Bob Myers Offers Strange NBA Finals MVP Pick For Celtics
The Celtics are two wins away from winning an NBA title, but there’s no clear consensus on who should win Finals MVP.
Boston on Sunday took a 2-0 series lead in the NBA Finals after beating the Dallas Mavericks, 105-98, at TD Garden. It was another complete team effort for Joe Mazzulla’s side with Derrick White making a key block, Jrue Holiday leading the team in scoring and Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown pacing the team throughout the game. Even Payton Pritchard earned a shoutout from his head coach after Game 2.
Tatum is the favorite to win NBA Finals MVP at +105 at FanDuel Sportsbook, and Brown is behind him at +185. However, the star duo haven’t put up otherworldly numbers to merit the award to outside observers.
ESPN analyst Bob Myers asked on “NBA Countdown” who should win Finals MVP. Holiday and Brown were brought up as answers, but the former Golden State Warriors general manager went outside the box.
“I’m going Brad Stevens,” Myers said on the ESPN postgame show. “I get it, but the team. You put a team together — Jrue Holiday might have been the best player in this game. The first game, it might have been Jaylen Brown. It might have been (Kristaps) Porzingis. That’s the advantage that this Celtics team has. What’d they play a B game (Sunday), a B-? It wasn’t great. They shot 10-for-39 from three. They won by seven, never in doubt.”
More Celtics
Myers admitted he was looking out for his fellow executives, and even Michael Wilbon admitted the argument could sway him. The ESPN analyst pointed out that past Celtics championship teams also were ensembles, which Stevens built last offseason. An executive has never won the award in NBA history.
Luka Doncic could be a possibility, but the only time a player from the losing team has won Finals MVP was Jerry West in 1969.
There’s still time for someone on the Celtics to make an impression and cement themselves as the clear favorite, which could be helped if Dallas can make it a series and avoid a sweep.