Will this be the year KD finally wins MVP?

Durant leading slightly in PPG but LeBron shooting 7% better from the floor with godlike efficiency. That's a win for LeBron. Everything else, the differences are quite minor.

Lets also not ignore the fact that LeBron is a superior defensive player, one capable of defending any position on the floor at a high level.


I am not a LeBron fan, far from it. Can't stand the guy BUT he is clearly better.

 

this is the problem, it isn't about who is the better player, it is about who is having the better season

 

4 more ppg isn't slight, just thought i'd add

 

Is he?

And this has nothing to do with the 61 point game for me. I was the part of the 5% minority that voted LeBron before, still think it's LeBron now.

 

It is when we are discussing 27 & 31 while shooting 7% better from the floor.

KD has been efficient, LeBron has been off the charts.

 

Gap in efficiency is very small when consider three pointers, freethrows and turnovers.

 

LeBron takes a lot more post shots as well, like a centre so i'm not surprised at his field goal percentage, i would be interested in finding out what his field goal percentage is at more than 8 feet.

you can't really double team him either because of Bosh and Wade being on the same team, can't leave any of them open

 

he should be closer to an 80 percent free throw shooter

 

only with lebron a player shooting 58% from the field is "not that impressive"

 

fixed*

 

Man I wish the poll was public. I voted for Lebron before; it is still his world.

 

Pretty hilarious to see people use phrases like "it's not even close", "clearly", and "far and away". It's obviously close between KD and LBJ, and it's fun as hell. Just enjoy it, rather than trying to act like the race is already over.

 

Its not impressive because he's making the shots he takes - that's how lebron hating logic goes.

 

This might legitimately be the greatest MVP race ever. Two player putting up historically great numbers (like top 15 greatest seasons ever by anyone in the same season!), both on a very good team in different conferences. The whole "can Durant finally overtake Lebron" rhetoric. Usually MVP is a landslide obvious choice, or someone getting robbed by "the story of the year" but this year it's going to be two legitimate candidates who are by far the two best players in the league and there is an equally compelling case for both of them.

This is the golden age of basketball. A true rivalry.

 

It's close offensively, but what about defensively? It's ridiculous to think it's close between the two because you have to take defense into account as well. Can KD guard CP3 the first night, Melo the 2nd and then Tim Duncan the 3rd? I don't think so.

LBJ is leagues ahead defensively, and arguably better offensively considering he's more efficient on the floor.

 

durants defensive rating is lower than lebron and his defensive win shares are higher than lebron as well.

durant also has just as many steals per game and more blocks per game than lebron as well.

 

Check out what Space City said. To say it's not close between the two right now is just so incredibly silly. People were saying it was Durant and not close less than a month ago. Now Lebron is going insane and might have just taken the lead, and I even think Lebron should win if the vote was today. But don't just forget Durant is still putting up insane numbers as well on the best team in the much tougher conference, and it's not like Durant's defense is garbage. To say it's not close is just not true. Having said that...we'll see how Westbrook being back effects Durant in the long run. Season ain't over.

 

Their stats are so close, but IMO, what settles it is the head-to-head matchup. If you watched the all-star game, you could see LBJ still has KD's number. Reminds me of when Robinson and Malone won MVPs over Dream. They each had crazy scoring stats often better than Hakeem, but they got crushed anytime they had to face the man 1v1.

 

^ this. Whenever they match-up it always seems like Durant has to take and make hard shots and Lebron just has to turnaround and back Durant under the basket. Durant may win mvp with better stats but over the course of a 7 game series I think it'd be similar to Hakeem vs. Robinson. Hakeem would pull those guys out and make them uncomfortable on the perimeter, Lebron does the same thing by backing these 2-3's down.

 

Everyone keeps arguing Lebrons defense yada yada yada, and while we all know he's the superior defender... Has he been playing better defense this season? He's been half assing it all season.

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