NBA Playoff MVP Rankings - 6 May

Miami and Dallas have raced out to 2-0 leads in their respective series, with Dallas making it even more impressive by achieving the feat on the road against the defending champs, while Miami did it at home against the defending conference champions. What does this mean for each team's star's chance of winning the Finals MVP? Just read on. Previous ranking is in parentheses.

1. Dwyane Wade - MIA - 25.3 pts, 7.3 reb, 4.9 ast, 1.7 blk, 1.6 stl (1)

Wade held on to the top spot by outscoring his slightly more famous teammate, LeBron James, in the first two games of the series against Boston. Miami has made themselves the title favorite with dominating performances over last year's Eastern Conference champions, and Wade has been their best player over the past two weeks.

2. LeBron James - MIA - 25.4 pts, 9.4 reb, 5.4 ast, 1.0 blk, 1.0 stl (3)

James was certainly no slouch this week either, especially considering the 35 points he put up in game 2 against the Celtics. It makes me wonder if the NBA would consider awarding co-Finals MVP's to the two Heat superstars, much like when Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling dominated the 2001 World Series for Arizona, but made it difficult to decide which was better.

3. Kevin Durant - OKC - 31.6 pts, 6.3 reb, 3.1 ast, 1.0 blk (2)

Durant dropped a spot this week because the Thunder lost game 1 and gave up home court advantage to the Grizzlies in the process. He made sure they didn't lose game two and end up in a 2-0 hole like the Lakers, which is what kept him in the hunt at #3.

4. Dirk Nowitzki - DAL - 27.0 pts, 8.5 reb, 2.9 ast (5)

Dirk was on fire this week, shooting over 52% from the field, 60% from three, and 90% from the free throw line while leading Dallas in scoring and upsetting the Lakers twice in Los Angeles in three days. Barring the kind of collapse he had in 2006 and 2007, he is very much in the running to take this title.

5. Derrick Rose - CHI - 26.7 pts, 4.9 reb, 7.3 ast, 1.3 blk, 2.1 stl (4)

Rose won the regular season MVP this week, but the playoffs are still another matter. His playoff shooting percentage is still 7 points lower than his regular season percentage, and the Bulls have lost twice in the playoffs to teams they should have swept. He's obviously still in the running, but Chicago and Rose aren't dominating like they should.

Predictions - 6 May

Upset picks are in italics.

NBA

Bulls at Hawks - Bulls by 4

Lakers at Mavericks - Mavs by 3

MLB

Reds at Cubs - Reds by 1.7

Rays at Orioles - Rays by 0.5

Braves at Phillies - Phillies by 0.5

Astros at Pirates - Astros by 0.4

Tigers at Blue Jays - Jays by 0.3

Twins at Red Sox - Sox by 2.2

Dodgers at Mets - Mets by 1.3

Nationals at Marlins - Marlins by 1.0

Yankees at Rangers - Yankees by 0.1

Athletics at Royals - Royals by 1.6

Brewers at Cardinals - Cards by 1.3

Diamondbacks at Padres - D-Backs by 0.4

Indians at Angels - Indians by 1.0

White Sox at Mariners - Mariners by 1.4

Rockies at Giants - Giants by 0.3

Prediction Results - 5 May

MLB: 4-8 (.333) 168-160 overall (.512)

Upsets: 0-3 (.000) 229-163 overall (.584)