As the NBA playoffs are coming to the end of the second round, the MVP Award discussion is heating up. 2017-2018 season’s MVP race was a competition between James Harden and LeBron James. This season, we are also witnessing some kind of duel just this time instead of LeBron James there is Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Both the Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Houston Rockets guard James Harden are equally dominant players.
Without any doubts Giannis Antetokounmpo is having an MVP season – he is the best player on the best team. His personal stats – 27.7 points, 12.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 1.3 steals, 1.5 blocks, while shooting 58 percent from the field – show his dominance on both ends of the floor. His all-around play puts him alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain – players who put up those kind of stat lines, and none of them shot 58 percent (Paul Flannery).
On the other hand, reigning MVP James Harden this season not only raised his personal stats – upped his scoring average from 30.4 to 36.1 points, rebounds from 5.4 to 6.6, improved his steals from 1.8 to 2.0, raised his free throw percentage from 85.8 to 87.9, he almost single-handedly saved the Houston Rockets’ season. We also can‘t forget his 32 consecutive games of posting 30-plus points – which is the second-longest streak in the NBA history.
To sum up, Giannis Antetokounmpo deserves this season’s NBA MVP Award more than James Harden because he made his team the best in the league.
For the remainder of the NBA season, either on the Bucks or any other them of your choice, you can check out NBA Betting NJ betting picks for odds and predictions on all your favourite NBA teams and players.
All stats are from Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com. Thank you to these sites.
