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Personally, I do not believe that Tatum deserved to win the award. At times during the series, he was scared to take on a 37-year-old PJ Tucker. If LeBron played the way Tatum did during the series, not only would he not have won the award, he would have taken on a lot of criticism. If you don't believe me, just take a look at the 2011 playoffs. LeBron got criticized heavily for putting up pretty much a similar statline as Tatum has so far during the 2022 playoffs.

2011 LeBron: ECF: 26/8/7 Overall: 23.7/8.4/5.9
2022 Tatum: ECF: 25/8/5.6 Overall: 27.0/6.7/5.9

I thought Horford deserved it more than he did.

Butler deserved it

Without really checking the stats, Butler felt like the better player, so no probably not. Though if it’s to be consistent with the way FMVP has been the past 50 years, then sure why not. They really need to start giving these awards to the better player. Billups over Shaq is probably the worst one the past 20 years.

PhiEaglesfan712 wrote:Personally, I do not believe that Tatum deserved to win the award. At times during the series, he was scared to take on a 37-year-old PJ Tucker. If LeBron played the way Tatum did during the series, not only would he not have won the award, he would have taken on a lot of criticism. If you don't believe me, just take a look at the 2011 playoffs. LeBron got criticized heavily for putting up pretty much a similar statline as Tatum has so far during the 2022 playoffs.

2011 LeBron: ECF: 26/8/7 Overall: 23.7/8.4/5.9
2022 Tatum: ECF: 25/8/5.6 Overall: 27.0/6.7/5.9

Agreed with the overall point, but LeBron didn't get criticized for the 2011 playoffs, just the 2011 Finals. He was actually beasting and was clutch as hell up to that point. Haters had a huge sigh of relief when he dropped the ball in those Finals.

Butler was the best player this series but I'd be surprised if they gave it to someone on the losing team. Among Celtics I do think Tatum was probably the best choice.

I think Horford was more impactful, but he missed a game which matters. I also think Butler was better, but he didn't win.

So Tatum wasn't a bad choice overall.

Butler quite clearly. Good series from Tatum though.

No Butler should have got it.

Butler may have been better than Tatum but not sufficiently better to deserve the MVP vote in a series he lost in my eyes. I think the spirit of the awards should make us put emphasis on actually winning the series (much more so than for POY voting) because ultimately, in a competitive setting, you want to publicly reward the team that wins and the players that contributed with such awards. It's different from us talking about ATG lists, where many of us are rightfully skeptical of placing too much emphasis on individual awards.

Butler lost. It’s a most VALUABLE player award. Tatum’s team won. Therefore he had more value.

I think Tatum deserved it as far as players on the winning team go. While Butler was great when healthy, G3, G4, and G5 kinda hurt his chances. Clearly Butler was the best player in the series when healthy but given the injury that severely limited his mid-series production and the fact that he lost, I think it's fair to go with Tatum.

TheSheriff wrote:Butler lost. It’s a most VALUABLE player award. Tatum’s team won. Therefore he had more value.

that is not how this works

If it works like Finals MVP where only the best on the winning team wins it then yes. If not Butler deserved it.

Butler and Tatum had comparable per game stats. Butler had the best individual games but those were offset by his hobbled performances. With the stats even, had Miami won the series, the meaningless award would have gone the other way.

What tipped the nod to Tatum is this:

1. His team won.

2. When on the floor, Tatum was +7.6 per game. Butler was -3.3.

TheSheriff wrote:Butler lost. It’s a most VALUABLE player award. Tatum’s team won. Therefore he had more value.

What?

TheSheriff wrote:Butler lost. It’s a most VALUABLE player award. Tatum’s team won. Therefore he had more value.

What? That... isn't how that works.

I preferred Tatums steadier performances, though I think it was very close overall with Jimmy.

I do think his team winning put the nail in the casket though, I'm only comfortable giving these types of awards to losing players when the gap is quite clear, which I don't think this was.

tsherkin wrote:

TheSheriff wrote:Butler lost. It’s a most VALUABLE player award. Tatum’s team won. Therefore he had more value.

What? That... isn't how that works.

Sure it is. Tatum’s team is playing in the finals. They would not be if he wasn’t on that team. Butler’s team is not playing in the finals, which is the same result as if he didn’t play. Therefore Butler, while impacting individual games, he did not have enough impact to change the final result. Since Tatum had enough impact to change the result he had more VALUE than Butler.

Can we also note that Butler contributed little to noting in three games, two of which his team lost? If he had been better in games four and five, maybe the Heat win the series.