Serge Ibaka as WCF MVP?

As counter-intuitive as the purposely provocative title might sound, it just seems tomeIMHO like  the Thunder are a MUCH better team when defensive beast, and future People's most beautiful people listee, on the floor. The numbers somewhat back this up as he put up his two best games in the first two Thunder wins, especially his 26 point, 9 of 9 from the field, game 4. Even yesterday, when he was limited to 20 minutes of playing time due to foul trouble, he still put up 9 points on 4 of 6 shooting, 2 blocks, and 5 rebounds. Ultimately for me though, it is how the Thunder look as a unit when he's on the floor. They just seem more cohesive. More whole. More of an actual basketball playing unit. His weirdly consistent jump shot helps to spread the floor so that the slashers (Westbrook/Durant/Harden in no particular order) can operate. If his man cheats off of him, he's going to drain that shot from 18 feet and in. Further, and perhaps more importantly, he's the defensive anchor in the paint. He's averaging 2.6 blocks a game these past 3 wins, which is not too crazy for him but still damn good,  but even his presence on the floor ends up changing innumerable shots of anyone getting to the paint. I mean Westbrook's passing during his shooting drought has been fantastic, Durant is obviously All-Universe (seriously, he and LeBron would be my picks if another Space Jam tournament to free the Loony Tunes comes around), and Harden is more than capable of taking over a game for stretches himself. However, considering the various troubles each of those 3 have had, I am not so sure that Ibaka is not the most valuable for the Thunder IN THIS SERIES. (Emphasis very much required/double negative alert).

One quick departure for a larger look at the Thunder and Spurs, the past two games have illustrated an underrated advantage that the youth of the Thunder affords them... shorter, defined rotations. I missed this as well in my previous Western Conference Final preview post. Not to put too fine of a point on this, because I do no think it has all that much of an affect, but in the last two games the Thunder have had an 8 man rotation compared to the Spurs' 12 and 9 to SA's 11, respectively. OKC's younger legs can take the punishment of the shorter rotation and it keeps only the 8 best men on the floor in any given game. Of course, there are dangers here considering their general, and Ibaka's in particular, foul trouble but I feel like a limited rotation, if possible, is always advantageous.

UPDATE:
Clearly the entire idea of the post only applies if the Thunder win the series, which is very far from certain. If not, it is not a possibility and the MVP is a really close vote between Manu Ginobili and Manu Ginobili's bald spot with Manu himself winning in a walk. Seriously, did you see him last night? Ridiculous. He looked like a slightly balding Argentinian Tasmanian Devil out there.


Image: counterkicks.com