Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Let’s rank the candidates for 2024 NBA Finals MVP by what they’ve shown so far in the series.
No team in the history of the NBA Finals has ever blown a 3-0 series lead. While the Boston Celtics know they still need to get one more win to secure the 2024 NBA championship, they have to be feeling pretty great about the position they’re in.
The Celtics were the best team in the NBA from the very start of the season, and they have the chance to put the finishing touches on one of the most dominant championship runs the league has ever seen. If you count the regular season and playoffs, Boston is 79-20 this season entering Game 4 of the 2024 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. There hasn’t been a sweep in the NBA Finals since the 2018 Golden State Warriors took four straight games off the Cleveland Cavaliers, but this Celtics team looks primed to do it.
Most NBA champions are led by an all-time great individual player. The great thing about these Celtics is their impending championship has been very much a team effort. Boston’s five-man starting unit has been so cohesive at both ends of the floor all season. Al Horford has a case as the league’s most valuable sixth man, and even Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, and Luke Kornet have made valuable contributions during these Finals. The Celtics have barely needed Kristaps Porzingis to turn this series into a rout.
Here’s how we would rank Boston’s candidates for NBA Finals MVP right now.
3. Jayson Tatum
It’s easy to see this as a controversial selection even for the No. 3 spot. Tatum is and has been Boston’s best player for years — a 26-year-old superstar who has been named First-Team All-NBA the last three seasons. Tatum’s play in these Finals hasn’t exactly been a coronation, though. He’s shot the ball terribly from the field vs. the Mavs from the very start, and through three games has an awful 46.6 percent true shooting percentage. To put it another way, he’s needed 64 field goal attempts to score 65 points in the series.
Still, we’re putting Tatum ahead of Derrick White and Al Horford because he’s been the straw that stirs the drink for Boston. Tatum has been committed to driving the ball to the basket for most of the series, and that has set Boston’s offensive death machine into motion. He’s also been a major factor as a rebounder and on the defensive end, where he’s spent plenty of time guarding Dallas’ centers so he can switch onto Luka Doncic at a moment’s notice.
Tatum was teetering on going bozo mode in the fourth quarter of Game 3, but his teammates made enough shots late to bail him out. While this has been far from his best series, Boston has still needed him to play huge minutes and a big role to win.
2. Jrue Holiday
It’s hard to split the difference on who has been more impactful between Holiday and Derrick White, mostly because they work so great together. White made a star leap this season and continues to be amazing in the NBA Finals: he leads Boston with 11 made three-pointers, he’s been terrific defensively, and he made one of the biggest plays of the series with his chasedown block on PJ Washington.
I’m still giving Holiday the slight edge. Holiday put up a masterpiece in Game 2 with 26 points, 11 rebounds, and three assists on 11-of-14 shooting from the floor. While his offense waned in the other two games of the series, he’s been bringing it defensively from the opening tip of the Finals. His ability to make life miserable for both Doncic and Kyrie Irving has been a saving grace for Boston all series. Holiday is so smart, so strong, and so disciplined defensively, and he’s proving it on the game’s biggest stage against some of the best scorers alive.
Holiday’s 69.6 true shooting percentage so far in the NBA Finals is stunning — especially for a player who has a reputation for struggling offensively in the playoffs. That hasn’t been the case this year, and it has the Celtics on the doorstep of a championship.
1. Jaylen Brown
Jason Kidd might have been trying to split the Celtics’ locker room when he called Jaylen Brown the best player on Boston after Game 1. While Tatum is still this team’s primary star, Brown’s constant improvement has made him much closer to option 1b than No. 2.
Brown just gets better every season, and the whole world is seeing it in the NBA Finals. His left hand isn’t as much of a handicap anymore, and he’s become more attentive in guarding off the ball. Brown also seems to have added more craft to his downhill drives, his hanging finishes, and even his passing reads. His pull-up jumper in the final minute of Game 3 iced the victory and assured Boston wasn’t going to meltdown in epic fashion to let Dallas back into the series.
Being able to do this at a moment’s notice is pretty nice, too:
There’s so much to respect about Brown’s steady improvement over the years. With one more good game in a Celtics win, it feels like he’ll be 2024 NBA Finals MVP.
