2016-2017 NBA Season Thread [ARCHIVED] Basketball • Page 276

Hot damn Russ, what a game. I knew I should have gotten tickets to this one.

 

Russ won the MVP damn

 

Yea, recency bias is moving the MVP heavily in Russ's favor.

 

Russ should definitely win the award. But people think Harden's team winning 7 more games means he deserves it more.

 

Would you rather win 7 games or average 2 more uncontested rebounds?

Harden's my pick, Kawhi underrated in the conversation

 

There is definitely an argument for Harden outside his team having 7 more wins. Not sayih Harden should win, but his team having more wins isn't the only reason somebody might feel that way.

 

The Cavs kinda suck

 

That Houston-OKC first round series is gonna be fun

 

I'm team Kawhi in this whole thing, but it's probably going to be Harden or Westbrook.

 

Congrats Russ. What a season. He'd be my vote, but both Harden and Kawhi have legit cases.

 

I'm already salty enough about Harden's snub two years ago, but if he gets snubbed this year for MVP then I might actually explode.

 

People gotta stop overthinking this, russell is the MVP.
The man strapped a paltry roster to his back and got the 6 seed all while accomplishing a statistical feat that's only been done once in the history of the league.

 

According to all the preseason predictions everybody had the rockets finishing a couple places behind the thunder and they finished with the 3rd best record in the league. And Westbrook isn't the only one breaking or setting records, it's just that the triple double is one of the most glorified ones out there. A list of things Harden accomplished this year

• On pace to surpass 2,400 points and 900 assists. Nobody has done that in the last 40 years.

• Averaging career highs in 29.2 points (2nd), 11.2 assists (1st) and 8.1 rebounds this season. Only Oscar Robertson averaged at least 28.0 ppg, 11.0 apg and 7.0 rpg in a single NBA season.

• Averaging 29 points on fewer than 19 shots per game. Set to join Adrian Dantley as the only players in history to be that efficient.

• Recorded 30+ points and 10+ assists in four straight games on three separate occasions this season. In the last 40 years, the rest of the NBA has combined for only one such occasion:Michael Jordan in April 1989.

• Only player to score 2,000 points and assist on 2,000 points in NBA history.

Also only player with a 50/15/15 game in league history.

 

I mean, yeah Westbrook would probably trade those "2 uncontested rebounds" for 7 more wins but one of those is a team stat while the other is an individual stat. And if you want to diminish him finishing ahead of Harden in rebounds, I'll do the same for Harden out-assisting Westbrook. He's surrounded by a bunch of 3-point shooters while the Thunder have very little of that. Give Westbrook shooters like Houston has I'd bet the house his finishes with more assists than Harden.

 

I'd bet he wins less games too. Gimme that bet. And the diminishing of OKC's supporting cast is no where near as bad as people wanna make it.

 

Well they did lose a top 5 player in the league as well as another key contributor in Ibaka. The talent gap around the two star players is about 5-7 games, which how they finished in the standings.

 

I don't remember a single person saying Harden had the better team in September.

 

Yes, Cavs own the tie-breaker. Boston's last two games are pretty much locks, although Milwaukee could still be playing for 5th or 6th seed, so they could have a dog fight on Wednesday night. And tonight, could be a classic trap game, although I'd be surprised.

Cavs play in Miami tonight, which could be a very tough game with MIA playing for their playoff lives, although I'm sure LeBron would be very pleased to keep Pat Riley's team out of the playoffs, so wouldn't be surprised if he's extra-motivated (if he even plays tonight).

Also, assuming Boston wins tonight, Toronto could no longer play for the 2 seed and cannot slip to 4th seed. So I'm assuming that means they'd rest their main guys, which *should bode well for the Cavs.

* Although, see last Friday night vs. Hawks.

 

They didn't. In fact I mostly remember people mocking the signings of Gordon and Anderson when they were announced. Which is funny bc besides Nene those two are really the only difference from the team that finished in the 8 spot last year.

 

Can we do polls in here? I'd definitely pick Harden over Westbrook

 

Ugh...LeBron was at a nightclub in Miami until 5 a.m.?

 

Yeah, I would never vote Westbrook MVP ever because I actually like basketball played by a team and not one guy padding his stats. I could hear every possible argument but all I see when I watch is an incredibly athletic player who takes over the whole game and everyone says his entire team sucks so he's never ever just padding stats lol it's a joke. I mean I hate baseball because of their stupid old world rules of being only about team and not to hog any attention or he'll get pegged but Westbrook is literally the complete opposite in the way he's not about the team at all.

Harden was amazing this year and I would probably vote for him, I was really impressed by how much more they relied on him and how he made his team better. He was asked to do even more and did it well, if curry wasn't historically amazing he probably would've won it last year. I feel like this is what's gonna happen though with only a handful of guys being taken seriously, someone is going to have to have a monster year to beat the hardens, currys, Westbrooks etc. I feel like Giannis is probably the guy to do that but it doesn't look like many others are gonna be the future in that way, maybe towns if the wolves start winning.

I will give Westbrook credit because he had a season high 34% from 3 but he took nearly 3 more attempts a game than ever before. He still shot at about 43% as a whole though. Also turned it view about 100 more times, none of this is that relevant because his fans will always be his fans and you can't change their mind. I really hate people who worship stats without taking everything else into account, boogie wins games man.

Have a great day.

 

Ah, just stat padding. Ok. Give it to Harden.

 

What does everyone's opinion in September have to do with how they actually played? And while Harden is a reason for his teammates success so is the coaching change and system in place.

I'm not trying to belittle what Harden has done this year. He's obviously been amazing. But my vote goes to Westbrook.