PER is a rudimentary, incomplete way to measure an overall performance, but it is a decent way to make a quick comparison, and Giannis has put up a 26.6 and a 26.5 in his last two postseasons. Those are elite numbers, not far off from his historical, dominant regular seasons. Most players dip from regular season numbers a bit in the playoffs, since the competition is stiffer. Great as Giannis has been in the playoffs, it is easy to picture him being even greater. And if he does get better in the playoffs, that will probably mean he is the best player in the playoffs. That would bode well.
Middleton has some red-hot playoff games and series to his name, most notably the first round scorcher in 2018 against the Celtics. All in all, his career playoff performance (15.7 PER) has largely evened out to match his regular season performance (15.7 PER). There is little to suggest that, overall to date, he has been a different player in one part of the season or the other. That makes sense. It evens out for most players. That also makes him an All-Star level (and also, straight-up All-Star) player. If he happens to get hot in the Eastern Conference Finals and stay that way for a couple weeks, look out.
I do know that when Middleton took that pull-up contested three in transition with seconds to go in regulation, down 96–94 in Game 3 against the Raptors last season, I thought it was going to go in. He shot 3–16 that night, and I still thought it was going in. I kind of always do, and it seems like he kind of always does too.
Bledsoe got by the Celtics last season, outplaying not only Terry Rozier but also Kyrie Irving, before falling to Kyle Lowry and the Raptors. Remember when Kyrie was a heroic, clutch, game-breaking playoff legend?
If you go all the way back to his Clippers days, Bledsoe has played about as well in his playoff career as he has in his regular season career. In his first two playoff years (back with the Clips), he was better than he had been in the regular season. He still carries a 16.1 overall playoff PER.
Fred VanVleet was not Fred VanVleet until exactly when he was, and not a minute before. Remember him in the first two rounds last season? He shot 3–25 (.125) from the field in the seven-game series against the Sixers, including 1–14 (.071) on threes. Remember what people were saying about Lowry before he stepped up against the Bucks and then the Warriors?
