The Nick Van Exel playoff myth

[Hitman]

I admit it. I was one.

I was one of the people who got pissed at Nick during the regular season last year, when he would come off the bench and start taking ridiculous shots. I would yell at him to stop taking these shots, fully aware that he could not hear me. There were so many times that he would force shots up in key moments, and I would wonder out loud if Nick understood that he was a career 40% shooter and he was playing with three all stars, one of whom is perhaps the best all around offensive player in the world.

I also sat there in somewhat awe as Nick played great during much of the playoffs. There were several times that he was so hot he could have thrown the ball up blindfolded and the ball would have swished through the net. I found myself yelling "No Nick, No!!!!!!.....YES!!!!" on many occasions in the playoffs.

However...

It has become popular to see people stating that Nick was the bes player of the playoffs for the Mavericks last year, or even that Nick was the only reason that the Mavericks got past the first round. I have seen writers writing about it numerous times since Nick was traded, and I have seen posters here post the very same thing. However, I simply don't think we were watching the same games.

Game 5 vs. the Blazers (Mavs looking to close out the series as Dirk had pretty much won 2 or the 3 wins singlehandedly) , the Mavs were up late in the game, and within the last minute and a half Nick took 2 early, covered, three point bricks that were converted into scores by the Blazers. No writer ever brings this up, do they? Instead of closing out the Blazers in 5, we were forced to go back to Portland where Nick (and the rest of the Mavs) stunk the joint up something fierce. But the point is without Nick's HORRIBLE decisions in the waning moments of game 5, there never would have been a game 6 or 7. In game 7, Nick showed up big with 26 points, but we all know who was the MVP of that game was, don't we?

In the Sacramento series, Nick was brilliant. He was the Mavs leading scorer, he was hot as lava. But lets examine his true value, shall we?

In game 2, about 22 of his 36 points came in the second half, when the rest of the starters were resting and the game was out of reach. He lit it up, and he was on fire, but the majority of his damage came with the Mavs up 20+ already. Nick didn't start his barrage in that game until the Mavs were already up big.

Game 3...he was the Mavs MVP. No question about it. He lit it up something fierce.

Game 4...5 points. Nowitzki was not great either, but he did come up with a double-double. Moot point, Mavs loss.

Game 5...he took 17 shots to get 18 points. Dirk had 16 points, 15 rebounds and 9 assists and the Mavs win.

Game 6...Nick notches 35 points...Dirk has 21 points and 12 rebounds and the Mavs lose.

Game 7...Nick gets 23 points, Dirk has 30 points and 19 rebounds and the Mavs win.

So this was Nick's LONE great series of the playoffs, and I'm not sure that Nick was even the MVP of this series.

I am not going to go through the Spurs series, but consider that after Dirk went down, Nick averaged 20 points, brought very little in the way of defense or rebounding and shot about 42%. Sorry, that is not good. Dirk was averaging 30 points and 13 rebounds in the first 2 games of that series before his knee injury forced him out in the 4th quarter of game 3.

It has become so commonplace for writers to talk about (a) defense being the Mavs biggest weakness, and that (b) Nick was the Mavericks best player in the playoffs.

However, the reality is that rebounding was the Mavericks biggest weakness (and they have addressed that), and Nowitzki was the Mavericks best player in the playoffs. (and they still have him.)

My point is not to disparage Nick. While he may have been the emotional and mental leader of the Mavericks at times in the playoffs, he was not their best player, anymore than Troy Hudson was the best player on the Wolves in their six game series vs. the Lakers.