This is how it starts. The media will start throwing every name in the book out there from this point forward to detract from Harden’s MVP worthy season. I hope the voters aren’t fooled again.
He's had a good week, and there's an award for that. He has no business being seriously considered for MVP. We're talking about the Pelicans here.
I heard some chatter this morning on the sports shows about how he should be solidly in 2nd place should he lead the Pelicans to the #3 slot in the West. I'd agree with that. That would be a remarkable achievement given how New Orleans lost Boogie just past the halfway mark of the season. But in no way should he win the award outright if the Rockets finish with 60+ wins.
There schedule coming up is not going to be fun for them. They are one game out of the loss column for a healthy 9th place finish.
Eh. I would give second to Curry or Durant. They also are deserving with the Warriors record. They are also 13 games ahead of the Pelicans and it will be a lot more after the season is over.
Was getting kinda worried for AD there. Was looking more Marcus Camby than Tim Duncan or Hakeem. Then again, he is only 24 (turns 25 in March) now and is truly entering his prime like Harden was at that age
there’s no need to even talk about the MVP race anymore...it’s a wrap, it’s over everyone else is just playing for a 2nd place finish
You are absolutely correct in the logical sense of the phrase, he is the runaway MVP and nobody else should be close. But I think you are underestimating how much of the media doesn't want Harden to be MVP, and will only vote for him while holding their nose. If the Pels finish strong and get close to 50 wins, and Davis averages 29-11, people will rave about what he was able to do without Cousins, and how Harden has help and he doesn't. How Davis may be the new best player in the world and he would get a lot of first place votes. He shouldn't , but he would.
I know that the media won’t embrace Harden for MVP, but I feel like he’s played so well this season that they really have no other choice. Last year they could fall behind Russ doing something historic that many thought would never happen again. In 2015, Steph had the much better record and still had very good stats. There’s really nothing for them to fall back on this year. Giannis and AD don’t have the record and aren’t doing something historic to make up for it. Kyrie doesn’t have the stats. Steph and KD take votes away from each other and Steph has missed 15 games. Lebron couldn’t capitalize on Harden’s injury and the Cavs were an embarrassment for a good portion of the season. Everything has lined up perfectly for Harden this year. Everywhere I look, people seem to acknowledge that Harden is the clear-cut MVP. the majority of the media, other team’s announcers, fans...it’s pretty much a consensus that Harden is the MVP unless he or the team fall off a cliff
This would be like 14-15 season all over again, except that Harden is Curry and AD is Harden in this scenario
