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With just a few seeding games left before the NBA playoffs, the league announced the finalists for every major award. Unsurprisingly, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James was among the three finalists for the MVP award. Most people seem to think Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks is the front runner to win the award but there are those who favor LeBron.
Golden State Warriors All-Star Draymond Green has had a lot of fierce battles with LeBron but he thinks he’s going to win the MVP this year.
“I’m going with LeBron [James],” Green said on TNT’s NBA Tip-Off Saturday. “I think the year LeBron has had and resurrecting that Lakers franchise, I think that has to stand for something.”
From a stats perspective, Giannis had the better season. However, when you take into account that LeBron helped take the Lakers from being one of the worst teams in the NBA to one of the best, it’s hard not to accept that he has a case for MVP. It should be a tight race between Giannis and LeBron.
Anthony Davis Is a Finalist for DPOY
Anthony Davis won’t be getting MVP votes but he does have a real shot at winning Defensive Player of the Year. He’s one of three finalists alongside Giannis and Utah Jazz big man Rudy Gobert. The “Greek Freak” has a real shot of stealing major awards from both Lakers stars this year.
Davis has been excellent but similar to the MVP race, Giannis is the favorite. Prior to the NBA reboot, Lakers head coach Frank Vogel explained why he thinks LeBron and Davis should win awards.
“In that weekend, LeBron took the toughest assignment in both games,” Vogel said, per Sports Illustrated. “He guarded Kawhi [Leonard] in the Clippers game and did a great job with him there. And then he guarded Giannis [Antetokounmpo] in the Bucks game when AD was in foul trouble and did a great job in those two situations. I feel like after what he’s able to do on the defensive end, combined with the dominance that he exhibits with not just scoring the ball, assisting the ball, but orchestrating our offense, leading us on the break, I think that weekend was probably a great indicator or a great measuring stick to those two awards.”
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Playoffs Are Around the Corner
After months of waiting, the NBA playoffs have almost arrived. The Lakers have already locked up the top seed in the Western Conference and appear to just be cruising through the seeding games. They’ve put up some very bad performances during the NBA reboot but should be able to figure things out.
It becoming clearer and clearer that the Lakers do have serious holes on their roster but as long as they have Davis and LeBron, they have a chance to beat any team. LeBron hasn’t looked himself in these seeding games but he should be able to get back to form.
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