2012 NBA Playoffs: Ranking The Best Individual Playoff Performances After Day Fourteen

The fourteen day of the 2012 Playoffs is already behind us. This postseason day brought two exciting games with one of them going to the final seven game, and the other starting the second round.
Meanwhile, the NBA crowned its MVP with the award for his excellence. Like the usual, there were several players who played beyond nicely. Who ranks on top? Without any further ado, let's start.



5. Rudy Gay

I start off the list with Memphis' forward Rudy Gay, who played quite well enough to make the list. Despite his excellent performance, it wasn't enough to lead the Grizzlies over the Clippers, as they failed in Game Seven.
He led the team in scoring, was excellent on the glass, solid from an all-around point of view etc. He had a solid day shooting the ball as well. Here're some stats.

Rudy scored 19 points, grabbed nine rebounds, dished out an assist, recorded a steal, swatted an attempt, shot 7-15 from the field, 0-2 from three point land, 5-6 from the free throw line, committed four turnovers in 40 minutes of action.


4. Chris Paul

After finally slowing down in this series, Clippers' All-Star guard Chris Paul picked up where he left and led his team on the road to a win. With that victory, they are now in the second round of the 2012 postseason.
Chris kept doing what he did in the previous games, and that's attack. His aggressiveness resulted him nicely, involved his team mates well, was great in nearly all the aspects of the game and closed out the Grizzlies late too.

Paul scored 19 points, grabbed nine rebounds, dished out four dimes, recorded two steals, committed five turnovers, shot 7-17 from the field, 1-6 from three point distance, 4-4 from the free throw line in 35 minutes of action.

Nice performance.


3. David West

David West started the second round series against the very good defensive Miami Heat quite well with his strong double-double. However, it wasn't enough as he and his Pacers failed to win the Heatles.
Nonetheless, David had a strong performance. He was excellent in the post where he found his touch, was terrific on the glass, involved his team mates and made his trips to the line.

West scored 17 points, pulled down 12 rebounds, dished out three assists, had a steal, committed two lost balls, shot 6-12 from the field, 5-6 from the line in 37 minutes of action.



2. Dwyane Wade

After playing in an usual standards for him in the postseason, Dwyane Wade timed his vintage performance almost perfectly. He came up big to lead the Miami Heat to a win over the Pacers.
Dwyane, even though didn't shot the ball efficiently from the field, looked the old himself. He was aggressive, sliced through the defense when ever he found a chance and went to the line where he made the max of his trips.

Wade scored 29 points, dished out four assists, had a steal, one blocked shot, committed two turnovers, shot 8-23 from the field, 13-14 from the free throw line in 40 minutes. He'll have to come up big again for the Heat in order to accomplish their goals.


1. LeBron James

For his excellence during the regular season, the NBA awarded Heat's All-Star  forward LeBron James with his third consecutive MVP in four seasons. And he played like one in the start of the Game One of the 2012 postseason against the Pacers.
The King was aggressive, was excellent in nearly all the aspects of the game, switched positions, shut down who ever he was called to guard and dominated in the second half. Once again, he owned the fourth quarter as he went on another strong performance.

James scored 32 points, pulled down 15 rebounds, dished out five assists, recorded two steals, blocked one shot, committed one turnover while shooting 12-26 from the field, 0-3 from distance, 8-10 from the line in 43 minutes.

LeBron scored 16 points late to lead his Miami over the Pacers and give them the lead.

Darko Mihajlovski is a columnist at FootBasket. He also contributes to Hoops-Nation. You can read more about him at our Staff page.