MVP slipping away from Harden.

[dunksby]

Comfortably behind? It's super close, imo. Yeah, I know Curry's has the second best record in the NBA, and Harden's team is the 4th seed in the West, but that doesn't mean that Curry has that nice, comfortable lead. What Harden has done without Dwight, our 2nd best player, is pretty remarkable. He has the Rockets in a position where nobody would have ever guessed. I remember after Dwight got injured, people were saying that we would slip to the 7th or 8th seed. They were wrong. Harden is doing a fantastic job of leading this team. He also has a nice supporting cast around him. Guys like Brewer, Smith, Terry, and Jones really come off the bench and produce.

Curry gets the benefit of having a better cast. Not saying that's gonna hurt his MVP case -- because it's totally won't -- I'm just saying the Warriors are this good because of him AND the talent around him. Warriors' cast is easily better than the Rockets'.


Have a look at their per 36:

Stephen Curry - 25.6 ppg/8.4 apg/4.8 rpg/2.3 spg/0.3 bpg on 48/42/90
Advanced Stats - PER: 27.5/TS%: 62.7/WS: 12.2/VORP: 6

James Harden - 26.4 ppg/6.9 apg/5.7 rpg/1.9 spg/0.8 bpg on 45/38/87
Advanced Stats - PER: 26.7/TS%: 60.6/WS: 12.9/VORP: 6.2

Both guys have edges on certain categories.


Since when is averaging 26.4 ppg and 25.6 pgg considered even? Those are the per 36 averages of Harden and Curry. You don't have to guess which one is which. Yeah the numbers are close, but it's not even by any means. Also, nice job of changing the FG percentages. Curry's per 36 FG% is 48, while Harden's is extremely close to 45. Next time you try to argue something, make sure the stats you put out aren't wrong.

Percentages remain the same anyway let's adjust for different paces teams play and check out Per 100 Poss stats for Harden, Curry and Westbrook:

Curry: 34.6 PTS 6.5 TRB 11.4 Ast 3.2 STL 0.4 Blk 4.6 TO 48%/42% 121/100
Harden: 36.5 PTS 7.8 TRB 9.6 Ast 2.6 STL 1.1 Blk 5.5 TO 44%/37% 118/102
Westbrook: 41.2 PTS 10.7 TRB 12.5 Ast 3.2 STL 0.2 Blk 6.2 TO 43%/29% 111/101

[SexSymbol]

Seeing Curry have these bad games and Golden State still wins I'm not so sure. I think Lebron is the one guy that really deserves it. All these other teams want it just so they can gloat with no care that the award went to the wrong guy.

Lebron is more valuable to Cleveland than any one player is to their team. Cleveland went from the lottery to a Finals contender by adding Lebron. Warriors would still be a playoff team without Curry.

And Love. And Marion. And Mozgov. And Smith. And Shumpert. And Miller. And Jones. You do realize that here's like 4 guys left from last year's team?
LeBron had countless 6-16 18 pts 8-10TOs games this year, he's far from MVP.

The most deserving is Harden, the best is Westbrook, but the one who's probably a lock now is Curry

[Pushxx]

Curry has the narrative set. The new pretty face of the nba.

Would take a monster performance from Harden to take MVP away from him.

This is the reality. It's going to Curry short of something major changing.

Guy should win it, anyway.

[Alamо]

Kawhi Leonard running away with the MVP

[sd3035]

Seeing Curry have these bad games and Golden State still wins I'm not so sure. I think Lebron is the one guy that really deserves it. All these other teams want it just so they can gloat with no care that the award went to the wrong guy.

Lebron is more valuable to Cleveland than any one player is to their team. Cleveland went from the lottery to a Finals contender by adding Lebron. Warriors would still be a playoff team without Curry.

Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love are better than anyone on the Warriors except for Curry


Curry >>>>>>>>>> LeBald

[Chadwin]

When you compare them you have to remember that Curry has two elite (42%+) three point shooters out there with him usually.

[DMAVS41]

Again you're using raw stats to downplay Steph..but raw stats do not do Steph justice. He doesn't play as many minutes because he doesn't have to...his impact puts his team so far above the opposing team most of the time he ends up not having to play huge minutes. People have warped this into the notion that he's just another piece on a historically stacked team...when in reality he's the force driving that team. There's no denying the Warriors are talented as hell but Steph's impact is HUGE.

Per 36 Curry is at 26/5/8 on 63% TS vs Harden's 27/6/7 on 61% TS on ~36 mpg. The difference in production is pretty much negligible.

And I totally disagree with Harden drawing more attention than Steph. Harden is a great shooter...Curry is the best shooter of all time. Defenses are distorted way more with Curry wreaking havoc from the perimeter than Harden. Harden's got the ability to collapse defenses by driving but Curry has the advantage of being a ridiculous off-ball player as well, which maximizes his team in a different and better way.
No one is saying Harden isn't a great player. I'm saying Curry is just better at it.

And the point about the supporting casts is that all it does is speak to the level of help they have, not their actual performance itself. Curry having a more talented team doesn't somehow make him a worse player than Harden. If they were winning at the same level, then it matters. But Harden's team is widely accepted as a middle-tier playoff team in the West, while GS is widely accepted as a top 2 team and probably the favorites to win it all, dominating team category after team category in team stats. The difference in supporting talent is matched by the difference in results. It's not like Harden is carryon the Rockets to the same record, the same statistical team dominance, etc.

Spot on with everything.

People are ignoring the amazing off ball impact Curry has. Love the Dirk comparison...there is so much hidden value there with Dirk...and Curry has a lot of that as well. When they run Curry off screens...the entire defense has to shift over because, like you said, he might be the best shooter ever.

He's an insanely good passer and he is definitely playing above average to good defense this year. Or, to put it simply, the Warriors defense (top in the league) is better with Curry than without him.

That is huge actually. Rose in 11...the Bulls defense got much better with him off the court than on. We can't ignore the strides Curry has made on that end of the floor.

Also, Curry is not dependent on a stacked or great team for his production.

The 2 years prior to this year Curry averaged 24/4/8 on 60% TS. This is who he is. An insanely efficient scoring guard that can give you around 25 points per game in any situation.

He might not be the best player in the game, but he has strong arguments for it...and he's definitely MVP right now.

[Cold soul]

Curry will win MVP.

[ButterFace]

Tonight was really bad for Westbrook and Curry too so he didn't really lose ground on anyone but Lebron

Westbrook ain't winning anyway. He is in the Anthony Davis category of killing by himself, but not winning, so no MVP.

[Fudge]

Curry wrapped it up like a month ago. Ain't nuffin changed.

[StephHamann]

Another stellar performance by Harden.

Give the MVP to him already.

[sportjames23]

And Love. And Marion. And Mozgov. And Smith. And Shumpert. And Miller. And Jones. You do realize that here's like 4 guys left from last year's team?
LeBron had countless 6-16 18 pts 8-10TOs games this year, he's far from MVP.

The most deserving is Harden, the best is Westbrook, but the one who's probably a lock now is Curry

This.

I can't believe anyone thinks Lebron is deserving of the MVP this year.