Who is your non-FVMP FVMP?

[LilRip]

All the lights will be on both team’s dynamic duo, and rightfully so. But as usual in these series, someone will also emerge and essentially “forge” their legend in Celtics (or Mavs) lore. We had the Leon Powe game, JJ Barea was electric in Dirk’s run, etc. etc.

So who do you guys got? Which non-Jay/LuKy player will emerge and make a career-defining stamp in these finals? (Well, fine, Holiday is already a certified champ with his own iconic Finals play but you get what I’m getting at)

[Goldstar88]

Joe Mazzulla, obviously. 

Finals Most Valuable Person.

[Moranis]

Holiday.  If it is a Mav, I'd go with Jones.

[Donoghus]

Most likely, Jrue.

I’d love for Al to have a throwback machine game, though.

[Birdman]

Holiday, he does all the little things that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet

[Who]

Porzingis

[Kernewek]

My bet would be on The Great Forehead himself, Derrick White.

[celticinorlando]

Derrick White

[Vermont Green]

I think that this discussion is making the key point.  My first reaction was Holiday, but it really could be any of White, Horford, or Porzingis also.  Any one of these guys could easily be expected to be "that guy" in a specific game or for the series.  BOS has multiple guys who have been good / are good enough to be that guy, just by playing as good as they have in the past.  If any one of them is that guy, it would be no surprise or statistical abnormality.

But do you really expect any of the DAL second tier to do that?  Washington? Jones? Gafford? (the other 3 starters).  It is possible that Jones or Washington could get hot from 3 for a stretch and cause some problems.  Role players seem to have a history of doing that vs. BOS in the playoffs recently.  But if it happens, it will be an outlier for that player, not something that is reasonably expected.

And keep in mind that it will probably take more than 1 of these guys to have that kind of series for either team to win.  So if it is unlikely or improbably that 1 of the DAL second tier players have a "Cinderella" series, how likely is that more than 1 will?  As compared to BOS, how surprised would everyone be if say both White and Porzingis have a big series?  If all our second tier guys are even solid, I think we take the series, DAL would seem to need some or all of their second tier guys to be better than their norms, better than solid.  But that is exactly how MIA beat us last year.

[dannyboy35]

  I’m going with Hauser . I don’t believe pressure is getting to him . He’s an elite shooter and I expect he’ll have a game where  he’s a killer ( 5 or 6 threes in a game) off the bench that puts them over the top that game.
  If it’s Dallas - PJ Washington doing the same thing.

[hpantazo]

For Boston, I'm going with Porzingis, with White a close second.

For Dallas, it would have to be....(scans the roster for a mediocre guard who will light up the Celtics for an entire series, preferably off the bench)...Jaden Hardy

[jambr380]

I'd love for it to be Holiday, but he's just been too inconsistent offensively to really be that guy. White kind-of has the same issue, but has fewer offensive lulls. We know both of them are going to bring it defensively, though.

That being said, I feel like KP will come out and do his thing. He averaged over 20ppg for us this season and was a very valuable rim protector. His presence and unique skill set for his height is exactly why we traded the 'heart and soul' of the team for him. I know he's coming back from injury, but he allows our offense to just function in a completely different way. It becomes way less of a grind and we will need that versatility to take down a hot Mavs team.

[Phantom255x]

Assuming he can stay healthy, I'm going Porzingis. I think Porzingis is the "obvious" mismatch between the two teams that favors us. Lively is great, but Porzingis is still easily the best frontcourt player between the two teams. He doesn't even have to average 20+ PPG, but just his presence and ability to stretch the floor and hit 3s would be huge for the team and make Dallas' defense guess and probably crumble.

I think there's a real potential for the Jaylen-Porzingis ("Cookies and Cream") two-man game to dominate in this series in a variety of ways. Just got to pray Porzingis holds up.

[ozgod]

I wasnted to pick Jrue but he's not really a secret, so I went with Derrick White. I think he will be a handful not just on offense but on defense to try and slow Cryrie down.