The mouthpiece is annoying but it's annoying in the same way that EG's guaranteed screams on drives are. I still like and respect the dude. Usually
If theEast was weak, then Bucks and Raptors should have struggled against the west, while Rockets & co should have swept the east. Looking at record against other conference vs West Bucks 20-9 Toronto 21-8 vs East GSW 21-8 Nuggets 20-10 Rockets 20-9 The reality does not support your claim. One does not need to belittle others to make Harden look great. His performances this season have been great in of themselves
He's not saying Bucks and Raptors are weak though. Those are good teams that would make playoffs in west easy. But the reality is, Bucks and Raptors play weak east teams more often, hence why he's saying inflated record. If we played cakewalk teams as often as they do our record would be better.
21 FTA's and not a peep out of twitter or media about it. So I guess when giannis travels/runs people over/gets to the line its fine, but if harden shoots FTs its an eyesore and playing the wrong way
Do you mean including the image he presents off the court as well? I've always believed that the NBA loves/adores family-friendly superstars, and Harden's party-hard lifestyle wouldn't fit the mold.
ITS THE EAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Look at the bottom half of that conference. Milwaukee and Toronto play all those teams 3 and 4 times. You can be 500 and be the 6 seed. If MIL or TOR was in the west theyd be a 3-6 seed
your analysis is misleading because you didnt take into account that its different when you have to play tough opponents every night vs every once in a while.... you can load management better and injuries and incorporating new players is easier to do harden would win 70 games in the east if he and giannis were to be replaced
not to mention the Bucks have had a much healthier squad than the Rockets the Bucks WC record comes from them playing the playoff teams and competitive teams like the Kings or the Mavs on some nights 2x each...the Rockets EC record comes from only playing the myriad of tanking/garbage/mediocre teams 2x each this @biina dude needs to come with much better material to support his arguments
The reality is that when you play in the east, you play worse teams roughly twice as often. If your record is even, it’s a pretty good indicator that the team residing in the west is better.
Giannis definitely had a nice late season signature game last night, which probably finalizes it unfortunately. FWIW, James has had 10 signature moments like that this year, but alas... My BIG annoyance right now: People declaring that the choice is easy. Heck, it is the title of this thread ("MVP Shouldn't Even be a Discussion"). That just isn't true. Both guys have absolutely great cases to make. And while I get that this is a Rockets fan site, so it is expected to see stuff like this here, what I absolutely CANNOT stand is stuff like the top of the front page ESPN.com headline right now. Front and center on ESPN at this very second with a big picture and banner it reads "Giannis is the MVP, but can he do it in the playoffs?" That is straight IRRESPONSIBLE and DISRESPECTFUL! It just screams in its implication, "Surely no one out there is so dumb they would still vote for Harden?"
This is maybe the argument I like the most. The "switch the players with their teams and tell me who's better." No sarcasm. Not that I don't love our supporting cast, but the Bucks this year are like the Rockets brand 2.0. It's like we invented modern basketball and they upgraded it. You switch out Harden and Giannis and I think the Bucks are historic the way Harden is playing this year. Giannis is a freak of nature for sure but Harden has gone black leather green computer code rain Neo from the end of the Matrix. If the Rockets don't win the ring I'll be sad. If Harden doesn't win the MVP I'll be furious. Cause it's decided by a bunch of people who haven't actually watched Harden play or thought it through (or read this thread).
Not only would he win 70 games he probably would have averaged 40 a game. Can you imagine what his stats would look like playing the Knicks 4 times a year?
Giannis is a deserving pick but the disrespect Harden gets is what bothers me so much. Giannis had a monster game of 45/13/6/5 last night against Philly and media is quick to claim MVP! Harden drops 50 point triple doubles and the media is silent. It's almost as if Harden's stats are so normalized that he get penalized for it. It's complete bs. If, for example, Beard dropped a 60 piece tonight against Knicks, media would be quick to point out, "it was against the knicks though!" THAT's my issue with this race. Harden has to go above and beyond just to be in convo. /rant
I'm not a fan of this argument. MVP is about the impact a player had on his team's season. It's not a "how good was this player, in a vacuum" award. If it was the latter then LeBron should have won it like 10 years in a row.
I would point to his December game against the Warriors and his more recent 61 point game against the Spurs. Those are the two most standout games, for me, this season. I think his MVP case received a considerable boost each time. Unfortunately, the closer the standout games come towards the end of the season, the bigger the boost that will result from it.
