We all need to agree LeBron should have won the 2015 NBA Finals MVP
It is time to collectively acknowledge that LeBron James should have won the 2015 NBA Finals MVP over Andre Iguodala (Iggy). Yes, the Golden State Warriors won the series, 4-2, but it cannot be disputed that LeBron James was more valuable for the NBA Finals and the Cavs than Iggy (or Steph or Klay) was to the Warriors.
LeBron led the series in: minutes played, points, rebounds, assists, and free throws - both from a total and per game perspective. Let’s not forget that Kyrie BROKE HIS KNEECAP at the end of regulation in Game 1. Kevin Love, who was having great season, was injured earlier in the playoffs. This left LeBron, Tristian Thompson, JR Smith, Shumpert, Mozgov, and Delay - a team that without LeBron would at the bottom of the league. Instead they were up 2-1 vs. the Warriors in the NBA Finals.
Even down 2-1, it was inevitable that the Warriors would win the series. They were the better team and had yet to fully unleash the death lineup. Looking for a spark, Steve Kerr did what any coach would have done - he put Iggy in the starting lineup. With this change, the Warriors blew out the Cavs in Game 4 and won the next two games, thus the series.
Traditional thinking Finals MVP voters look at it like this: The Cavs did not win the series so therefore LeBron can’t be more valuable than someone on the Warriors. Since Andre Iguodala was the catalyst for winning the series, he is the most valuable player of the series.
Yes, Iggy scored 20+ points in two of the three wins, one of them a blowout. But Steph and Klay each had big games in the series. No one on their team was solely the reason they won, and that is why they were so good.
Yes, Iggy played great defense. Yes, in Game 4, his first game as a starter, he held Lebron to 20 points.
LeBron then adjusted and had 40 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists in Game 5.
Think about it this way, if we swapped Iggy for another above average 3-and-D player, would the series outcome be different?
All else being equal (Kyrie and Love are still injured), if we swapped Iggy for Trevor Ariza, the Warriors would have still won. Maybe in seven games instead of six, but they still would have won.
Now do that for LeBron. Replace him with Trevor Ariza, on a Cavs team without Kyrie and Kevin Love. The Warriors would have won in 4 and Steph would have been resting in the fourth quarter.
Over the course of six games, LeBron averaged 35+ points, 13+ rebounds and 8+ assists. Those are better stats than a lot of Finals MVPs, including Steph (2021-22), Durant (2017-18), and LeBron himself the very next year (2015-16).
If the award must go to a player on the winning team, just say that.
Don’t pretend that Andre Iguodala was more valuable to his team than LeBron was to his. Or that he impacted the outcome of the game more, or outplayed LeBron James in the 2015 NBA Finals. His team won, that’s it.
While I knew it was inevitable that the Warriors would win the series, Game 6 went down to the wire and in the chaos of the final minutes, NBA journalists and analysts were rushed to vote for the Finals MVP. It was clear LeBron was the best player in the game (again) even though his team lost. Neither Steph or Klay, each contending for Finals MVP, played particularly well in Game 6. Iggy did score 25 points… so by default he won Finals MVP by a vote of 7-4.
Let’s admit it, there are only two ways to look at this: Either LeBron should have won the 2015 Finals MVP or it’s time to admit that the Finals MVP must come from the winning team.
