Neck and neck: Just how close was Finals MVP voting?

[Betallsports]

So the Cleveland Cavaliers aren't NBA champions, and, despite averaging nearly a triple-double for the series, LeBron James isn’t the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player.


James, playing without injured stars Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, finished Tuesday night’s Game 6 one assist shy of what would have been a record third triple-double in these Finals. Yet despite turning in perhaps the greatest statistical series in Finals history, James walks away with neither the Larry O’Brien Trophy nor the Bill Russell Award.


Instead, Warriors guard Andre Iguodala, a man who did not start a game all season until midway through the Finals, who was charged with guarding James much of the series and thus was the one being torched by The King, and who hit less than 36 percent of his free throws ended up with both.


"For us, it's really fitting that the award went to Andre," Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told the media after the game, alluding to Iguodala sacrificing his starting job before the season and how that factored into the team's title.


The debate over James’ MVP-worthiness began as soon as Cleveland dropped Game 4, and is likely to rage for many years.
But just how close was the voting? NBA Media released the voting totals shortly after announcing the winner. There were 11 voters. Here are the voters and their selections:


That’s Iguodala 7, James 4.


Now, here is how James’ and Iguodala’s stats stack up:


And for those unable to see the tweet with the voting breakdown, here it is:


Team Iguodala
Sam Amick, USA Today
Ken Berger, CBSSports.com
Hubie Brown, ESPN Radio
Jason Lloyd, Akron Beacon Journal
Rusty Simmons, San Francisco Chronicle
Marc Spears, Yahoo! Sports
Marc Stein, ESPN.com


Team James
Steve Aschburner, NBA.com
Howard Beck, Bleacher Report
Zach Lowe, Grantland
Jeff Van Gundy, ABC TV

 

[shdw01]

I would complain that ESPN/ABC is getting 3 votes....but they aren't voting together anyways so I guess there is no merit to that complaint.

I don't mind Iguodala getting MVP. Good feel good story, and he helped contain Lebron, and he won all 3 games he started.

but.....

to say he is more valuable than Lebron is nuts
to say he contained Lebron is kinda funny too....he contained Lebron to an avg of 35+ pts, 10+ reb and 9+ asst

 

[TheComputerGroup]

If I had to pick who the MVP of the series would be, its Curry.......but if I had to pick between Iggy & Lebron, its no contest, Lebron easily wins the MVP trophy even tho he was on the losing team.

I still don't understand why Iggy received it......

 

[RunLeeRun]

When Iguodala was in the game, LeBron James shot 38.1 percent from the field, scoring 26 points per 36 minutes with 2.9 turnovers. With Iguodala on the bench, James shot 44 percent, averaging 35 points per 36 minutes with 2.2 turnovers. With Iguodala as the primary defender, opponents shot 37.2 percent overall, and he gave up free throws the same percentage of time (10.8 percent) that he forced a turnover, via Synergy Sports. Those are steller defensive numbers.
This makes two consecutive Finals in which LeBron James' primary defender has won MVP (Kawhi Leonard in 2014). What that says about James, and about our perception of him, speaks volumes.

 

[camy]

All I know is I had Curry to win series MVP in the last leg of a five team parlay and I did not sleep well last night.

 

[texansfan]

Lebron lost, you don't get sprinkles for 2nd place.

 

[TheComputerGroup]

Lebron lost, you don't get sprinkles for 2nd place.

Do you think Iggy deserved it more than Curry? I thought Curry was the ran away MVP winner.......

 

[shdw01]

very tricky situation, curry best on winning team, iggy the reason the winning team won, lebron best overall

 

[Greenbacks]

I`m not for one giving it to a losing player.....So Iggy or Curry was good in my book.

 

[Betallsports]

Does GS win if Curry doesn't play ?

Iggy might have defended Lebron Great, but if there was no curry, no winny

 

[CHOPTALK]

I think this proves LJ would have won the MVP on the losing team if it went 7.

Im blown away Curry did not get a single vote

 

[texansfan]

Do you think Iggy deserved it more than Curry? I thought Curry was the ran away MVP winner.......

I think Curry was a little off in the Finals compared to how he shot the ball during the rest of the season. I'm just happy that Lebron didn't win it.

 

[JakeT.]

I would complain that ESPN/ABC is getting 3 votes....but they aren't voting together anyways so I guess there is no merit to that complaint.

I don't mind Iguodala getting MVP. Good feel good story, and he helped contain Lebron, and he won all 3 games he started.

but.....

to say he is more valuable than Lebron is nuts
to say he contained Lebron is kinda funny too....he contained Lebron to an avg of 35+ pts, 10+ reb and 9+ asst

LeBron also shot 10% below his career average and just .6% better than every other Cavs players combined. He was not that good. Just shot a ton.

Guy was super valuable to his team because everyone else was hurt but that's not really the way they give out the MVP. Jimmy Butler probably deserved regular season MVP over everyone under that criteria.

 

[PatsFan1283]

All I know is I had Curry to win series MVP in the last leg of a five team parlay and I did not sleep well last night.

Yeah I'd call that a bad beat and think the voters overthought this one. Zach Lowe is as smart as it gets but Curry is GS offense. Makes everything go.

Tough to get too deep into it but if you're gonna say Iguodala is deserving then you can start to make a case for Green because no way that smallball lineup works with any other 6'7 player in the league besides him. That is what flipped the series.