FMVP third! Beat Javichett, why is Caruso?

Everyone knows that the finals are currently tied 1-1.

Before G3 start, the NBA officially announced the latest FMVP rankings, and there is no suspense in the top two - Alexander scored 72 points in two games, ranking first, undoubtedly followed by Halliburton, who had scored a 0.3-second mid-range shot in G1.

But this third one is a bit surprising - Caruso.

You read that right, a substitute player actually suppressed the Thunder's second leader + All-Star + Best Third Team + Best Second Defense on the FMVP list, and the new Ke East Final MVP + All-Star Siakam.

sounds a bit exaggerated, but objectively speaking, judging from the two performances that have ended in the finals, it seems that there are not many problems with ranking Caruso in the third place in FMVP.

Previously, in G1, the Thunder encountered a 15-point comeback from the Pacers. Caruso played 28 minutes in this game, making 3 of 8 shots, 1 of 4 three-pointers, 4 of 5 free throws, scoring 11 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists, and 3 steals and 2 blocks, plus or negative values ​​+2.

In this game, Caruso performed very well on the defensive end and was somewhat inaccurate on the offensive end, but the other two cores of the Thunder played even more:

-Jewe, 6 of 19 shots, 1 of 4 three-pointers, and only scored 17 points

-Chate, 2 of 9 shots, 0 of 1 three-pointers, and only scored 6 points

The focus is on G2, and Caruso played really outstandingly.

In the whole game, Caruso played 27 minutes, made 6 of 11 shots, 4 of 8 three-pointers, 4 of 4 free throws, and scored 20 points and 3 rebounds.

In the second half, Caruso scored 11 points. Every time the Pacers tried to start the trend, he and Alexander, Wiggins, and Jewish could always respond, which was the biggest difference from G1.

If only talking about Caruso, Caruso's score in G2 is the second highest in the team, only lower than Alexander (34 points). Even Jewish (19 points) and Chet (15 points) are not as good as him. Halliburton, the highest Pacers next door, has only 17 points.

and, after two games, Caruso is the only player in both sides to score 20+, except Alexander, with his total score of 31 points, as many as Halliburton.

Obviously, Caruso is not a player who is good at scoring ability. Caruso has not won 20+ in the regular season all season, but he has won 20+ twice so far in the playoffs.

In addition to G2 in the finals, there is another game against the Nuggets G1 in the second round. In that game, he made 7 of 12 shots, 5 of 9 three-pointers, and scored 20 points, 6 assists, 5 steals and 2 blocks, which was quite crazy.

This is also Caruso's biggest feature - it was born for the big scene.

Caruso in the regular season this season has only played 19.3 minutes per game in 54 games, scoring 7.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.6 steals. His defense is very good and his offense is not very outstanding. His three-point shooting percentage is 44.6%/35.3%/82.4% and his real shooting percentage is 56.8%. His three-point level has declined a lot compared to the previous year in the Bulls (40.8%).

But after entering the playoffs, Caruso seems to have become a different person. In the 18 games so far, Caruso averaged 23.1 minutes per game, scoring 9.6 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.7 steals, with a three-in-one shooting percentage of 46.0%/41.6%/80.0%, and a real shooting percentage of 61.8%. His non-bottom corner three-pointers made a total of 20 of his shooting percentage, reaching 46.5%.

In addition to taking on more roles on the offensive end, Caruso is still as outstanding as ever on the defensive end. Especially in the second round, Caruso can not only defend Westbrook and Murray, but also Jokic. The Thunder can successfully win the game in the tiebreak, which has a lot to do with the miracle effect that Daignot lets Caruso stand up to defend Jokic.

Back to the finals, Caruso maintained his hot feel to the playoffs so far, reducing Alexander's burden on the offensive end, and putting considerable pressure on the Pacers' backcourts - so far in the series, Caruso has interfered with 10 shots per game, and Pacers' players' shooting percentage has dropped by 8.8%, and his three-point shooting percentage is only 20%.

Specifically for the counter-attack, Caruso was the main defense, Siakam made 2 of 6, Nembhard made 1 of 4, Halliburton made 0 of 3--except Sika was good at scoring with fouls, the other two suffered a lot of losses under Caruso's defense.

Back on the FMVP list, I personally think that as long as the Thunder wins the championship, there is almost no suspense about this award. Whether it is Caruso or Jewish, there is a gap in grades with Alexander, so to be honest, there is no big difference between third and fourth places in FMVP.

The main problem is whether the Thunder can win the championship - the Thunder must be the stronger side, but now after two games, the home advantage is already with the Pacers, and from the G1, this Thunder seems to be unbeatable.

In the next game, what Caruso needs to do is to keep putting pressure on the Pacers on the defensive end, and output efficiently like G2, without asking for 20+ in every game, it is enough to maintain a double-digit level. In addition, it is enough to have a little connection with the FMVP award, which is enough to show how delicious Caruso is.