We got a fun Game 7, and here are the players who made their mark the past two weeks

The playoffs just haven’t felt the same since that thrilling Game 6 between the Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors. Blowouts, unfortunately, littered the conference finals, especially in the east. The Dallas Mavericks only got thoroughly walloped in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, but it felt like they only had a chance to win a game for about 14 total game minutes outside of their Game 4 victory.

The Miami Heat and Boston Celtics traded blowouts throughout most of the series until Game 6 and 7. A furious Celtics comeback in Game 6 was stiff armed by Jimmy Butler, and Kyle Lowry making the biggest shot that he has made in a Miami Heat uniform. Then in Game 7, the Heat made an 11-0 run and for a couple of commercial breaks it felt like the Celtics could blow a series in which they were clearly the better team.

These conference finals weren’t huge on drama, but had plenty of great basketball to admire. At any moment, a player could steal the show by doing anything. Rebounding, scoring, defense, playmaking, it was all there from somebody in those 12 games. Fortunately for Adam Silver though, it ended with the best teams winning and the matchup that should make these NBA Finals the highest rated since 2018.

Here are the five players worthy — regardless of position —to be admired the most, and stay tuned for who gets the honor of having his name on my non-existent Conference Finals MVP trophy.

Honestly, he doesn’t make this list without Games 6 and 7. He started out the Eastern Conference Finals on a tear, but the dreaded knee tendinitis came for him. It cost him a game against the Milwaukee Bucks in the previous round, and kept him out of the second half of Game 3 and almost let the Celtics back into that game after being down by 25 points in the second quarter. In Games 4 and 5, both Heat losses, Butler was an abysmal combined 7-32 from the field. He looked gassed and so did his team.

Then in Game 6 in Boston, he had his LeBron death stare game. He totaled 47 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and four steals. Butler put up those numbers along with a 55.2/50/100 shooting splits — 11/11 from the free throw line. It was his and-1 with just over two minutes remaining that gave the Heat back the lead and they wouldn’t let it go again.

Sure he missed that above the break 3-pointer on a hero shot, but he deserved to take it. He had another big game in him with 35 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Butler was truly special when his knee allowed him to be so.

This year is Wiggins third trip to the postseason as a professional. In 2018, the Houston Rockets knocked the Minnesota Timberwolves out of the first round in five games, and last season the Golden State Warriors lost both play-in tournament games. Not very impressive for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.

The 2021-22 season has been a career year for Wiggins. He was an NBA All-Star starter — ridiculous that he received that honor but good for him — and has been strong all during the playoffs. However, in the west finals, the player who since college has vanished from the court for stretches as if someone cut him out of the game and pasted him back later, was the Warriors most active player.

Luka Dončić shot 34 percent from the field in Western Conference Finals, and a lot of that was due to Wiggins’ defense. The spectacular athlete that went reverse 360 through the legs in the 2014 McDonald’s All-American slam dunk contest, showed that athleticism on the NBA’s biggest stage. He swarmed Dončić after being a disappointment on defense for much of his career, and took it to Dončić on offense, making him work. And then there was the play that pretty much ended the series in Game 3. The dunk that was heard from Canada to Slovenia. The perfect exclamation point on the best basketball of his career.

The only player that has been selected in all three rounds, and that is because he has been the best player this postseason. He’s averaging 27 points per game on 44.6/37.5/83.3 shooting splits and is averaging a career high — both regular season and postseason — in assists at 5.9. He is seeing the floor better than he ever has, and combine that with him using his extensive playoff experience to his advantage — three Eastern Conference Finals appearances in five seasons — Tatum has Larry O’Brien gold in his sights.

The Heat certainly forced the Celtics into some good-old-fashioned, slow, grinding; every possession is life or death Eastern Conference basketball. These are two of the best defensive teams in the league and they both showed it. Part of the reason that Tatum was so great in this series was everything he did outside of putting the ball in the basket. His tenacious defense would almost make someone think Tatum is upset about not making any of the all-defensive teams.

He was more than willing to let the sometimes ball-handling challenged Jaylen Brown take the scoring load in a couple of wins, including an ugly 93-80 Game 5 win to go up 3-2. But in that win, Tatum’s 12 rebounds and nine assists helped keep the Celtics’ offense humming in a game where 3-point shooting was freshman college dorm bathroom after a Saturday night ugly. With several Game 7s under his belt, Tatum answered that challenge just like he did against the Bucks. He went 4-7 from three, ran the offense, and was instrumental in building that Celtics’ lead that was just a bit too much for the Heat to overtake. The Warriors had better be ready for him.

Shout out to Kevon Looney. The man rebounded his ass off against the Mavericks and also did his part to give Luka problems on defense. However, Al Horford, in his 15th NBA season, just averaged 37 minutes per game in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Celtics have been playing basketball every other day since May 7. He missed Game 1, the Celtics worst loss of the series — 11 points and the game wasn’t that close. But when he came back, his play was a significant reason that the Heat offense struggled mightily most of the series.

Go back to that shot Jimmy Butler took to try to win the series with the Heat down with under 25 seconds to play. He pushed the ball up the court and who was in front of him, Horford. It was an even 4-on-4 coming down the court, but Butler still wanted to take the winning shot with a defender and the entire opposing team off balance.

Well, they weren’t. Jaylen Brown was in great position to help on drive with Victor Oladipo at the elbow, and if Butler sees the double quickly and makes the pass you live with Oladipo and an elbow three, especially knowing you’re getting the ball back. What happened is Horford sat in a basketball clinic perfect defensive stance and contested the shot. it was a miss just like it was 73 percent of the time Horford guarded him. The soon to be 36-year old also contested 29 more shots than any other Celtic in the series, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.

His 23.8 points per game on 44.4/43.9/83.4 shooting splits would be worth a raise for most players, but for him those numbers together are unspectacular. But that doesn’t do justice to what Curry does on the basketball court for the Warriors. He goes out there with a target on his back every night. He uses it to make opposing defenses follow him until they’re run into the ground and the Mavericks were no different.

As good as their defense has been, when Dončić and Brunson are on the court together, it forces a lot of scrambling especially when the task is to corral Curry. That scrambling helps Draymond Green direct the offense better, it gives Klay Thompson more room to get his shot going, it helps Andrew Wiggins be a threat, and even helps Kevon Looney average a double double.

Then on the other side of the ball, Curry is a feisty defender. He can’t alter a game on that side of the floor like Green, but unlike Dončić, it’s not easy to simply hunt Curry on pick and rolls. He knows that his defense is strong behind him so he simply has to put up a strong fight and rotate. This while spending much of his night, at 34 years old, on offense in motion. However, when you need him to score, he closes out Game 2 when Dončić and Brunson have been fantastic and are making one final push. Then the following game, he has his best offensive performance of the series with 31 points on 50/50/100 shooting splits and throws in 11 assists to bury the Mavs at home and go up 3-0. He’s a legend folks.

Scottie’s been looking for some love from us since he started hawking that bourbon. He’s just like anyone, he wants to be appreciated. Pip was the second-best player on one of the greatest dynasties in the history of team sports, and some very strong Eastern Conference Final performances were crucial for the Chicago Bulls. So here you go Scottie, Steve Knox cares if don’t nobody else care.

The winner of the inaugural Pip MVP, is Jayson Tatum. He continues to grow, series by series, and passes every test. Sure he didn’t score 35 to lift the Celtics in Game 7, but he was steady, and he was steady all series. The Heat have an outstanding defense, and Tatum did not rely on those fall-away 20 footers that come when he leans a little too hard into mamba mentality. Instead he was cool, calm, and collected. Even when the Celtics crumbled in those last two minutes, he made all the right plays.

Tatum was recently named NBA All-First team for the first time in his career. He has shown himself to be worthy of that honor throughout the playoffs, and in a grind it out, fist-fight for points Eastern Conference Finals, Tatum gave the Celtics what they needed when they needed it, and played like a top-five NBA player.