NBA Finals MVP: Ranking the 10 Greatest Finals MVP's EVER

#8 Lew Alcindor in the 1970-71 NBA Finals vs Baltimore Bullets

Finals Averages: 27 points, 18.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists

This is one of the two entries from the pre-modern NBA when the 3-point line did not exist. What hampers us further from gauging the true impact of Lew Alcindor (he converted to Islam and renamed himself Kareem Abdul-Jabbar after this series) is the absence of stats for blocks and steals.

Lew was the best player in the league right from tipoff in his very first game for the Bucks. He won the MVP award during the 1970-71 regular season with a stat line of 31.7 points, 16 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.

During the Finals series against the Baltimore Bullets, he held the Bullets to a field-goal percentage of less than 40% in three of the 4 games as the Bucks swept the Finals 4-0. Kareem dominated Wes Unseld on both ends of the floor, holding the 1969 MVP to a paltry 15 points per game. The skyhook was an unstoppable weapon in Alcindor's arsenal, as he averaged a field goal percentage of 60.5% during this series.