With the NBA finals approaching in a couple of days it’s time to look back at the conference finals. The Toronto Raptors and Golden State Warriors will face off in the finals, while the Milwaukee Bucks and Portland Trail Blazers were sent packing. Before diving into the matchup tomorrow, we’ll be looking at the best team from the conference finals.
Guard: Kyle Lowry
It’s good to say that we can finally leave the “Playoff Lowry” nickname behind us. After his heavy struggles in the postseason in previous years and the first game of this year it looked like the Lowry would disappoint again, but that wasn’t the case. Ever since game 1 against the Orlando Magic Lowry has absolutely balled out.
In this series alone Lowry averaged over 19 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, doing so while shooting 51% from the floor and 47% from deep. Keep in mind that his direct defender was Eric Bledsoe, who, whether you like it or not, was a first team all-defense player this year. He also held Bledsoe to just 10 points per game on 29% shooting and 17% from 3-point range.
Lowry certainly stepped up on both sides of the floor, and now he faces off against the best point guard in the league in Stephen Curry. It will certainly be interesting to see if he can keep up his play on the biggest stage of professional basketball.
Guard: Stephen Curry
The best player in the conference finals was definitely Stephen Curry. With Kevin Durant out, Steph reminded us of what he was capable of. He scored 36 in game 1 and 3, while he dropped 37 in the 2 other games. He shot 47% and 43% from the floor and 3 respectively, and as if that wasn’t enough, he also had over 8 rebounds and 7 assists per game.
Steph outplayed Damian Lillard in the point guard battle and now has an excellent chance of winning his first finals MVP and his 4th ring. He already showed that the Warriors would be alright even if KD left, as the Warriors rallied back from 17+-point deficits in games 2 through to 4 as they swept the Blazers, even with Klay Thompson not being at his highest level.
Forward: Kawhi Leonard
The best player throughout the playoffs by far. As the only player to be on this list for the 3rd time, The Klaw was once again unconscious this series, as he averaged close to 30 points and 10 boards while also providing 4 assists, 2 steals and a block. His shooting percentages were down (44% and 34%), but that didn’t prevent Kawhi from dominating on both sides of the floor.
Kawhi will be relieved that he finally got help from a lot of role players this series. Fred Van Vleet and Norman Powell were huge sparks off the bench for the Raptors this series, after they had disappointed all postseason long. The Raptors came back from a 2-0 deficit against the team with the best record in the league and have Kawhi to thank for it. This is the first time that Toronto will go to the NBA finals, and it happened in Leonard’s first season with the franchise. LeBron James not being in the Eastern conference might have something to do with it as well…
Forward: Draymond Green
Not a lot of people expected to see this Draymond Green in the conference finals. He looked (and was) slimmer, faster and overall more dominant than previous years. Dray was once again the Swiss Army knife for Steve Kerr’s side, as he did a little bit of everything. He posted averages of around 17 points, 12 boards, 9 dimes, 2 steals and 3 blocks. Flat-out dominant.
His presence on both sides of the floor was impressive, as he as well looked liberated without Kevin Durant on the floor. His contribution is way more significant when the ball is constantly moving, and Draymond showed that he is an underrated contributor to the Warriors’ success, as they go to their 5th straight finals.
Center: Meyers Leonard
This is the most controversial one by far. Leonard started just 2 games, played in 3 and the Blazers lost in 4. But his last game and the sub-par performances from all the other centers led us to Meyers Leonard. He averaged 18 points and 7 rebounds on 60% shooting and 50% from 3.
His last game in particular was very impressive, as he dropped 30 points and grabbed 12 board, going 12 for 16 from the field and 5 for 8 from deep. Being swept would normally not get him anywhere, but Leonard was very impressive, and finally showed his true potential. It’s also great to see him bounce back from mental health struggles and also speaking up about his issues. His next season could certainly be his breakout season?
Courtside 