last year, this is a category that has been added to each recap. Which player put up the best individual plus/minus number in the series? The answer is James Harden, and it's not even close. All the dimensions of his game were on full display in this series. How much of that was a product of a great matchup, and how much was his innate ability? We likely won't know until the 2nd round, when he gets defended by Afflalo/Brewer or Kobe/Barnes/World Peace.

Worst Player: Jason Terry (Individual -24). Last year, particularly in the Finals, Jason Terry placed a lot of pressure on his own shoulders, and then came through in a big way. Not so much this spring. Granted, in a series where Dallas seemed hopelessly overmatched, it's not odd that a guy who played so many minutes for a team that got swept wouldn't have a good plus/minus. Then again, JET was -34 in 144 minutes, while one of his teammates played 138 minutes and was +2 overall...

Most Valuable Player: Jason Kidd (Net +21). Most people have bought into the narrative that Jason Kidd exemplified all the flaws of the 2012 Mavericks: two steps slow, which no amount of experience would be able to overcome. Unfortunately for that theory, Jason Kidd was +2 in a series his team lost by 26, while a more athletic, defensively versatile guy like Shawn Marion was -13. As an impending free agent, there's probably a lot of teams that might benefit from his supposedly "over-the-hill" services.

Least Valuable Player: Thabo Sefolosha (Net -16). Thabo's best attribute for the Thunder is playing very solid perimeter defense on the other team's best scorer. Since the Mavericks don't really have that guy on their team, and Serge Ibaka drew the Dirk assignment (and did very well, I might add), Sefolosha didn't really bring a lot to the table that the Thunder needed. Much like Harden, though, this number might look different playing against guys like Kobe or Gallinari in the next round.

Jerome James Award: Dirk Nowitzki. In every playoff series last year, Dirk had a positive plus-minus, and his team was better with him on the court than off. Not so in this series. The Mavs may have thrown this whole season for Deron and Dwight Howard, and no one embodied that idea more than Dirk's beginning to the season. And in this series, no one could argue there was just something missing. Last year, we watched him score in every conceivable situation in crunch time. This year, we saw his team lose 4 close games in the 4th quarter. Being the leader means getting disproportionate credit and blame, and in the absence of another obvious scapegoat (I'm sure Kendrick Perkins will look worse later this spring), this is the most logical choice. The Finals MVP just got swept out of the playoffs by the same team he beat in 5 games last year. Enough said.