James Harden is gonna get screwed over again in MVP Voting

It always kills me when people give stats and we then hear "yeah but...triple double!" Like that is a magic bullet that kills any other stats or facts.

Haberstroh has been stumping for Kawhi. Not sure if that changed but I think he is aware of the negative facts on Westbrook's side. Not surprised Nate was all in on Westbrook as I am sure he sees himself like Westbrook.

Not sure what to make of Rachel Nichols' stance. She appears to flip flop to whatever is the trend at the moment.

Stephen Jackson and Jalen Rose are Westbrook. Chauncy (being a PG) I think appreciate's Harden getting teammates involved and thus has them as 1a and 1b. With a slight edge to Westbrook though.

They shouldn't let T-Mac in the Toyota Center building on Wednesday until he promises to stump for Harden on those ESPN shows. That said, Tmac never comes off very convincing in any arguments. Rose and Chauncy always steamroll him.

 

Lol I think Nate Robinson just said Westbrook would average a Quadruple Double under D'Antoni.

 

yeah, that's how I read it as well. I don't think Harden "hurt" his MVP chances in those games just other than not make a "statement."

I just can't get over the fact that the Rockets beat up OKC, and then that Monday on ESPN The Six they all but declared the MVP race over, Harden as inevitable. And that then night we had "Dallas" and the next night "Orlando" and then Westbrook is back on top of the media wave.

Just like that.

It is like a basketball game where you miss a 3ptr and the other team goes down and hits a 3ptr and that is a 6pt swing. Tough.

 

With turnovers.

 

Of course Nate Robinson is all about Russ. If Nate had it his way, he'd get to just go 1 on 5 for 48 minutes while everyone in the arena threw dollar bills at him. He's always been a selfish player. The difference is that off the bench, that's a good trait to have for a spark plug. However, if you're the engine of your team, and the other 4 guys on the court are looking to you to help put them in positions to succeed, it weighs the team down like an anchor. Russell Westbrook is the biggest anchor in the league right now.

 

That would be awesome. But in all seriousness, because voting is casted in already, I think Harden will win.

 

So basically...just another episode?

 

Don't a lot of media members dislike Westbrook though? The guys that are silent but just vote?

 

What's funny about that is okc should really be on a 5 game losing streak.

There lone two wins came ..... against the 2 worst teams they played in that 5 game span and they still neede double digit late fourth quarter comeback to get those two wins.

It's amazing to me that Russ is the favorite now because of a 2-3 week. Yes he got triple double, but he's been getting triple doubles, so what changed?

Hardens team went 2-3 last week also but played much better teams and his team is missing 1 and 3 starters in 5 of those games. He also didn't get blown out by the Warriors and each game was close till the end. Russ hasn't even been able to keep the game under 15 points against those guys.

Honestly for Hardens sake he should just miss the rest of the games and get better for the playoffs and then sweep the thunder in 4 games and let Russ get the MVP and know the guy who got 2nd in voting didn't even let you win one game.

I want harden to win because he deserves it but i almost feel now that it's better for him not to win. Because if he wins so many former players and media guys will just ridicule the MVP and be super disrespectful, and frankly that's not fair. It's as if harden is having one of the best seasons ever is 2 rebounds shy of avg a triple double and is producing the most points ever while leading a historically great offense.

The only ppl that respect harden are the basketball nerds. The former players are being forced to say positive things about him and then there is always a but.... why does there always have to be a but when discussing harden?

 

Harden didn't lose because of a couple of bad national TV games.

He lost because half the media decided on Westbrook the moment Durant left OKC. There's going to be plenty of people who vote for Westbrook based off smart analysis and informed opinion. It's the ones who are going to vote for Westbrook strictly because of his triple double revenge tour on Durant and that's that.

Stacked deck.

 

Nobody is going to vote for Westbrook based on smart analysis and informed opinion. : ) He just doesn't have a good case.

 

What else could u really point to other than the triple double when making a case for why Westbrook should be the MVP over Harden or even Kawhi? Maybe the only thing that u could say is that his team is atrocious when he's off the floor, but that's mainly because he's being replaced with Semaj Christen who hasn't looked like an NBA caliber player this season. When we had to give Tyler Ennis minutes to start the season, we were utterly atrocious with Harden off the floor as well.

 

In a normal season, it likely would have been.

This is not a normal season, though. The media has declared this season, beyond all else, a season of triple doubles. Wins and efficiency and such is great, but this is not the season for those. This season is about triple doubles and it's about Russell Westbrook.

 

Dallas and Orlando really ruined everything. If they had handled their business in the 4th quarter then OKC would be on a 5 game losing streak like u said and would currently be the 7th seed in the West. If that were the case then not even the triple double narrative would be enough for Westbrook to overcome that IMO.

The media is reluctant to give Harden his due. They would prefer to have Westbrook win the MVP award, but Harden has forced his way into the discussion with the season that he's been having. Objectively speaking, Harden should win this award due to his combination of winning and stats, but Westbrook must also be in the conversation since he was the media darling before the season started due to KD's departure. That's why the media recently started with this co-MVP bull****. They can't deny Harden, but they want Russ to win. It's so ridiculous.

 

Who cares about Kevin Ha..... I mean nate robinson.... really though.

 

Yeah, but even with all of that, I still thought that it was a wrap. Harden was playing his best ball of the season, and the Rockets were on a roll. We were destroying OKC and Harden was putting on a clinic. He capped off that 3rd quarter with a buzzer beating 3 to put the Rockets up by 25 and at that point I'm like...



but then we allowed Westbrook to score 18 in the 4th and get OKC to within as little as 8 points so then you still saw headlines like "Westbrook wins MVP duel as Rockets outlast Thunder"...so now I'm thinking that Westbrook's MVP campaign is still on life support because he ended up having a 39 point triple double while Harden only finished with 22 and 12

unfortunately, Harden aggravated his wrist in the final minute of that OKC game and proceeded to have 3 straight atrocious games while Westbrook put up some monster triple doubles and was a beast in the clutch, and now it seems like he's in the lead

 

We somehow have to get Harden to get a quadruple double in one of these last games to really put the cherry on top.

Of course the media will probably give it 30 seconds of run time and back to Westbrook's triple doubles.

 

Harden is wearing down while Westbrook is still going strong.

 

Harden did everything he needed to do. 10+ wins, 3-1 season series, leading the league in assists, and averaging a near triple double. Playing point for the first time in his career. Award should be his. Seriously. This is BS. But it is what it is. There's literally nothing more Harden could do.