Spurs-Lakers Summary

As the 2013 playoff series unfold, the old box score stats may not tell the whole story. These summaries will look at each series from the perspective of plus/minus. With an adjustment for minutes played, Oden's Knee will identify the players that stood out in each series, for good and bad reasons alike.

Best Plus Minus: Tony Parker (+48 in 127 minutes). There's nothing to say here that I didn't already say about a week and a half ago.

Worst Plus Minus: Pau Gasol (-49 in 146 minutes). Part of what happened to Gasol this year was terrible fit in the D'Antoni scheme, and part of it could be the beginning of an age-related decline that eventually happens to all players that don't have access to a blood spinner. As with everything in this Laker season, we're going to have to wait until next year to find out, because this year told us very little. I say he's still capable of All-NBA production at the center spot, if some coach would just find it in his heart to play him there.

Most Valuable Player: Metta World Peace (Net +71 in 84 minutes). Several years ago, Peace was one of a few guys in the league who could score 20 and stop a 20 ppg scorer on a regular basis. A few years ago, Peace was a defensive Swiss army knife at the two, three, and four spot, even if he was more strength and guile than footspeed. Next year, he's 33 years old, coming off a torn meniscus and sporting inconsistent shooting proficiency from deep. I don't know what his next role is, but on the court, he's been one of my favorite players in the league for about a decade.

Least Valuable Player: Danny Green (Net -63 in 93 minutes). Given the level of outright dominance by the Spurs, I'll spare Green any type of brow-beating. He knows his role on the team, and nothing that happened in this series has changed that role going forward.

Jerome James Award: Injuries. To be honest, I didn't watch enough of this series to have an opinion. And, that's mostly because the Lakers were forced, by injury, to start Andrew Goudelock and Darius Morris in a playoff game. Spurs fans can certainly appreciate how cheated fans feel when a key player goes down before a playoff run even starts - between Parker, Ginobli, and Duncan, they've had their fair share in the last few years. We can all agree that when guys like Kobe Bryant, Russell Westbrook, David Lee, and Dwyane Wade miss playoff games (all All-Stars this year), none of us are better off.