Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award
The Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award , formerly just the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award , has been presented to the best player in the finals series ( MVP ) of the National Basketball Association since 1969 . In 2009, NBA Commissioner David Stern decided to name the award after Hall of Famer Bill Russell .
Voting process
The award is given immediately after the decisive game in the series, so the jury's choice is often spontaneous and depends more on the last game than on the entire final series. The best example of this is the award in 1980 to Magic Johnson by the Los Angeles Lakers , who only showed an outstanding performance in the sixth game of the 1980 NBA Finals, while Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the outstanding actor in the five previous games .
It is also an unwritten law when awarding the Finals MVP Award that only one player from the winning team may receive the award (the only exception to this rule was the award to Jerry West , 1969). This led (albeit rarely) to the fact that an MVP was “forced” to be sought in the winning team, while the best player in the final series came from the losing team. The best example of this are the 2004 NBA Finals, in which Chauncey Billups was awarded by the Detroit Pistons , although Shaquille O'Neal of the defeated Los Angeles Lakers was the best player of the series.
Award winners
Most of the Finals MVP Awards were won by Michael Jordan with a total of six (1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998). The youngest winners were Magic Johnson , aged 20 years and 10 months (1980) and Kawhi Leonard, aged 22 years and 11 months (2014). The oldest winners were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at 38 years and 2 months (1985) and Michael Jordan at 35 years and 4 months (1998).
The first European player to be elected Finals MVP was Frenchman Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs , who was able to lead his team to the NBA title in the 2006/07 season .
The first German player to be elected to the Finals MVP was Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks , who was able to lead his team to the title in the 2010/11 season .
Andre Iguodala is the first MVP who was not in the starting five in every game in the final series .
Web links
- basketball-reference.com: NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award winner (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ NBA commissioner David Stern named Finals MVP Award after Bill Russell
- ↑ focus.de: NBA Final: Golden States Iguodala elected MVP Article from June 17, 2015
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