Last year’s NBA MVP race was a riveting one, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic threw haymakers at each other all season long. In the end, Shai emerged to win his first MVP after leading the NBA in scoring, denying Jokic his fourth.
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Through the first third of this season, it looked like we were getting the rare sequel that lived up to the original, as both SGA and Joker have somehow leveled up to become even more efficient and more impactful. Now that Jokic is set to miss a month with a hyperextended knee, though, is there anyone that can stop Shai from going back-to-back?
Paul Pierce believes that Jaylen Brown should be in the mix, and he gave an impassioned defense of his fellow Celtic on the most recent episode of the No Fouls Given podcast.
“Everybody hates the Celtics. We all know this. Why isn’t he? Nobody had the Celtics 3rd in East with no Tatum. The guy is putting up 30 consistently,” he claimed.
Paul Pierce says the only reason Jaylen Brown isn’t in MVP consideration is because everybody hates the Celtics
“Everybody hates the Celtics. We all know this. Why isn’t he? Nobody had the Celtics 3rd in East with no Tatum. The guy is putting up 30 consistently”
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Whether or not there’s any anti-Celtic bias at play, Pierce makes some good points. When Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles in last year’s playoffs, it dropped Boston from an Eastern Conference favorite to a team that most thought would be in the play-in discussion, at best.
That thinking seemed justified when they started 5-7, but they’ve gone 15-5 since then to jump all the way to third in the conference standings.
Brown is the biggest reason why. He’s averaging a career-high 29.5 points and 5.0 assists per game, but the increased responsibility he’s shouldering hasn’t dinged his efficiency.
On the contrary, he’s somehow become more efficient as his volume has gone up, as he’s shooting over 50% from the floor for the first time in his career.
Parsing the MVP conversation is always difficult, because there are no clear guidelines on what is meant by ‘Most Valuable.’ Is it the best player? Or the one who makes the biggest difference in their team’s record?
If it’s the latter, then Brown has to be in the conversation. He’s not only kept the team afloat as Tatum works his way back, he’s put the Celtics in a position where if Tatum looks anything like his old self, then they’re probably the favorites to reach the Finals.
“This guy has to get some type of recognition,” Pierce said. “This guy is a 30-point walking bucket, and he should be in there.”
Maybe now that Jokic is effectively out of the running due to his injury, MVP voters will start opening their minds beyond just blindly crowning Shai again.
The Thunder would still be the deepest team in the league even without Shai’s many talents. If the Celtics didn’t have Brown, they’d be jockeying for lottery position.
