Tag: 2019 NBA MVP

Jayson Tatum doubles down on Harden as deserving 2019 MVP

When pressed by ESPN’s Rachel Nichols, Tatum explained why he thinks James Harden was the deserving 2019 MVP over Giannis Antetokounmpo.

In a new appearance on ESPN‘s The Jump, Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum stood by his recent opinion that Houston Rockets guard James Harden deserved to win the NBA’s 2018-19 MVP award.

While acknowledging that Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (who won the media-voted award) also had a deserving case, Tatum told Rachel Nichols why he’s sticking with Harden as his choice.

You were splitting hairs last year in choosing between those two. I don’t think there’s a wrong case, but to me, it’s James Harden.

When he scored 30 for like 42 games in a row or something like that… Chris Paul was hurt a lot, and they were dealing with a lot of injuries.

It’s just, what he was doing was pretty remarkable.

Tatum’s recollection of Harden’s streak was slightly exaggerated, but not by much. Starting in December 2018, the league’s 2017-18 MVP scored 30 or more points in 32 consecutive games, which remains the second-longest streak in NBA history. That stretch helped the Rockets go 42-15 over their final 57 games of the season, which was the best of any Western Conference team over that span.

In all, Harden averaged a career-high 36.1 points last season, along with 7.5 assists and 6.6 rebounds. That 36.1 total represents the most points per game by any NBA player since Hall of Famer Michael Jordan averaged 37.1 more than 30 years ago, back in the 1986-87 season.

Meawhile, Antetokounmpo averaged 27.7 points, 12.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.5 blocks. The “Greek Freak” led the Bucks (60-22) to the league’s best record, and he made the NBA All-Defensive First Team. Both Antetokounmpo and Harden were named to the All-NBA First Team.

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Since the calendar flipped to 2018, Harden’s Rockets have won all five head-to-head meetings against Tatum’s Celtics, including an overtime thriller on Feb. 29 in the most recent matchup. Tatum led Boston with 32 points and 13 rebounds, but a clutch steal by Harden in the final 30 seconds followed by a pair of free throws were ultimately the difference.

In a home game earlier that same month, Harden led the Rockets with 42 points in an 11-point Houston victory.

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Jayson Tatum says James Harden should have won 2019 MVP

Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum says the NBA’s 2018-19 MVP award should have gone to James Harden, rather than Giannis Antetokounmpo.

In an Instagram Live session with basketball skills coach and consultant Pep Stanciel, Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum said Wednesday that he thinks the wrong player won the NBA’s MVP award last season.

Rather than Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, Tatum says the award should have gone to Houston Rockets guard James Harden.

Here’s how the exchange went between Stanciel and Tatum, who also said he believes Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James should win the 2019-20 season’s MVP award over Antetokounmpo.

Tatum: James Harden should have won MVP last year.

Stanciel: They’ve been robbing him for five straight years now!

Tatum: I’m not going to say five, but he definitely should have won back-to-back MVPs.

In the video, Tatum also picked Harden as the NBA’s best shooting guard. Since the calendar flipped to 2018, Harden’s Rockets have won all five head-to-head meetings against Tatum’s Celtics.

Harden, the league’s 2017-18 MVP, averaged a career-high 36.1 points per game last season to go with 7.5 assists and 6.6 rebounds. That total included the second-longest streak of consecutive 30-point games (32) in NBA history, which helped Houston go 42-15 over its final 57 games.

Meawhile, Antetokounmpo averaged 27.7 points, 12.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.5 blocks. The “Greek Freak” led the Bucks (60-22) to the league’s best record, and he made the NBA All-Defensive First Team. Both Antetokounmpo and Harden were named to the All-NBA First Team.

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Daryl Morey wonders if MVP voters will again ‘rob’ James Harden

Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey said he’s wondering “what new criteria/narrative” could be used by the NBA’s MVP voters to deny James Harden.

Rockets guard James Harden appears well on his way to another historic NBA season, with an astonishing nightly scoring average of 38.2 points over Houston’s first 11 games of the 2019-20 season.

The league-leading numbers from the 30-year-old superstar are even more incredible over the last five games, in which he has posted 41.6 points, 8.8 assists, and 6.8 rebounds per game. Harden’s Rockets (8-3) have won all five of those games, which currently places them second in the Western Conference standings.

Normally, one might expect the combination of historic numbers and team success to lead to a Most Valuable Player (MVP) coronation.

But Rockets GM Daryl Morey doesn’t seem convinced that Harden’s historic production, should it continue over the remainder of the season, will necessarily translate into appreciation from MVP voters.

While Harden did win the media-voted MVP award in 2018, he has finished in second place after three different votes (2015, 2017, 2019) within the last five seasons. Given that context, Morey responded on Twitter to a post speculating about another second-place finish.

I always try to dream up what new criteria/narrative they will dream up to rob him of the award each year.

The “new criteria” line would appear to be in reference to the discrepancy in voting patterns between the 2017 and 2019 races.

In 2017, when the league’s MVP finalists were clearly Harden and Russell Westbrook (then with Oklahoma City), one of the advantages to Harden’s case on paper was that his contributions came on a superior team — with the Rockets winning eight more games in the 2016-17 regular season than the Thunder.

However, Westbrook was the first NBA player to average a triple-double since Oscar Robertson in the 1961-62 season, and the historic nature of that argument appeared to be most persuasive with voters. Westbrook finished with 69 first-place votes to Harden’s 22.

By contrast, in the 2019 race between Harden and Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, Harden was the one with history on his side. With an average of 36.1 points, Harden became just the fourth player in league history — and the first in the last 30 years — to average at least 36 points per game for an entire NBA season. He also had a stretch of scoring at least 30 points in 32 consecutive games, which was the second-longest such streak in NBA history.

On the other hand, one of the main arguments for Antetokounmpo, relative to Harden, was that his team won seven more games. Unlike the 2017 vote, team success did seem to be valued at a high level by voters in 2019, and Antetokounmpo won by a comfortable margin.

As for the present, Harden has repeatedly made clear that his “only goal” this season is an NBA title. There have been very little, if any, references to the upcoming MVP race by Houston players.

However, there is understandably some lingering bitterness from many around the Rockets about how prior votes went down.

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