Houston Rockets vs Oklahoma City Thunder Primer: Harden vs Westbrook

Breaking down an unprecedented individual matchup that will headline the playoff series between the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder

In the history of the modern NBA, we have never seen a matchup quite like the one we’re about to witness between Russell Westbrook’s Oklahoma City Thunder and James Harden’s Houston Rockets.

If Harden and Westbrook do indeed finish first and second in some order in the MVP race, this will be the twelfth time since 1980 – the year the media started voting for the award – that the top two finishers faced off in a playoff series. The most recent of these battles occurred two years ago when the Rockets were summarily dismissed by Steph Curry’s Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.

What makes this series unique is that none of the previous eleven such matchups took place in the first round of the playoffs.

In short, we’re getting the heavyweight championship bout as an undercard.

What also makes this unfamiliar territory in MVP head-to-heads is the fact that one team, on paper at least, is so much stronger than the other.