SAN ANTONIO — It is quite possible come Sunday night we will have a new NBA champion and later this week there will be a big parade down the River Walk.
If the Spurs do close it out Sunday night in Game 5, who is the favorite to be Finals MVP?
Depends. If things end Sunday it will go to one of a handful of Spurs, likely the one that has the best Game 5.
Here are the five candidates going into Game 5.
• Kawhi Leonard. He has been spectacular in Games 3 and 4 — he has 49 points and 18 rebounds in those two games, he’s shot 17-of-25, and by the way guarded LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in those games just about as well as could be asked. He has exploded the last two games and so have the Spurs. The one knock on his candidacy is he had a quiet first two games, if he has a quiet Game 5 the trophy likely goes elsewhere. Just to be clear, he doesn’t really care if he wins it or not.
• Tim Duncan. He has been just rock solid all series averaging 15.8 points on 58 percent shooting while grabbing 10.5 rebounds a game. In addition, he has been fantastic defensively protecting the paint, challenging shots without fouling. As always with Duncan, we are just taking him for granted. He won the Finals MVP in 1999, if he won it again 15 years later that would be a ridiculous record.
• Tony Parker. He is the engine of the Spurs offense, averaging 18.5 points a game on 50.9 percent shooting plus dishing out 5.3 assists per game. He keeps the pace up and his buckets early has forced the defense to move to him, and with that opened up everything for everyone else. He has hit some tough, contested shots all series when the Spurs needed it. We tend to take him for granted, like Duncan, but he’s been great.
• Boris Diaw. When he is in the game, the Spurs offense goes from good to “damn, nobody can stop that.” He gets the second most touches in the offense (behind Parker) and he always makes the smart play — he can shoot the three, put the ball on the floor and is a dangerous, smart passer. The Spurs offense scores a ridiculous 125 points per 100 possessions when he is on the court. Since Gregg Popovich moved him into the starting lineup the Spurs have rolled to easy wins.
• LeBron James. He’s not going to win it, nor should he, especially if the Heat are knocked out in five games. But if you had a three-slot ballot he should be in one of those slots (for the record it’s not, it’s a one-person ballot). He has simply been the best player in this series — 27.5 points a game on 60 percent shooting, shooting 61 percent from three, grabbing 7.5 rebounds and dishing out 3.5 assists a night. You can’t ask more of him, he just isn’t getting enough help.
