The Real MVP?
- Apr 24, 2015
- 5 min read
Award season is in full swing in the NBA as the playoffs are just starting to heat up. Last week the Toronto Raptor's Lou Williams won the Sixth Man of the Year Award while earlier this week Mike Budenholzer of the Atlanta Hawks took home Coach of the Year honours. Kawhi Leonard has (rather controversially) been named the Defensive Player of the Year but deservedly so. However there is one award that has everyone talking. It's been the talk of the NBA for most of the season; who takes home the coveted Most Valuable Player Award?
Most media experts and analysts have called it a four-horse race; James Harden, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook and LeBron James. All worthy candidates in their own right. Each certainly has a concrete case for the MVP trophy.
The only thing that kept the Thunder afloat this year was one man; Russell Westbrook. He managed to notch eleven triple-doubles this season despite missing 15 games due to injury. ELEVEN TRIPLE-DOUBLES. Oh and he lead the NBA in scoring. Just casually. Nothing crazy. His wreckless, no-regard-for-human-life, style of play had everyone glued to their televisions and for good reason. The Oklahoma City Thunder needed scoring and every player other than Westbrook seemed to be allergic to the bottom of the net. He dropped 54 on the Pacers just before the close of the regular season while shooting 49% from the field. If you thought that was impressive then here's another one. Westbrook took 43 shots that game. If effective shooting and a surplus of points isn't valuable to a team who can't put the ball in the net without Durant then hell I don't know what is. The only criticism of Westbrook would have to be the lack of post-season play as they were beaten out by the New Orleans Pelicans for the 8th seed.
And now the Human Torch of the NBA, Steph Curry. Look no further than the Warriors NBA best 67-15 record. At this point I would just like to point out that the Warriors were 5 wins away from the 1995/96 Chicago Bulls record of 72-10, lead by none other than His Airness, Michael Jordan. 5 wins really isn't that many games and not enough credit is being given to the Warriors for how well they've been playing. Stats-wise this would have to be a down year and this speaks volumes to how great Curry is as a player. While 23.8 points along with 7.7 assists per game doesn't sound like anything special, the overall impact Curry has had on the team, especially when playing at home, has been outstanding. The Oracle Arena has been so loud that New Orleans head coach Monty Williams called it "illegal", prompting Warriors fans to provide earplugs for him. What kind of fans wouldn't be going absolutely nuts when you've got a player capable of plays like this.
Curry has been the best player on the best team this year, but does that automatically translate to an MVP trophy?
Quietly sailing under the radar is four-time MVP, LeBron James. After moving back Cleveland in the off-season, great things were expected of the team sporting The King, Kyrie Irving and former T-Wolves Kevin Love. A new "Big 3" era was born (ahh great another one). But things didn't go to plan and somehow the Cavs ended up 19-20; David Blatt's credentials as a coach were questioned, trades were made and LeBron took a two week holiday to rest up his body. All the early season trouble seems like an eternity ago now as LeBron leads to team against the Celtics in a first round playoff matchup. The early season trouble can't be ignored but LeBron has been putting up 25.3 points, 6 rebounds and 7.4 assits. Sound like MVP numbers? Well you're right because LeBron's stats this year is identical to that of this four MVP seasons with the exception of a slightly lowered scoring average. You can't ignore greatness and the 2nd seed in the East but is does LeBron have a bit less to do with other superstars there to help? Plus what kind of MVP is allowed to have a two week break?
Plus he ditched the headband. Like c'mon you can't win MVP with no headband LeBron!!
Finally, The Bearded One, James Harden. With defensive backbone Dwight Howard going down early in the season through injury, it was always going to be a tough ask for the Rockets to meet the lofty expectations set for them. Howard missed 41 games this season which is more than the combined total of missed games for his entire career prior. The pressure was on Harden to be "The Man" by himself, which is somewhat of a foreign concept in the modern NBA. He finished 2nd in the NBA in scoring with 27.4 points while also collecting 5.7 rebounds and dishing 7 assists a game. Pretty solid statline to say the least. Dividing NBA fans (well mostly NBA fans and Rockets fans) is Harden's "ability" to get to the free throw line, a place he visits quite regularly; ten times a game. While often criticised by fans and analysts alike for "ugly" basketball, Harden turned it into an artform mastered by few. The Beard has 35 games scoring over 30 points however the main argument for Harden has a strong emphasis on the word "valuable" in the MVP conversation. If you remove Harden from the Rockets and replace him with a remotely average player, you can say goodbye to the second seed in the West and maybe even the playoffs in general for this year. No Dwight Howard and no James Harden would be catastrophic for this Rockets team that would probably end up back in NBA purgatory; the forever doomed 9th seed in the West.
Can a well groomed beard be enough for Harden to take home the MVP trophy?
This year's race has been up and down all season. Curry go on a scoring rampage for weeks on end, then Harden will drop 40 on some helpless team, the Westbrook will get in on the action a try to get a triple-double in every game he plays. All the while LeBron is going about his business, leading the Cavs to the 2nd seed in the East. Each player has a story and each player has a great chance of winning but I think it comes down to Curry and Harden. The top two seeds in the Western conference and arguably the best two players in the NBA right now. It will be come down to the wire and there's no doubt about that.
Comments