Curry isn't deserving of MVP when someone else is more deserving and there is one to give out. Harden has done everything. His usage is high, he has scored more than anyone else in the league by 400 more points, he has had a HISTORIC season that has been compared to as ones reminiscent of only Larry Bird, LeBron James, and MICHAEL JORDAN. He has done this all without a healthy team (even playing D-Leaguers at times)...no Dwight, no Jones, no DMO..early on in the season he didn't have a bench. He almost leads the league in minutes played. The dude has been as clutch as anyone including the final moments of the OKC game which is EXACTLY what needs to be highlighted as an MVP type performance...OKC takes the lead and Harden answers by scoring 8 in 70 seconds to put the game away. ALL OF THESE DETAILS AND HE IS WINNING. He holds the 2nd second in possibly the hardest conference to date and it has been a 1 man show...as opposed to Curry's 7 man show. Without Harden there is no playoffs for the Rockets. Curry, obviously, is going to be a best player on your team in any team. I would argue the Hawks have their best player in Horford or Milsap. Spurs have Duncan. We have Harden. If Curry wins MVP this year then every single season from here on out should be just the best overall record and giving it to their best player...which devalues the term Most Valuable. As far as individual numbers and contribution - Curry lacks. He hasn't done anything spectacular that would make anyone think he is the MVP unless they saw his team's record. He shoots a high percentage which is great. There are better shooters out there than Curry. He is the primary scorer (Co-Primary) on the best team...there are better scorers. Curry hasn't had a historic season as an individual. He is only impressive because he is on the best team in basketball. He is possibly not even the best point guard in the league as Westbrook, Chris Paul, Lillard can all be argued. Harden is UNDOUBTEDLY the best shooting guard in the league and his performances, especially in the clutch, make that statement viable. Show me the go-ahead games winners that Curry has - Harden has them Show me the season stats that compare him to the young career of the great Michael Jordan and LeBron - Harden has it Show me why Curry is more deserving of the MVP than James Harden I'll say it again. If Harden doesn't win this year then the MVP award will be without merit going forward.
Yeah, the warriors don't but they are consumed about it. Curry has mentioned it several times this season and so have his teammates. Going so far to attack any one that doesn't agree that it's Steph Curry and throwing slights at the Rockets organization for even thinking that Harden is in the same league.
Still having fun with this <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBA?src=hash">#NBA</a> should award entire GSW team the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBAMVP?src=hash">#NBAMVP</a> since it's "best player on BEST TEAM" right? <a href="https://twitter.com/AminESPN">@AminESPN</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SherwoodStrauss">@SherwoodStrauss</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/stephenasmith">@stephenasmith</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/logic?src=hash">#logic</a></p>— James Garcia (@sephkane) <a href="https://twitter.com/sephkane/status/585188830904463361">April 6, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Looking at the list of voters makes me think Harden may have a shot. Looks to be mostly local guys who cover the team and national writers.
Houston (53-24) Pace: 99.2 (2) OffRtg: 104.0 (12) DefRtg: 100.4 (7) NetRtg: +3.6 (7) Some games against bad defenses have given both the Rockets' offense and James Harden's MVP campaign a boost. He dropped 51 on the Kings on Wednesday, 41 in Oklahoma City on Sunday, and became the second player in NBA history (Gilbert Arenas with 205 and 606 in 2006-07 was the other) to make 200 threes and 600 free throws in a season. This week: @ SAS, vs. SAS, vs. NOP On NBA.com Power Rankings. Media really really dislikes us. Anything comes loaded with some sort of back handed compliment. Would start prepping for Curry to win.
Wow curry sounds like a little b****. Does he really believe that a vote for harden is a slight against him. What a little b****.
It's almost like there's this retreat or get together for all the wives of sports journalists and Harden pulled a Wilt and gang-b*nged the entire guest list. I just can't rationalize it any other way. Feel free to photo-shop that pic somebody lol
It is incredible, right? It is like they are forced to alert the audience of the facts but make it sound as least impressive as possible and throw in a way to put Harden in a negative light in whatever possible. Instead of..."Without Howard, Harden takes the game into his own hands and scores 50 to win against the Kings" it becomes "Harden puts up 50 points against one of the crappiest teams in the league that admitted afterwards that they weren't even trying. This game should be completely disregarded as Harden took advantage of a demoralized team because he is a d***" Fox News of Basketball it seems, man.
It is a little strange. The Starters just had their award show and named Kerr COTY, Green DPOY, and Curry MVP. At this point I'm going to check out of this MVP race similar to what I did with JJ Watt. Just doesn't look like the media likes us very much and Harden will miss out on an MVP because of it.
Instead of sending the media Harden highlights, maybe the Rockets should send a portfolio of the best Houston overlooks/slights by the media.
Warriors expected to win championship this year to without losing a single game in the playoffs, Curry already favorite to win Finals MVP, projections of 8 straight championships for the Warriors all with Curry MVP, Green DPOY, and Kerr COTY. Curry and Thompson expected to tie in scoring next year with 33 ppg to both share the scoring title...even though Harden put up 400 more points throughout the season.
I agree with this. Unfortunately, brilliant as JJ Watt was, he was not able to lift his team into the playoffs while other players (mainly quarterbacks) were able to. This is really the only knock on JJ. Imagine if Watt had the second best record (with the same squad) following only Rodgers' Packers and they still gave Rodgers the MVP...this is essentially what is happening to Harden.
This whole nonsense about it being okay if Curry gets the MVP, because that will just drive Harden harder to go win the Finals MVP needs to stop. It doesn't work that way. We got swept by the Warriors, a better overall team, this year. We swept the eventual champions last year in the regular season. Playoffs are not just about one player. Give Kerr COTY for keeping his team groomed to always kick ass. But everything anecdotal and quantifiable says that James Harden deserves the MVP Award for the regular season that he has had, which has been remarkable. Merit should be rewarded for what it is; this isn't some psychological chess game. Also, the reason Harden is playing like an MVP is because he ISN'T playing with a huge chip on his shoulder. He's playing with pride, no doubt, but that's different. If you want to see someone playing with a chip on their shoulder, go watch the gross game Lebron played against us, where he just decided to not include any of his teammates in the last half of the game. It was stat-boosting and self-aggrandizing and disgusting. Meanwhile, Harden is scoring more AND assisting more and carrying a load he shouldn't be able to carry. That's not just most-valuable. That's just best, because it's under much more pressure than anybody else. I think it's worth noting as well that if we were talking about the Golden State Rockets and the Houston Warriors, James Harden would be the darling of the media. You couldn't pick two cities that are more polar, and it's obvious where most national media personalities are going to fawn. I think they should let the players, who actually are in the trenches vote on who kicked their ass the most. They did have the players vote on the MVP until the '80-'81 season. Go back to that. In all sports.
JJ Watt simply does not play in a position that affects the game as much as a position like QB, RB, and even WR. D can help you stay in games and on rare occasions, win games, but ultimately, it is still offense that scores points to win games.
