If Dame, Harden, or Westbrook were very deserving of the MVP but lost out on the award, each of them would go into a conference finals game like tonight by shooting 30+ shots and trying to score 50+ points to prove a point, even at the expense of their team. They would go out with a killer mentality, but they'd have the wrong kind of killer mentality. They'd all demand the ball in their hands all game long to play 1:1/iso ball and show up the other defender to show the world they should've won the award. And I'm confident all 3 of them would score 50+ points but would ultimately lose the game.

LeBron is a different animal. He'll use this as a chip on his shoulder but will have a different killer mentality tonight and throughout the series. He wants to WIN the game. He very easily could go out and shoot 30+ times and score 55 points...easily. But he'll be looking to play extremely smart and execute the game plan at an even higher level. He'll look to attack the paint but then dish it off and hit the open man in the corner for 3. He'll be looking to facilitate with on-point passing. He'll still get ~30 points but he'll do it efficiently. I look for him to have a very efficient game and for his all-around performance to be more impressive than a 30 shot, 55 point night.