Daily Archives: March 3, 2015

Mar 3 2015

Harden for MVP??

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James Harden grabbed the NBA MVP on Sunday. Well, he grabbed four-time NBA MVP LeBron James, locking elbows with the Cleveland Cavaliers forward on a drive to the basket and refusing to let go while the referees awkwardly watched.

The play embodied this season for Harden, the Houston Rockets guard who has pushed, prodded and kicked his way to the front of the 2014-15 NBA MVP race. He took the lead for the first time in USA TODAY Sports’ weekly poll, edging Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry 50-49 in points.

That one-point margin at the top doesn’t begin to explain this tense race. Four players — Harden, Curry, James and New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis — received votes, while Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook was ahead of at least one of those players on nine of the 10 ballots. (Ten NBA journalists pick their top five, with points distributed on a 7-5-3-2-1 basis.)

This five-man race is the best we’ve had in at least nine seasons, since the 2005-06 scrum that ended with Steve Nash’s second Maurice Podoloff Trophy and a flurry of consternation. And with six weeks left in the season, each of these candidates has the opportunity to make the award theirs.

But mostly, it’s Harden vs. Curry. And choosing, for better or worse, seems to require a stance on basketball morals.

Harden is a professional jaywalker. He declared himself the best basketball player in the world before this season, and he has spent the year perfecting his acerbic style. The 6-5, 225-pound shooting guard flings himself into the lane, daring opponents to block his flailing shots without fouling him in the process. When he gets a clean look, he seems surprised. Flopping and offensive fouls are against the rules, but Harden knows their penalties and has accepted the risk of punishment. That bore out Monday, when he was suspended one game by the NBA for kicking James in the groin while on the ground.

His game is a shortcut, then, but it’s usually in the best of ways. Harden represents a culmination of trends in basketball analytics. Nearly 70% of his field goal attempts are either at the basket or behind the three-point arc, the kinds of high-yield shots advocated by Rockets general manager Daryl Morey. The result: An All-Star caliber talent has grown into an MVP front-runner.

He had his moment Sunday. He stood toe-to-toe with the best player in the world (yes, that’s still James), came out on top and even had the Rockets’ Twitter feed dub him “King James,” a direct shot fired at the Cavaliers star.

But Curry’s moments came against Harden. They came in a 4-0 sweep by the Warriors, particularly in the two games in Houston