The NBA’s Most Valuable Player award. Arguably the most coveted individual accolade a professional basketball player can hope for. An award that has sparked some of the most controversial and famous one-on-one comparisons in league history.
Thankfully, this year is not the exception.
A modern description of any sport’s Most Valuable Player could easily be taken from one of ESPN’s Bill Simmons’ podcasts in which he talks about the award belonging to, in essence, the most impactful player in the league and/or his team. For example, if the Houston Rockets were to replaces James Harden with an average shooting guard, how good of a season would they have?
Would they be fourth in the Western Conference?
With a bunch of storylines surrounding the 2014-15 season, the wide-open MVP race is arguably one of the hottest. James Harden, Stephen Curry, Marc Gasol, and a rallying LeBron James are gunning for it — by playing out of their minds — making this one of the most unpredictable MVP awards in recent memory.
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According to this piece by HoopsHabit’s own Gerald Bourguet, the 2014-15 MVP race is as tight as it could be.
Through an eventful first half of the NBA season — in which Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant missed a combined 37-games, and LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers fell from their otherworldly expectations — there’s been a constant story that hasn’t surprised us at all, James Harden’s MVP-worthy play.
(Note: This is by no means an effort to bash a near-historical season from Stephen Curry but James Harden seems to be more valuable to his team than Curry.)
The Houston Rockets are fourth in the Western Conference and have had one of the most steady seasons in team history. Even though they’ve stumbled though some of their games, they have somewhat of a “Nobody Believes In Us” vibe to them. And it’s all because of James Harden.
For the past couple of seasons James Harden’s offense has been as productive as they come. The following are James Harden’s stats up until before last night’s game against the Golden State Warriors:
| Season | Age | GS | FG | FGA | FG% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | 2P | 2PA | 2P% | FT | FTA | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-15 | 25 | 42 | 8.3 | 18.3 | .452 | 2.7 | 7.0 | .381 | 5.6 | 11.3 | .496 | 7.9 | 8.9 | .890 | 5.6 | 6.7 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 27.1 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/21/2015.
James Harden is playing 36.3 minutes per game, and leading the league in points per game (27.1 ) by making a career high 2.7 three-point and 5.6 two-point shots per game.
How do these numbers translate onto the Houston Rockets’ success?
- James Harden scores 26.4 percent of the Rockets’ 102.6 points per game.
- James Harden leads the league in free throw attempts by 81 with 331. He’s also scoring 89 percent of his free-throws per game.
- James Harden is taking over 31.4 percent of the Rockets’ possessions.
- The Rockets score 79.8 (77.7 percent(!)) of their 102.6 points per game with James Harden on the floor.
- The Rockets have 283 (!) field goals made from James Harden’s assists.
Also …
Most efficient on offense (min. 1,000 minutes)
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 21, 2015
James Harden: 1.5 pts/shot, 26.4 pts/36 min
Anthony Davis: 1.4, 24.5
Stephen Curry: 1.4, 23.8
And don’t forget …
Crazy Stat of Day: James Harden now has his 4th 40-point game of the season, twice as many as LeBron James, Damian Lillard & Klay Thompson.
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 20, 2015
Also, for the past couple of seasons Harden’s struggles left huge holes on the Rockets’ defense. Shooters on two-pointers defended by him scored at a 60.2 percent during the 2013-14 season. This season, after countless promises of becoming the two-dimmensional player he was born to be, James Harden has cut the previous number down to 50.2 percent.
Having two MVP-worthy phenomenons like Harden and Curry going against each other at such a high level is seldom seen during the NBA’s super-team era. And regardless of who eventually takes the MVP trophy with him, we should — and most of us will — remember how two of the smartest players of their time traded punches as they raced atop of the league.
For us basketball fans, this is what dreams are made of.