Injuries have really taken a toll on the Rockets overall record. A relatively healthy season and we’re sitting anywhere from the 3 seed up and this conversation is really over. However as it stands, I don’t feel like voting for him is even close to the same as voting for Westbrook from 2 years ago. Harden had a better team season and was statistically better than Westbrook that year. Westbrook won off of 2 rebounds per game more. Giannis has a better team but is statistically miles apart from Harden who elevated his game to legendary status to keep the Rockets afloat. I think he should get it but I don’t expect it. He won last year so I’m not stressing this one at all. But to your point, if Lebron had these numbers he’d win unanimously.
C'mon, obviously there's a discussion. Giannis is having a great season at both ends of the floor and his team is likely finish with the league's best record. Honestly, the only way Harden wins the MVP even with these insane numbers is if the Rockets reach the 3rd seed.
Nice to see some intelligent post here again. I’ve been reading **** here that has had me thinking the IQ level on this board has dropped beyond tolerable lately. LIKE And my favorite.
There was a time when no one cared anything about the MVP award. Now, the tv talking heads talk all day about this popularity contest. It's hard for me to care very much for an award where a biased voter can decide who wins and who loses. Many of these voters probably barely watch Harden play since they don't like his "style" of basketball. The NBA championship title is the only thing that matters to me. Voters don't decide who wins a championship. A championship can only be earned by the players on the court. It's no popularity contest.
So are you saying Russ deserved MVP over Harden? The MVP should not be about signature moments or history-making stats. You’re just validating the worst possible MVP argument for Westbrook.
Giannis not looking anything like an MVP and getting carried by his teammates on nat'l TV. I think Harden gonna snatch this sh*t, like Russ did to him in '17.
So, a lot of analysts were holding their tongues on whether to proclaim Harden as the lead in the MVP race, claiming they wanted to see how Giannis performed in the game versus the Lakers tonight. Let's see what they say on Monday, haha.
Imagine a 70 point triple double? Why? Because no one has ever accomplished that? Well, no one ever accomplished a 60 point triple double until James Harden did it this year either.
Russ didn’t deserve it because Harden had pretty much the same statline as he did while scoring way more efficiently and winning more games. Russ wasn’t even better than Harden, he just managed to get 2 extra uncontested rebounds a game. No one is even close to Harden this year. The media set the precedent that history trumps winning. Harden is doing something historic while dragging his team to a potential 3rd seed in the West. Giannis is pretty much doing what he did last year, but the Bucks added Bud who will be COY and who completely changed that Bucks team on both ends. Harden was on par with Russ at the very least, Giannis is not on par with Harden. Giannis dropped 17, and the Bucks still beat the Lakers quite easily. Rockets wouldn’t even beat the Knicks if Harden had a 17 point game. We lose to the Heat the other night if Harden drops 50 instead of 58.
You are absolutely right. The media can't get off Greek Freak's dick for some reason. Greek is a great player no doubt but his numbers and play doesn't merit all the MVP talk relative to Harden. Like you said it isn't even close. One player that does merit the talk is Paul George who went on a tear late DEC-FEB perhaps second in scoring output to the Beard. If you look at that season 2 years ago when Westbrook won, the argument was that he was putting up historic numbers despite James' multiple triple double games and high scoring output. Unfortunately Westbrook was even better than Harden and put up "historic" numbers, which ultimately edged James out. I liken it to this season George is really good but James has been spectacular. For whatever reason the media demonizes Harden. And to be honest Harden is kind of a blue collared player. He doesn't look like he's in shape. He doesn't have the Greek Freak's and Lebron's body. He doesn't have the length and athleticism but somehow gets it done night in and night out with intelligence, mental discipline, and determination.
Honestly they only reason Harden got it last year, was because of the Best record, if we had 3rd of r even tied for 2nd they would have easily gave it to LeBron... Houston has always been handicapped by the NBA and media..Thats why it feels so good when we always over acheive! 2 WCFs In he past 4 years.. Pretty good feat for a player that they lable as a playoff choker...♂️
You're close to it but not quite there. The media has already given you the reason this is Giannis' year and they are going to steal it from Harden yet again. They don't want to give it to him which is why they cheated him the years with Steph and Brody. Harden is going to need an 82 point triple double. They have already mentioned it on the shows. Harden's one calling card that pierces the hate is that they believe offensively he is the second coming of Kobe/MJ. They want to see his mix of FT/3PT and layups tricked to the maximum. This screams a Suns game to me. It will need to be a high scoring game that the rest of the team goes to sleep on D with a big lead and he just gets hot and never lets up. The Suns will play along like they did before with Booker. His ego is so big he will want to put up a lot of points as well. Nobody will ever touch Wilt's 100 and if he ever got close he should go for it but the 82 is the calling card. Personally, I don't want to see us ever try for it and would rather we focus on becoming last year's team but if a game gets out of hand let him go ham. Instead of 8/18 on 3s the other night if he went 15/18 or 15/20 he would have been right there. One night he is just going to get insanely hot and everyone is going to get the hell out of the way. That LA Clipper game from last year where he held funeral services for Wesley Johnson could have gone that way at one point. He is going to have a nightmare 1st where it is just on from there out.
What is your basis of comparison for “on par”? PPG? If you are looking at a combination of all the catch-all advanced metrics, Giannis and Harden are pretty close (Harden is better in some, Giannis is better in others). When Westbrook won a few years ago, Morey’s most compelling argument that it should have gone to Harden instead was the MVP odds calculator from basketball-reference.com. It showed Harden was the more deserving candidate. https://web.archive.org/web/20170629102348/http://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/mvp.html This year, Giannis is pretty far ahead with over 50% probability: https://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/mvp.html Here are the results for last year, when Harden’s MVP case was rock solid: https://web.archive.org/web/20180710064102/https://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/mvp.html The combination of ~63 wins and all-around dominating statistical profile from Giannis, coupled with his well-earned rep as a great defensive player, is a tough case to beat. That’s like an ideal MVP season, by historical standards. One can certainly make a case for Harden this year. But plenty of players in the past have led the league in scoring by a wide margin and haven’t won MVP. And the fact that Harden’s team really under-performed preseason expectations is also a mark against his season.
just look at my OP for why Giannis isn’t on par with Harden...Harden is doing something we haven’t seen since Wilt, Giannis is doing something he pretty much did last year Harden isn’t dropping all these 40+ point games just because, he literally has to or we wouldn’t even be in the playoffs...the Rockets are 15-4 in games he drops at least 40 since Dec 13th, and only 9-7 when he doesn’t Giannis isn’t on this level and could not do a carry job like this
''Everybody talks about Giannis, but it's the supporting cast. They've surrounded Giannis with a great cast.'' --Lebron James Antetokounmpo was held to 16 points - below his 27-point average - and 15 rebounds for Milwaukee. http://www.nba.com/games/20190301/MILLAL#/recap
