Most Valuable Player: James Harden, Houston Rockets
36.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 8.3 assists, 2.1 steals, 5.6 turnovers
On the surface, it feels wrong to give the MVP to the leader of a fifth seed. I’m a strong believer that winning should be a major factor, even in individual awards.
Sometimes wins alone don’t tell the full story of a team, though. The same way that raw stats tell you less than advanced analytics, win totals tell you less than the context they are achieved within.
Houston lost a lot of their depth over the offseason, meaning their “big three” of Harden, Chris Paul and Clint Capela would be even more important than before. And yet, despite Paul missing 21 games with injury and Capela missing five, the Rockets are 27-20 and fighting for a top four finish. Even more remarkably, they were 9-8 when Paul went down, meaning they’ve had a better record without him.
So who has Harden been winning with? Excluding Paul and Capela, here are the Rockets leaders in win shares; Harden, PJ Tucker, James Ennis, Danuel House and Gerald Green. The rest of the roster is filled with limited role players and fringe NBA prospects, and yet Houston continues winning.
James Harden's MSG Moment!
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) January 24, 2019
Career-high & franchise-high 61 PTS (17-38 FG, 5-20 3PT, 22-25 FT) 15 REB, 5 STL, 4 AST, 5 TO
Tied Kobe for most PTS by MSG visitor
1st player w/ 60 PTS / 15 REB since Shaq in 2000
5th all-time in 60 PT GMS (2)
Tied 5th all-time in 50 PT GMS (14) pic.twitter.com/DaTUKuxAys
That’s because Harden has gone supernova and reached levels of scoring barely seen in the NBA. He has 21 consecutive games of 30-plus points, the longest streak by any player not named Wilt Chamberlain, and he’s done so with his trademark style of efficiency.
His effective field goal percentage of 54.4 is higher than during his MVP run last season, and he’s once again leading the league in free throw attempts (523) and makes (452) by a wide margin.
According to USA Today, he’s on track to become just the second player to ever average at least 35 points, eight assists, five rebounds and two steals, alongside a guy named Michael Jordan. His 39.5 points per game since Paul’s injury suggest that his scoring, at least, won’t be dropping off any time soon.
There are so many stats and benchmarks that can be used to argue for Harden, but you’ve probably heard them all by now. I’ll default back to my favourite factor– if Harden can keep consistently winning with PJ Tucker, Eric Gordon and Danuel House as his supporting cast, he’s the MVP in my book.
Honorable mentions: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks; Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets; Kawhi Leonard, Toronto Raptors