No one saw Andre Iguodala serving as star of Golden State's NBA Finals squad. As younger stars Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green battle their way through shooting slumps, back injuries and gripes with the officials, Iguodala has emerged from the bench to serve as the team's most important player.
After starting Game 4 on Thursday night -- his first start of the entire year, by the way -- Iguodala set the tone for the night, pushing the ball forward in transition to get the offense going. He continued to be the primary defender for LeBron James, anchoring the team to a blowout win in Cleveland.
Iguodala left a strong impression on everyone, Vegas included. This morning, Vegas revised its NBA Finals MVP prop bets, and a new name was listed at the top of the board.
After coming into the Finals as a 125-to-1 shot to win MVP, Iguodala is now the favorite.
That's a pretty remarkable jump for a guy who had 14 names ahead of him at the start of the Finals. To offer some perspective, the Oakland Raiders are twice as likely to win the Super Bowl this season than Iggy was considered to win NBA Finals MVP, per ForTheWin.
The jump speaks both to how well Iguodala has risen to the occasion, as well as how doomed the Warriors would be without him. Keep in mind that Curry, Thompson and Green still combined for an underwhelming night.
Just how good was Iggy? Good enough that he had some spare time to troll LeBron by whining about an injury he was faking:
Iggy was so good that when Cleveland's James Jones blocked his shot, he tried to give Jones a high-five:
So, yeah. Iggy was real good. Polish up that trophy, please.
