Early-round stars get overlooked

Chris Paul has been perhaps the biggest star of the playoffs, but the Hornets probably would need to win the title for him to get "official" recognition. Greg Nelson/SI Steve Aschburner's Mailbag Submit a comment or question for Steve. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

Q: Who is your Most Valuable Player of the NBA playoffs so far?

A: It doesn't matter. There ain't no such thing.

The NBA designates an MVP after the 82nd game of everyone's season. It honors another MVP after the final four to seven games heading into summer. But it basically ignores three whole rounds of playoffs -- anywhere from four to 21 games, per qualifying team -- when it comes to assessing and commemorating individual players' contributions to the team good.

Yet year in and year out, some of the most impressive and electric performances occur between the third week of April and the end of May. We're only three weeks into it, and already there are a bunch of Ps who have been MV in one way or another.

There's New Orleans point guard Chris Paul, of course, who gets mentioned ahead of two-time MVP Steve Nash these days as best at their position. Heading into Game 5 of the Hornets' second-round series against San Antonio on Tuesday night, Paul has made his case as mythical postseason MVP the way he made a compelling case for the regular-season version of the award, pumping life into his team with 25.3 points per game, 11.0 assists, 4.7 rebounds, a 52.7 field-goal percentage and just 1.56 turnovers.

On the other side, there's Tony Parker, the Spurs' catalyst who averaged 29.6 points in the first-round ouster of Phoenix, scored a combined 52 points in Games 3 and 4 against New Orleans to reset that series and has manned up defensively against Paul lately, no longer getting Bruce Bowen to do his dirty work.

But wait, there are other mid-playoff studs, just as most postseasons give us heroes of one, two or three rounds. The Lakers' Kobe Bryant, save for his results in overtime in Game 4 on Sunday at Utah, has been at his playoff best, averaging 34.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 6.9 assists while shooting 49.2 percent. Orlando strong man Dwight Howard has carried the Magic with 19.4 points, 15.4 rebounds, a 58.6 accuracy rate and 3.4 blocked shots. In Cleveland, LeBron James posted such solid numbers in beating first-round fodder Washington again that his struggles as a shooter against Boston haven't spoiled them (25.4 points, 8.2 rebounds, 8.2 assists). Besides, that series is 2-2, with James and the Cavaliers throwing a real scare now into the league's most successful team from November to April.

Soon, though, only two teams will be left standing, and a number of stellar individual efforts will be all but forgotten. Not to get too hung up on numbers -- it always is better to advance ugly than to flame out brilliantly -- but six of the 2008 playoffs' top 10 in scoring average already are done (Tracy McGrady, Dirk Nowitzki, Allen Iverson, Chris Bosh, Amaré Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony). Of the other four -- Bryant, Parker, James, Paul -- two won't make it to the Finals.

Five of the top 10 in assists have been idled, with three of the other five -- Paul, Deron Williams, James, Parker or Bryant -- sure to be sitting out the final round. On the boards, four of the top 10 have been eliminated, with the other six spread across five teams. That means three or four of the top rebounders won't be eligible for any MVP recognition, either.

Consider, too, the rankings of the last two Finals MVPs. In 2007, Parker ended up 16th in playoff scoring and 11th in assists. The year before, Miami's Dwyane Wade was fourth in scoring and ninth in assists. They played their best when it counted most, the stakes and the pressure at their proverbial highest. But there were other guys who shined as brightly; they and their teams just didn't make it to the ultimate stage.

Look, I get it, when it comes to the mathematics of smaller sample sizes; Denver's Anthony has averaged 21.1 points across five postseasons, never missing the playoffs in his young career but never playing more than five games in any spring, either. And advancing round by round ought to be its own reward in a team sport anyway. These guys, after all, don't get paid -- in normal paycheck terms -- for the postseason, either.

All I'm saying is, there's a hole in the system, a gap between the MVP of 82 games and the MVP of the Finals into which some incredible feats of basketball fall.