Did James Harden deserve MVP?

NBA Awards

The Scoring Run

As the 2018-19 MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo holds up his first MVP trophy, many are still stunned over what Harden did during the year. In 32 consecutive games, Harden put up at least 30 points a game, taking the 2nd place for this record. During this stretch and the whole year pretty much, no one could stop him. His jump shot was hitting from any side of the court. He was clearly the biggest show in the NBA. I wanted to bring this up first because if the NBA MVP award is about the storyline and show, did Harden not provide that to everyone this year?

James Harden’s Stats

Harden finished the year averaging 36.1 points a game, 6.6 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 2.0 steals a game. Wow. Crazy numbers that were displayed every night throughout a whole year. Most importantly, he never seemed to get tired or slow down. Every night he kept adding to these stats as the year progressed. Here are some other very important stats:

• First player in NBA history to average over 36 points and 7 assists a game
• Had nine 50+ point games this year
• 378 three pointers this year is second all time in NBA history
• Two 50 point triple doubles this year
• From December 8th to March 8th, Harden averaged 40.1 points, 7.1 assists and 7.0 rebounds a game

Final Analysis

Harden easily put on the best show this year in the NBA. Leading the Houston Rockets to a respectable fourth seed in the packed Western Conference. His consistency was probably the most shocking of all. To come out every night for months and provide those numbers, was something only the greatest players of all time could do. Sure, the Rockets didn’t win the championship, but the awards are regular season. Given that, it’s obvious that Harden had the best regular season out of everyone. I was honestly waiting for him to get tired or rest a few games. But he played 78 games this year as it was quite certain, this Rockets team was not going to be very good without him, something Giannis can’t say with the Bucks roster.

To add it up, I think the question we all have to ask ourselves is this, if Harden put up those amazing numbers and still got a top 4 seed in the west and he didn’t win MVP, what else could he possibly do to win it?

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