Kevin Garnett runs off with the NBA’s MVP Award. This should be pretty uncontroversial, even though Garnett doesn’t have the ability to dominate a single game or short series the way Tim Duncan does; Duncan missed 13 games this season while Garnett, as usual, was indestructable. Garnett became the first player since Bob McAdoo in 1974-75 to lead the NBA in total points (McGrady had a higher per-game average) and total rebounds. In fact, Garnett led in rebounds by a huge margin, especially on the defensive glass, where he pulled down 894 defensive rebounds to 682 for Ben Wallace; Wallace was the only player in the league within 250 rebounds of Garnett. John Hollinger also rated Garnett and Duncan 1-2.
Garnett has more in common with Karl Malone than Michael Jordan, in the sense that his game is less dominant and more a display of uncommonly consistent and sustained excellence. It’s hard to find a category where Garnett didn’t excel – 9th in the league in blocked shots, 19th in steals, 22d in assists. Despite leading the league in shot attempts he finished at a respectable .499 from the field, good for 11th in a league where, amazingly, only ten players shot .500. While this was his best season, he’s been churning out years much like this for some time without interruption.
The number that jumps out is that Garnett’s season high in scoring was 35, and his career high (reached twice) is 40. Think about that: a career 20-a-night scorer over almost 700 career games, averaging 23 last year and 24.2 this season, who’s never scored more than 40 in one night. That’s a man who butters his bread with his consistency.