The 2012 Playoffs continue, as the twenty first day of the postseason is already behind us. There were two exciting games, in which the Heat evened the series and the Spurs swept their opponents. As usual, there were players who marked this day.
Who ranks on top? Without any further ado, let's start.
5.Eric Bledsoe
The second year guard whose one of the most positive surprises of the 2012 postseason, Eric Bledsoe had an excellent performance in his team's lost. Despite the fact that playoffs is over for his Clippers, he has to be applauded for his effort.
Eric, who was in a little slump, came off the bench again and provided the spark. He brought instant energy, defense, activity on both sides of the court and scoring punch as well. The freakish point guard did all of that on superb efficiency as well.
Bledsoe scored 17 points, grabbed four boards, dished out an assist, recorded three steals, blocked one shot, committed two turnovers, shot 8-10 from the field and 1-1 from three point land in exact 26 minutes of action. Stat wise, that's certainly impressive.
Unfortunately for him, the Spurs swept the Clippers.
4.Chris Paul
After having a slump in this series due to an injury and the Spurs' great team defense, Clippers' point guard Chris Paul finally broke through it. However, it just wasn't enough again, as his team failed to their opponents and are now officially out of the postseason.
Nonetheless, Chris performed quite well throughout the entire game. He took on the scoring load, dished the rock quite well, was solid on the glass, made nice defensive plays etc. This was his best performance of the series and the stats back than up.
Paul scored 23 points, dished out 11 assists, pulled down six boards, had two steals, committed two lost balls, shot 9-18 from the field, 2-5 from three point distance and perfect 3-3 from the free throw line in 41 minutes. However, the effort just wasn't enough.
3.Tim Duncan
Tim Duncan, one of the league's biggest surprises in this year's postseason, picked up where he left against the Clippers and was excellent once again. He led his Spurs to another win, with which they swept their opponents out of the playoffs. He was arguably the biggest reason for that.
Tim took over the scoring load on offense once again, as he found his way with the defense. He was good on the glass, included his teammates and was a presence defensively as well. He even made several clutch plays late to secure the win.
Duncan poured in 21 points, pulled down nine boards, dished out four assists, blocked three shots, shot 9-14 from the field, 3-3 from the stripe and committed a turnover in exact 30 minutes. When all things are taken in consideration, that's yet another excellent performance.
2.Dwyane Wade
After having the worst game of his playoff career, Miami's All-Star guard Dwyane Wade made up for that in the best possible way. He had an absolutely outstanding performance which was one of the biggest reasons why the Heat ended up victories on the road.
He looked out there as vintage Wade. He didn't start nicely, but soon entered in a hot scoring rhythm as he hit consecutive shots without a miss in the second half. He sliced through the defense, made the majority of his looks and was excellent in nearly all the areas of basketball.
Flash scored 30 points, grabbed nine boards, dished out six assists, recorded a steal, blocked two shots, didn't commit any turnovers, shot 13-23 from the field, 2-2 from distance and 2-6 from the stripe in 41 minutes out there.
This has easily been the best performance of the series for him. With him keeping playing like this for the rest of the playoffs, the Heat will be a dangerous team once again.
1.LeBron James
After having his first "weak" performance against the Pacers, LeBron James showed why he was voted as the league's MVP in Game Four of the 2012 postseason against Indiana. He showed up for what it will be called a legendary performance from now on.
LeBron was all over the court, as he was amazing in nearly all the aspects out there. He was aggressive from the start, involved his teammates, was excellent on the glass, terrific on defense etc. His skill set and ability to do many things certainly made the difference.
James scored 40 points, grabbed 18 boards, dished out nine assists, recorded two steals, blocked two shots, committed five turnovers, shot 14-27 from the field and 12-16 from the field in 44 minutes. Stat wise, this is arguably his best performance of the entire playoffs so far.
However, it goes beyond statistics. He was the one who got the best of Wade and had it going for him with his assists. He was the one who made Haslem to do great in the fourth quarter. In fact, he was the one that did a bunch of superb things for his Miami. James rightfully gets the No.1 spot.
