semi-sentient wrote:how in the world did Wes Unseld win the Finals MVP over Elvin Hayes? It'll be interesting to hear what went down there.
JordansBulls wrote:5. Elvin Hayes - Won NBA Title and carried worst team ever record wise to NBA Title and should have gotten Finals MVP.
http://webuns.chez-alice.fr/finals/1978.htm# - Still don't know how the hell Wes Unseld got Finals MVP. WTF
When you look at the numbers:
Wes Unseld: 9.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 52% FG, 7 turnovers, 39.1 mpg
Elvin Hayes: 20.7 points, 11.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 2 blocks, 48.0 FG%, 39.4 mpg
You wonder how Hayes didn't win. But I said before that Hayes was a bad teammate, and that played a factor, similar to Rick Barry not winning MVP in 1975.
Bob Ryan said, "he is one of the worst human beings that ever lived. I'm pleased to know that in 1978 Washington won that game with him on the bench. He fouled out and they put Kupchak in."
Phil Chenier said, "Unseld was our inspirational leader. His outlet passing and rebounding--he was always dependable. He would go for 40 or 46 minutes, setting picks, and doing all the little things you need done. He was the established leader of that team. He reinforced that leadership with his style of play and mannerisms on the court--and by age, too.""
Mitch Kupchak, said, "Unseld was the consummate team basketball player; his only objective was to win. Statistics were never ever important to him. You can't begin to imagine what he did to make his teajmmates better--set picks, made outlet passes, guarded the bigger center. He was the MVP of that series."
Hayes was a bad teammate, and people had nothing but good things to say about Unseld. Human nature being what it is, that matters. Additionally, there's the fact that Unseld was the career-long Bullet who had been there for 10 years, including when they were in Baltimore, and who turned the team around by 21 games his rookie year--which was a record at the time, and winning MVP. So once they finally won a championship, Finals MVP went to the long-time Bullet over Hayes, who'd only been there four years.
In 1987, Basketball statistical analyst Dave Heeren wrote,
Remember the Elvin Hayes incident? During the 1978 playoffs, the Championship series between Washington and Seattle reached the seventh game. Rick Barry, whose Golden State team had not qualified for the playoffs that year, was announcing that game and doing his usual candid job. He pointed out that one of the referees had a short temper and that he was especially apt to make hasty foul calls against Hayes, whom he did not like because Hayes did a lot of complaining about his calls.
Hayes, who had been the series' outstanding player to that point, picked up his fourth foul during the third quarter and argued before going to the bench. The same official whistled him for his fifth and sixth fouls in quick succession after he reentered the game early in the fourth quarter. Replays showed that Hayes had not committed either of the fouls. On one of them there had been no physical contact at all.
But Hayes was out of the game, and a vindictive referee could have deprived Washington of a league championship becaus the Bullets were ahead by 8 or 10 points when Hayes went out. Paced by Bob Dandridge, the Bullets did hold on to win. But Hayes was deprived of an award he wanted and deserved. Since he had not played during the closing minutes of the championship game, the championship series MVP trophy was given to Wes Unseld. Unseld, then in the twilight of his career, had produced little offense for the Bullets and had been victimized by Seattle center Marvin Webster for 30 points, or a basket more or less, in the final game.
Unseld played 45 minutes in the final game, and had 15 points, a team-high 9 rebounds and 6 assists. Hayes played 30 minutes, and had 12 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks. Since Hayes was on the bench when Washington won, that was also a factor in MVP going to Unseld. So there you go.
Some people have compared Unseld to Russell as far as intangibles he brought to the game and doing things to help his team win that didn't show up in the stat sheet. Only... while Russell is the one player in NBA history of whom it's most true that his contribution can't be quantified, you still had some things that showed up in the box score. The fact that only Chamberlain rebounded on his level showed on in the stat sheet. And Russell had some huge games when the team needed it, which showed up in the boxscore along with his usual non-statistical contribution.