Mavericks Thunder Summary

Best Player in the Series: James Harden. The month of March was basically our first look at Harden freed from the constraints of Jeff Green getting shots. In that month, he averaged 13.6 ppg on 15 shots (0.90 PPS). That's not good, but not terrible. In this series? 14.4 ppg on 13.6 shots (1.06 PPS). That level of efficiency is as ridiculous as it is unsustainable over a full regular season. How unsustainable? Well, Dirk couldn't do it this year. I think his play-making abilities were not similarly overblown; he's been a natural and willing passer since his ASU days. But for Thunder fans expecting him to produce like this every night for 82 games as a scorer next year, please temper expectations. For his sake, and your own.

Worst Player in the Series: Russell Westbrook. I hate to pile on him, because he's taken too much criticism. But, there are a few things that should be pointed out. First, during the regular season, Westbrook was the 5th worst point per shot scorer among players taking 18 shots per game, at 0.82 points per shot on 24.6 shots per game; in this series, he shot it to the tune of 0.77 points per shot... on over 30 shots per game. Second, during the season, he averaged 8.2 assists versus 3.9 turnovers; in this series, 4.8 assists versus 4.8 turnovers. His teammates may say he was playing the same game he has all season, but it's just not true. He shot more (and with less efficiency), passed less, and turned the ball over more. This is by no means the player he will always be, but for 5 games, Russell and KD looked like what Bron and Wade were supposed to look like in the playoffs: two ball dominant scorers who tolerated sharing the ball instead of working effectively together.

Jerome James Award: Jose Juan Barea. Even for guys that come off the bench, there are two sides to an NBA court: offense and defense. And if you're completely useless on one end, a good opponent will likely offset everything you do on the other end. And that's what happened to everybody's favorite "oh, man, he's not bigger or more athletic than I am, I could play in the NBA" player (incidentally, he's stronger than you are, he's way more athletic, and you couldn't play in the NBA if they said you didn't have to dribble). Consider: in 4 of the 5 games he played in, OKC outscored the Mavs while he was on the floor (-2, -12, -7, -8). In the other game (Game 3), the two teams tied in his 14 minutes. This was not the Laker series for Mr. Barea. And against whichever stifling defense comes out of the back-alley brawl that is the Eastern Conference finals, I think he could fare even worse.