Thunder Spurs Summary

Best Player: James Harden (Individual +38). His ascension up the ranks of the NBA's shooting guards continues. The comparisons to Manu Ginobli at the beginning of the series seemed entirely premature, given Manu's 3 championship rings and an non-U.S. Olympic gold medal. Well, Harden is 4 wins away from starting his own resume. If you try to list the NBA's best shooting guards at the beginning of the season, it probably looked like: Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Manu Ginobli, Eric Gordon, James Harden. Looking forward over the next decade, and crossing the first three names off the list, does that mean James Harden will soon be the 2nd best shooting guard in the league?

Worst Player: Kawhi Leonard (Individual -24). In the last series, I tried to temper enthusiasm for both Leonard and Green. Unfortunately, Leonard was one of the people tasked with trying to stop Kevin Durant in the 4th quarter. Regardless of this series, he's a reliable 3-pointer and one dribble pull-up away from being extremely valuable to any team in the league.

Most Valuable Player: Tim Duncan (Net +34). For the last three years, every postseason conversation about the Spurs seemed to include a consensus that Tim Duncan was losing effectiveness rapidly. Whether by matchups or miracles (probably a little of both), his production in the middle of the Spurs' small lineups was impressive. As always, the development of a solid sidekick in the middle will say a lot about the Spurs' seemingly endless championship hopes.

Least Valuable Player: Kendrick Perkins (Net -22). Either it was Tony Parker on the pick-and-roll, or single covering Tim Duncan in the post down the stretch of Games 5 and 6. Regardless, this was not the series for Perkins. And, really, with Boston and Miami looming, will he be taken off the court again in the Finals due to the matchups?

Reverse Jerome James Award: Russell Westbrook. Let's be honest, most people believe that Russell Westbrook is the Achilles heel of the Thunder. Get in his head, watch him shoot his team out of the game. Tony Parker even attempted some pre-series gamesmanship by calling Westbrook "the head of the snake." Turns out, Westbrook didn't have a stellar series shooting the ball (0.81 PPS) or making plays (7.3 assist versus 3.3 turnovers). He also had a better plus/minus than Durant in 4 out of 6 games. While the whole world gets exasperated with every missed shot, maybe everyone should take a cue from Durant: he seems to understand better than we do that Westbrook's impact has a lot more to do with his shooting percentage.