SUNDAY, APRIL 3 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ SU D7
STEALS GSTL. AVG.
Thybulle, PHI ................................... 61106 1.7
Smart, BOS ..................................... 67115 1.7
Holiday, MIL .................................... 62104 1.6
VanVleet, TOR ................................ 63106 1.6
Butler, MIA ..................................... 54901 .6
Jones, NO ........................................ 74123 1.6
Ball, CHA ......................................... 70111 1.5
Edwards, MIN .................................. 68101 1.4
Melton, MEM .................................. 69102 1.4
Mitchell, UTA .................................. 64951 .4
Jokic, DEN ....................................... 71101 1.4
Crowder, PHO .................................. 65911 .4
BLOCKS GBLK. AVG.
Jackson, MEM ................................. 75169 2.2
Williams, BOS ................................. 61134 2.2
Gobert, UTA .................................... 61131 2.1
Robinson, NY ................................... 70125 1.7
Poeltl, SA ........................................ 65114 1.7
Bamba, ORL ..................................... 67110 1.6
Mobley, CLE .................................... 67109 1.6
Whiteside, UTA ............................... 60901 .5
Embiid, PHI ...................................... 63911 .4
Antetokounmpo, MIL ...................... 63901 .4
Gafford, WAS .................................. 67941 .4
Horford, BOS ................................... 66891 .3
Allen, CLE ........................................ 56751 .3
Capela, ATL ..................................... 69901 .3
Hartenstein, L.A.C. ......................... 64731 .1
Towns, MIN ..................................... 71811 .1
McGee, PHO .................................... 69771 .1
Clarke, MEM .................................... 61681 .1
Stewart, DET ................................... 67741 .1
Thybulle, PHI ................................... 61671 .1ASSISTS GAST. AVG.
Paul, PHO ........................................ 62665 10.7
Young, ATL ...................................... 71682 9.6
Murray, SA ...................................... 67620 9.3
Garland, CLE .................................... 63545 8.7
Doncic, DAL ..................................... 61523 8.6
Jokic, DEN ....................................... 71568 8.0
Ball, CHA ......................................... 70525 7.5
Lowry, MIA ...................................... 60451 7.5
Westbrook, L.A.L. ........................... 76540 7.1
Russell, MIN .................................... 63440 7.0
Holiday, MIL .................................... 62418 6.7
Morant, MEM .................................. 56375 6.7
VanVleet, TOR ................................ 63418 6.6
Giddey, OKC .................................... 54345 6.4
Curry, GS ......................................... 64404 6.3
James, L.A.L. ................................... 56349 6.2
Porter, HOU ..................................... 57354 6.2
Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC ............... 56331 5.9
Antetokounmpo, MIL ...................... 63366 5.8
Anthony, ORL .................................. 64369 5.8
Smart, BOS ..................................... 67391 5.8
Fox, SAC .......................................... 59330 5.6
Butler, MIA ..................................... 54297 5.5
Cunningham, DET ........................... 62340 5.5
Middleton, MIL ................................ 62334 5.4
Mitchell, UTA .................................. 64345 5.4
Conley, UTA ..................................... 68356 5.2
Siakam, TOR ................................... 64330 5.2
STEALS GSTL. AVG.
Murray, SA ...................................... 67135 2.0
Paul, PHO ........................................ 62114 1.8
Trent, TOR ....................................... 65114 1.7FREE THROWS FT FTA PCT.
Harden, BKN .................................. 304 350 .869
White, SA ...................................... 139 160 .869
Morris, L.A.C. ................................ 124 143 .867
Booker, PHO .................................. 308 356 .865
Porzingis, DAL ............................... 147 170 .865
Bogdanovic, UTA ........................... 203 235 .864
Wagner, ORL ................................. 189 219 .863
Markkanen, CLE ............................ 122 142 .859
Tatum, BOS ................................... 389 453 .859
Maxey, PHI .................................... 193 225 .858
Brogdon, IND ................................. 143 167 .856
Anthony, ORL ................................ 216 253 .854
REBOUNDS GOFF. DEF.TOT.AVG.
Gobert, UTA ...................... 61222 670 892 14.6
Jokic, DEN ......................... 71200 768 968 13.6
Capela, ATL ....................... 69257 560 817 11.8
Antetokounmpo, MIL ....... 63126 609 735 11.6
Valanciunas, NO ............... 71220 605 825 11.6
Embiid, PHI ....................... 63133 589 722 11.4
Vucevic, CHI ...................... 69137 639 776 11.2
Nurkic, POR ....................... 56167 452 619 11.0
Allen, CLE .......................... 56192 410 602 10.7
Carter, ORL ....................... 62139 509 648 10.4
Ayton, PHO ....................... 56141 429 570 10.1
Wood, HOU ....................... 68110 576 686 10.0
Adams, MEM .................... 73340 388 728 9.9
Randle, NY ........................ 72125 591 716 9.9
Towns, MIN ....................... 71185 508 693 9.7
Williams, BOS ................... 61238 350 588 9.6
Poeltl, SA .......................... 65255 344 599 9.2
Doncic, DAL ....................... 6154504 558 9.1
Portis, MIL ........................ 68170 448 618 9.0THREE-POINTERS 3FG 3FGA PCT.
Pritchard, BOS ................................ 90221 .407
Powell, POR ..................................... 93229 .406
Morris, DEN ................................... 122 301 .405
Simons, POR ................................. 179 442 .405
Johnson, SA .................................. 148 368 .402
Mills, BKN ..................................... 216 538 .401
Curry, PHI ...................................... 100 250 .400
Batum, L.A.C. ................................ 104 262 .397
O'Neale, UTA ................................. 116 292 .397
Strus, MIA ..................................... 167 421 .397
Connaughton, MIL ......................... 139 351 .396
Niang, PHI ..................................... 146 369 .396
Burks, NY ...................................... 144 365 .395
Caldwell-Pope, WAS ..................... 156 396 .394
FREE THROWS FT FTA PCT.
Curry, GS ....................................... 275 298 .923
Poole, GS ....................................... 222 242 .917
Durant, BKN .................................. 326 359 .908
Gallinari, ATL ................................ 136 150 .907
Young, ATL .................................... 462 511 .904
Bane, MEM .................................... 132 147 .898
Garland, CLE .................................. 199 222 .896
Quickley, NY .................................. 164 183 .896
Middleton, MIL .............................. 253 284 .891
Caldwell-Pope, WAS ..................... 135 152 .888
Harden, PHI ................................... 140 158 .886
Lillard, POR ................................... 159 181 .878
DeRozan, CHI ................................ 493 564 .874
Herro, MIA .................................... 179 205 .873
Butler, MIA ................................... 373 428 .871
VanVleet, TOR .............................. 181 208 .870
Ball, CHA ....................................... 205 236 .869FIELD GOALS FG FGA PCT.
Gobert, UTA .................................. 334 469 .712
Allen, CLE ...................................... 369 545 .677
Ayton, PHO ................................... 423 665 .636
Zubac, L.A.C. ................................. 285 459 .621
Poeltl, SA ...................................... 392 634 .618
Capela, ATL ................................... 337 558 .604
Jokic, DEN ..................................... 715 1230 .581
Sabonis, IND ................................. 331 571 .580
Antetokounmpo, MIL .................... 650 1173 .554
Adebayo, MIA ............................... 378 684 .553
Valanciunas, NO ............................ 498 918 .542
Bridges, PHO ................................. 436 815 .535
Davis, L.A.L. .................................. 349 652 .535
Nurkic, POR ................................... 321 600 .535
Towns, MIN ................................... 613 1156 .530
THREE-POINTERS 3FG 3FGA PCT.
Kennard, L.A.C. ............................. 180 402 .448
Johnson, PHO ................................ 159 358 .444
Bane, MEM .................................... 219 509 .430
Ball, CHI ......................................... 110 260 .423
McDermott, SA ............................. 108 256 .422
Irving, BKN ...................................... 77184 .418
Tucker, MIA ..................................... 79190 .416
Haliburton, SAC ............................ 104 252 .413
Gordon, HOU ................................. 124 301 .412
Maxey, PHI .................................... 113 274 .412
Holiday, MIL .................................. 122 297 .411
Towns, MIN ................................... 143 348 .411
Williams, BOS ............................... 100 244 .410
Allen, MIL ...................................... 156 382 .408
Conley, UTA ................................... 158 387 .408
Barnes, SAC .................................. 140 344 .407Entering Saturday’s games.
SCORING GFGFTPTS. AVG.
James, L.A.L. .................... 56640 2541695 30.3
Antetokounmpo, MIL ....... 63650 5281897 30.1
Embiid, PHI ....................... 63600 6051890 30.0
Doncic, DAL ...................... 61604 3291724 28.3
Young, ATL ....................... 71661 4622000 28.2
DeRozan, CHI .................... 72739 4932019 28.0
Morant, MEM ................... 56573 3111543 27.6
Tatum, BOS ...................... 73683 3891977 27.1
Booker, PHO ..................... 66637 3081757 26.6
Jokic, DEN ......................... 71715 3651890 26.6
Mitchell, UTA ................... 64596 2511669 26.1
Curry, GS ........................... 64535 2751630 25.5
LaVine, CHI ....................... 64543 3081572 24.6
Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC. 56 477 3281371 24.5
Towns, MIN ...................... 71613 3741743 24.5
Brown, BOS ...................... 62538 2301462 23.6
Fox, SAC ........................... 59516 2611367 23.2
Siakam, TOR ..................... 64547 2591425 22.3
Garland, CLE ..................... 63500 1991357 21.5
Butler, MIA ....................... 54377 3731150 21.3
Murray, SA ....................... 67568 1901421 21.2
Edwards, MIN ................... 68510 2011425 21.0
Herro, MIA ........................ 62470 1791280 20.6
Bridges, CHA .................... 75564 2491522 20.3
Middleton, MIL ................. 62426 2531258 20.3
VanVleet, TOR .................. 63431 1811279 20.3
Barrett, NY ....................... 66461 2721326 20.1
Randle, NY ........................ 72512 3031447 20.1
Ball, CHA ........................... 70500 2051403 20.0
Rozier, CHA ...................... 68483 1421320 19.4
Holiday, MIL ..................... 62451 1311155 18.6
NBA LEADERSprofessional Basketball
Like Morant, the 22-year-old Garland
(21.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 8.7 apg) enjoyed an all-star
breakout in his third season with the
Cleveland Cavaliers. Calmly taking the reins
following Collin Sexton’s early-season injury,
Garland struck a nice balance between finding
his own offense and spreading the wealth.
Bane (18.2 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 2.8 apg) was another
major developmental success story for the
Grizzlies, given that he was the 30th player
selected in the 2020 draft and spent most of
his rookie season coming off the bench. In
Year 2, the wide-shouldered wing claimed a
full-time starting spot and flashed all-star
potential at age 23.Rookie of the year- Evan Mobley, 2. Scottie Barnes, 3. Cade
Cunningham
What started as a one-man race evolved
into a fascinating rock-paper-scissors
situation for voters. Want an all-league
defender who helped lift the Cavaliers out of
the doldrums? Mobley is the guy. Prefer a two-
way wing playing huge minutes for a Toronto
Raptors team headed to the playoffs? That
would be Barnes. Looking for a high-level,
high-usage playmaker and committed
defender who was asked to carry the Detroit
Pistons’ offense? Pick Cunningham.
The 20-year-old Mobley (14.9 ppg, 8.3 rpg,
2.5 apg) should earn the nod based on his
consistency and remarkable impact. Resisting
conventional wisdom that young big men
struggle to adjust to the NBA level, Mobley hit
the ground running as a skilled shot blocker
and versatile defender who can handle
virtually any assignment. Barnes and
Cunningham have looked like future all-NBA
players over the past two months, setting up
the 2021 class to be one of the best in recent
memory.
Sixth man of the year- Tyler Herro, 2. Tyus Jones, 3. Cameron
Johnson
Herro, 22, entered the season as the favorite
here and never got much in the way of
competition. Jordan Clarkson and Montrezl
but he deserves some ballot love as the leading
scorer on the NBA’s lone juggernaut.Defensive player of the year- Antetokounmpo, 2. Mikal Bridges, 3.
Rudy Gobert
Draymond Green appeared destined to win
defensive player of the year before he was
shelved for months with a back injury. The
ensuing void presented an unusual dynamic:
Boston and Phoenix, the two best team
defenses, were led by perimeter standouts,
while prominent big men such as
Antetokounmpo, Embiid and Gobert all
played for teams with defenses that had
slipped down the charts.
Bridges has been a perimeter workhorse for
the Suns, Marcus Smart has helped key the
Celtics’ midseason turnaround with his
tenacity, and Gobert remains an elite paint-
controlling presence. Yet none of the players
can match Antetokounmpo’s combination of
strength, quickness, versatility, timing and
feel on the defensive end. The 27-year-old, who
won this award in 2020, has helped
Milwaukee survive with an undersized front
line during center Brook Lopez’s extended
absence.
Most improved player- Ja Morant, 2. Darius Garland, 3.
Desmond Bane
By going from fringe all-star candidate to
certified franchise player, Morant (27.6 ppg,
5.7 rpg, 6.7 apg) made the NBA version of a
quantum leap during his age-22 season. His
progress as a scorer, three-point shooter, game
manager and leader was immediately evident
during opening week, and the hype built to a
fever pitch as the Memphis Grizzlies blew
away preseason forecasts by claiming the
West’s second seed.
Just as Curry and Antetokounmpo are ideal
fits in their respective home markets, the
fearless Morant is a perfect match with
Memphis, where he has a chance to blossom
into one of the league’s most marketable
players on a team that has the potential to be a
perennial contender.
Harrell, the past two winners, both had down
years, while Miami’s Herro (20.6 ppg, 4.9 rpg,
3.9 apg) has posted career highs in the major
advanced statistics while leading the East’s
highest-scoring bench unit. A natural heir to
bucket-getters such as Lou Williams and
Jamal Crawford, Herro will be asked to
provide late-game scoring and playmaking in
the playoffs.
Jones (8.6 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 4.4 apg) has been a
crucial driver of the Grizzlies’ success as a
high-IQ, low-turnover point guard who has
kept everyone involved in a stacked second
unit. Johnson (12.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.5 apg) is a
classic stretch forward who has posted career
highs in scoring and three-point percentage in
his third season with the Suns.Coach of the year- Monty Williams, 2. Taylor Jenkins,
- Chris Finch
Media voters blew it last year when they
rewarded overachievement (Tom Thibodeau’s
New York Knicks) rather than consistent
excellence (Quin Snyder’s Jazz or Williams’s
Suns). As Utah has learned this year, building
and sustaining a true powerhouse is a much
more difficult coaching challenge than
guiding a bad team to respectability.
Williams, a former Spurs player and
executive, has transformed Phoenix from a
dysfunctional mess to a San Antonio-like
winning machine. He has created a
disciplined and focused culture that has held
up throughout the season-long investigation
of owner Robert Sarver’s alleged racist and
misogynistic behavior.
Poise is Williams’s defining characteristic,
and his team has come to embody it.
Gathering themselves after a gutting 2021
Finals collapse, the Suns have run away from
the rest of the league, ranking first in winning
percentage, first in point differential, third in
offensive efficiency and third in defensive
efficiency. Kudos to Memphis’s Jenkins and
Minnesota’s Finch for getting the most out of
their young cores, but Williams deserves to
win his first coach of the year award in a
landslide.
RON SCHWANE/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Clockwise from top left: Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic are battling for the MVP award; Giannis Antetokounmpo, another candidate, could
be the league’s top defensive player. Ja Morant, Evan Mobley, Tyler Herro and Monty Williams are front-runners for other awards.The NBA’s first 82-game season
since 2018-19 will wrap up
April 10, and not everyone
made it to the end of the
marathon. This year will be
remembered for its changing
of the guard: LeBron James,
Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry all opened
2021 -22 as leading MVP candidates only to be
sidelined, one by one, with significant injuries
that opened the door for the under-30 crowd.
A similar theme emerged across several other
major awards, which saw Gen Z newcomers
shake up the status quo.
Here’s who deserves to take home the
hardware. Criteria for selection includes
availability, individual production, advanced
statistics, team performance and impact on
winning.MVP- Nikola Jokic, 2. Giannis Antetokounmpo,
- Joel Embiid, 4. Luka Doncic, 5. Devin
Booker
Coming off a sparkling 2021 MVP
campaign, Jokic (26.6 points, 13.6 rebounds,
8.0 assists per game) defied all reasonable
expectations by raising his stellar all-around
game under even more challenging
circumstances. Jokic, 27, leads the NBA in a
long list of advanced statistics — player
efficiency rating, win shares, real plus-minus
and value over replacement player, among
others — and his 32.8 PER would be the
highest mark ever recorded. What’s more, his
26/13/8 traditional stat line has never been
matched in league history.
But there’s more to Jokic’s case than his
stranglehold on numbers. With Jamal Murray
sidelined all season and Michael Porter Jr.
limited to just nine games, Jokic never
wavered or complained as he led the
undermanned Denver Nuggets in points,
rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. On
several occasions, Jokic, who has outgrown his
early-career reputation as a defensive liability,
even delivered game-saving plays on defense.
Playmaking remains Jokic’s biggest strength,
and he has led the Nuggets to the No. 6 offense
in the league despite their injury issues.
During a tumultuous season marred by
coronavirus-related interruptions, Jokic has
missed just seven games, enjoying better
availability than his top MVP challengers.
Denver, which is on pace for 48 wins and one
of the West’s six guaranteed playoff spots,
might have finished in the conference
basement without its franchise centerpiece.
While Antetokounmpo has staked a strong
claim to the “Best Player Alive” title, Jokic has
been this season’s most consistent, productive
and indispensable star.
Even though the Milwaukee Bucks have
paced themselves during their title defense,
they are back near the top of the East’s
standings, and Antetokounmpo is back as a
leading MVP candidate for the fourth straight
year. Forty-point performances against
Embiid’s Philadelphia 76ers and Durant’s
Brooklyn Nets this past week were a reminder
that Antetokounmpo (30.1 ppg, 11.7 rpg,
5.8 apg) is the NBA’s most imposing force.
There’s little to nitpick beside the fact he
missed 13 games. He is posting comparable
numbers to his two previous MVP campaigns
and ranks second to Jokic in PER and win
shares.
No player has campaigned for MVP more
relentlessly in the media than Embiid, but his
walk hasn’t quite lived up to his talk. The five-
time all-star has averaged a career-high
30 points per game and posted a career-best
31 PER during the healthiest season of his
career, and he deserves credit for carrying the
76ers through Ben Simmons’s months-long
holdout. Even so, Embiid’s untimely turnovers
and late-game fatiguing continue to hold him
back in key moments. During an uneven
March, the 76ers have suffered high-profile
losses to Durant’s Nets, Jokic’s Nuggets,
Antetokounmpo’s Bucks and Booker’s Phoenix
Suns.
Doncic (28.3 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 8.6 apg) dug
himself too deep of a hole by coming into the
season out of shape, though his play since the
all-star break has been impressive enough to
cast the Dallas Mavericks guard as the early
2023 MVP favorite. Booker (26.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg,
4.9 apg) is a clear cut below the league’s A-
listers when it comes to statistical production,
The next generation of superstars has arrived,
and the NBA’s top awards will reflect that
On
the NBA
BEN
GOLLIVERMATT SLOCUM/ASSOCIATED PRESSDAVID ZALUBOWSKI/ASSOCIATED PRESS MARTA LAVANDIER/ASSOCIATED PRESSBRANDON DILL/ASSOCIATED PRESSAL BELLO/GETTY IMAGES