yes some the refs hate harden. When you’re blatantly fouling him on 3 pointers and drives while calling **** like this on him, It’s anti harden bias. My sig proves there is some funny **** going on with harden I understand why they do it but I don’t agree with it. And I don’t give a **** what a Milwaukee fan thinks.
The mvp is all Giannis’s. The award is a joke now. It’s who the fans and media want. Harden should honestly have 4-5 MVPs but who cares about that now. Let’s get a finals mvp, fans and media can’t stop that ****
Not sure the Bucks game moved the needle much in the MVP race. Giannis was likely leading. Maybe there were people on the fence and this is just one more item to tip the scales. A monster performance could have helped Harden. Not sure the Rockets just "winning" without a monster Harden performance would have moved the needle much. Harden and Giannis cases are pretty much made right now. I think it is obvious that there is "Harden fatigue." And that as brought up on a recent ESPN Hoop Collective podcast. And you can tell, the people that "say" they are undecided....they are voting for Giannis. Expect Rachel Nichols, Zach Lowe, Brian Windhorst etc to vote for Giannis. Any voter that voted for LeBron last year? They will vote Giannis this year. I personally do no think this is going to be close. I have said this many times, but if I was a voter I would vote Harden MVP and Giannis Defensive Player of the Year. Coach Bud COY. They ALL get awarded. Call it a day.
Harden had an 11.7 game score rating last night against the Bucks. It was his 5th lowest game score rating this year. Giannis didn't have a great game individually by his standards either. A 13.8 game score rating, 4th lowest one for him this year.
Just heard yet another media guy (on Sirius XM NBA) say something along the lines of: "I hate watching the Rockets style of basketball. James Harden just dribbles a thousand times and doesn't pass or involve his teammates. The style is so ugly that I can even watch it. If the Rockets are on, I immediately change to another game." So are you watching the f%$king team or not? Sounds to me like he hasn't watched much Rockets basketball at all.
A lot of the rockets hate is not built on facts or a reflection of what really goes on. Most of the hate is built on fabricated narratives that people have created to give them a reason to hate the rockets. “Harden travels every play” They even associate things that other NBA players do as well as something that is exclusive to just Harden. They loved Kobe ball hogging and not passing to teammates. They loved Westbrook when he had an absurdly high usage. They love when Embiid plays for fouls. They love Giannis and Kawhi traveling all over the place. They loved when Dwyane Wade used to draw fouls off pump fakes and called it smart basketball. I’d rather they just come out and say “I hate James Harden” and leave it at that, than create fake narratives to try to “justify” why they don’t like Harden.
To put it in context, Milwaukee switched its WHOLE defense to stop James Harden. Everybody thing they did, from rotations to man defense, to packing the paint, was to stop Harden. What scheme did we have to guard Giannis?
I don't know who should the MVP or not, but Coach Bud definitely deserves coach of the year. Any halfwit would know that the biggest change in Milwaukee is the addition of Coach Bud. He completely reinvented that team, and it shows. Mind you, obviously they're very good because of Giannis but if we are going to talk about the BIGGEST change for the Bucks. Is it going from Jason Kidd to Bud? Or Giannis' play from last season to this season? His stats are nearly similar. The only significant difference really is that he's finishing around the rim much, much better. I think he's been given a bit more responsibility as far as is comes to play making and rebounding, but nothing too incredible. It's not a jump like Harden's play making in 2017 or Curry's scoring in 2016, or even Westbrook's stat padding in 2017. Giannis is playing the best basketball in his life though similar to Harden in 2018. But Harden also had a very good team in 2018. Much like Giannis does in 2019. I think that's the key to all of this. Giannis is the best player on that team by far, but that team isn't where it's at simply because Giannis willed them to 60+ wins. No, that team great because they were built very, very well and have a great coach. That team has a very good claim to the title. I think the Bucks will go as far as Giannis takes them which could honestly be very far. Championship even. But I still think Bud deserves the most credit for that team's improvement. Coaching matters a lot. I won't say there is a "bud system" like people like to say their is a "D'antoni system." Both are just very good coaches, and know how to bring out the best of all their players.
After listening to Zach Lowe's podcast today on the MVP race, I'm done. He and Beck basically decided Giannis. The only good thing about Harden losing is to see if he can channel Hakeem and go super saiyan in the playoffs.
You are also discounting the Brook Lopez signing. He is taking 10s per game at 37%. He really helps free up the paint for Giannis. He would have been great with Lebron, but Magic let him go for pretty much nothing.
Silver lining: if Harden does not win MVP, he will get extra focused on proving something in the playoffs. Half of me hopes he doesn't win it.
I'm happy Harden is not with Khloe anymore his game and leadership have improved so much since that low point
Since all votes are due when the regular season ends, we get a very good idea who the winner is before the Playoffs. the votes get leaked or people tell you who they voted for. spreadsheets get compiled.
