[Grantland] Listen to Your Heart: James Harden Is the MVP

I am amazed how people cannot see this part of Harden
The Scoring
The Assists
The Rebounds
The All around game

Rocket River

 

"The MVP is Harden's but Curry will win it". I've seen this way too much also. Then wtf is the point of the MVP award if this is the mindset of many.

 

Esp since someone posted a video of Curries defensive flops when ever someone picks him . . .. . .
Dude makes it look like he ran into a brick wall going 100 mph

Rocket River

 

I'm so tired of this flopping ****.

Michael Jordan- 833 FTs (86-87)
Durant- 756 fts (09-10)
Bryant 696 (05-06)

Harden's good, but he's never been close to 800...people act like he's breaking records here. He's not. He's just attacking the paint and getting his rewards.

 

Harden doesn't flop. He draws contact. There's a difference. Lots of players have done that. And some of them have won MVP. I don't remember people complaining about David Robinson doing that back in 1995 when he won the award. Or MJ the countless times he was MVP. Or Karl Malone the 2 times he got it.

Curry probably will win it because of the success of his team(which of course, he's partly responsible for). And I'm fine with that. Honestly, it's a tossup depending on what stats you choose to focus on. But all the media types who do vote for Curry over Harden better hope the Warriors don't flame out in the playoffs(especially if the Rockets go deep), cuz otherwise they'll look back with regret on that decision.

 

I doubt it. They can always say, "Hey, it's a regular season award."

 

Dirk knows.

 

yep...
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First of all-

When the "Triangle" on Grantland does a NBA podcast, whenever the Rockets get brought up, they all three grown because they openly HATE the Rockets and love the Mavs. Well at least the girl that wants to ravish Parsons does.

The whole narrative of "Harden Flops" is pushed on shows like theirs that is all about that.... narrative. Its fun, they treat the NBA like reality TV, and that's ok for them. Its the E celebrity gossip version of NBA talk. That's their thing. Its ok.


If this was coming Bill, Jalen, Goldsberry, or Lowe pushing the Harden flops narrative then its another thing. But we probably shouldn't get bent out of shape when the NBA After Dark crew says that Harden Flops in between segments about Westbrooks fashion trends, and Parsons' Buffalo jeans ad.

The fact is... Harden gets fouled by the definition of the NBA handbook. Harden also goes to the line less than MJ did in his prime, and Kobe. If Harden is getting accused of flopping because he goes to the line too much to make an NBA game watchable, than MJ and Kobe need to be accused as floppers as well.

 

How far would a Harden thrashing of the Spurs over the 2 games and locking up the 2nd seed go for Hardens MVP campaign? After the way the Warriors got taken out to the woodshed by SA on Sunday I think it could definitely sway some people on the fence. If James really wants this award and to prove he is deserving of it, no better way to prove it than show up the NBA champs in back to back games after they just shut down the front runner for the award.

 

He's at 777 this year. he will break 800 most likely.

 

I too am still frustrated by this. Harden gets to the line because he's the most physical player in-on the play. How is that "flopping". That's the complete opposite of what I consider flopping to be. If anything he's an anti-flopper.

When I hear "flopping" I picture Chris Paul going down from a phantom mortar explosion, not Harden tanking his way through the lane getting slapped by 3 different sets of hands.

If you want to call it - gaming the system - fair enough. But "flopping", nah, man. Get over it.

 

I don't think it'll matter to most people. If you're voting Curry, you're doing it because of the Warriors' record and his individual numbers.

 

I don't think you're a homer for having that opinion. You've just been watching the games. The brilliance of James Harden is that he draws real fouls going to the hoop. Look at the replays. Rarely, in my humble opinion, are those drives to the basket that either become an and-one, or draw a two shot foul, the result of a phantom call. And this is where the Grantland column ticks me off, that Harden flops on his drives to the basket, something the author repeatedly mentions. In my opinion, Harden rarely does. Sure, he'll sell going to the floor, but he's going to the floor because of a foul he's earned. It's obvious that the refs agree, or James wouldn't have racked up that ungodly number of trips to the line. If people want to complain about Harden flopping, they might sometimes have a case when he draws a perimeter foul, but that isn't where the author goes. It's weird how screwed up aspects of this column are, even though the writer does attempt, in a near back-handed way, to say Harden deserves to be MVP.

Oh, and just to be clear, Dave, we're both homers. Just not in every case. ;-)-

 

Backhand Rockets hate aside...he's right

 

Here are still images of every foul called that sent Harden to the line for his 50 point game against the Nuggets where he took 25 free throws.

Many people have claimed that Harden's 50 point game was "tarnished" because 22 of his 50 points came from free throws.

But if you notice, nearly every single foul is because he has beat his man an the players who were beat reach in in desperation to stop an easy lay-up. None of them are in good defending position:

Foul #1, 7:01 1st Q. Obvious reach-in:




Foul #2, 4:01 1st Q. Nobody in front. Players hacking:




Foul #3, 3:00 1st Q. Hard to see from the bad quality of this pic, but nobody is in front, and players are just reaching in and hacking him:




Foul #4, 6:18 2nd Q. Weird random reach-in by Ty Lawson:




Foul #5, 2:53 2nd Q. Harden beats his man, and his man reaches in from behind and hacks him in desperation.




Foul #6, 0:41 2nd Q. Harden gets wrapped up to stop his fast break.




Foul #7, 6:33 3rd Q. Harden's man can't stay in front, and hacks him once again:




Foul #8, 5:41 3rd Q. Neither man is in front, and they use their arms to defend and hack him:




Foul #9, 1:01 3rd Q. Blocking foul on Jameer Nelson on a fast break. You can see by their legs that Jameer is not in front.




Foul #10, 0:04 3rd Q. Nobody can stay in front of him, and all they can do is grab an arm:




Foul #11, 4:55 4th Q. This one was questionable. Faried does get him with his body, but the contact was slight.




Foul# 12, 2:55 4th Q. Again, nobody can stay in front, and they resort to hacking.




Foul #13, 1:02 4th Q. Harden's man can't stay in front and a blocking foul is called.

 

Most valuable on the Golden State squad is Bogut hands down, sure Curry is the best, most valuable is Bogut.

 

BS argument. This guy has no clue about JH's game.

Again, I don't understand why people can't see this. It takes Elite level effort to fight for free throw line parking spot. No one but JH can do this in the league.

 

So if somebody looked at the box score, they'd see that he shot 25 free throws and would assume the referees were just bailing him out and he was flopping.

Yes, he will throw his head back and will lift his arms up even after he loses the ball, but he really is getting hacked the vast majority of the time.

People see him throw his head back and assume he's faking. He is "faking" by throwing his head back. The foul didn't actually snap his head back. But he really does get fouled way more than people give him credit for.

 

Yeah, lots of backhanded compliments for Harden.

Harden takes it strong to the hole and baits defenders into fouling him, which they inevitably do. I still don't get why that's a bad thing.

I think if you are going to bring up the number of foul shots, you must include Westbrick's per game average as well as the Durant's totals from past years... esp. the 09-10 season.