4. Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat)
So far in the playoffs, Bam Adebayo is averaging 16.8 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and one steal per game. Adebayo is shooting 49.2% from the field.
While there are still complaints about Adebayo’s aggressiveness (or lack thereof sometimes) on the offensive end, there are few bigs who are as versatile as Adebayo is. Not many bigs are asked to bring the ball up the court as much and have as much asked of them defensively as Adebayo. The matchup of Jokic vs. Adebayo should be very entertaining.
In the regular season, Adebayo averaged 20.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. Adebayo shot 54% from the field on the year. Adebayo remains one of the most impactful defensive players in the league and will have a key assignment in this series as he guards Jokic.
3. Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets)
Jamal Murray is having a breakout playoff performance.
So far in the playoffs, he is averaging 27.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.1 assists, and 1.7 steals per game through the Nuggets 15 games. He’s also been very efficient, with a strong 48%/39.8%/92.5% slash line. Murray also became the first player in NBA history to average 30 points per game with 50/40/90 splits in a conference finals.
During the regular season, Murray averaged 20 points, four rebounds, 6.2 assists, and one steal per game. He shot 45.4% from the field, 39.8% from 3, and 83.3% from the line on the year. Denver was without Murray their last two playoff runs before this year due to injury, but he is making up this year so far.