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NBA MVP race a close contest

With last year’s NBA MVP winner Kevin Durant having a season disrupted heavily by injury, the door has opened for other players to step up in an attempt to take out the award. Stephen Curry and James Harden have largely dominated the debate with impressive late runs by LeBron James and Russell Westbrook earning them a place in discussions also. Chris Paul has also been involved, putting up impressive numbers in teammate Blake Griffin’s absence due to elbow surgery.

Conversation regarding who deserves the Maurice Podoloff trophy most has seemingly dominated coverage of the NBA this year, likely due in part to the difficulty in separating such a large number of worthy candidates. Each player has absolutely proven themselves worthy and perhaps all would have won the award had they have played this way in separate years. Luckily for the fans, though, the closeness of the race is making this year’s lead-up to the playoffs all the more exciting.

The top 5 candidates, as currently ranked by NBA.com:

1.       James Harden – Houston Rockets 

James Harden. Image credit: Derral Chen

Harden has stepped up and then some in the absence of recruit Dwight Howard, perhaps highlighted by taking the Rockets to an overtime victory over LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers. He has consistently put up good numbers, currently sitting second in NBA scoring behind Russell Westbrook with an average of 27.2 points per game to go with his 7 assists and 5.8 rebounds. One of Harden’s greatest strengths is getting to the free-throw line – he regularly draws fouls on his drives to the basket and gets the job done at the line too, currently hitting his free throws 86.8 percent of time. He was particularly damaging at the free throw line in Houston’s recent win over the Pacers – he shot 21 from 22 at the line while scoring 44 points (the eighth time he has score in excess of 40 points this season) and dished out 7 assists in the win.

2.       Stephen Curry – Golden State Warriors

The old cliché of the best player on the best team has much to do with Curry being so prominent in MVP discussions this year. He is the leader of the Warriors, who currently sit on top of the tough Western Conference with the best win to loss ratio in the league. He is, however, putting up good numbers and draining what seems to be endless amounts of three pointers regularly, making them .422 percent of the time. In addition, Curry leads the league in free throw percentage, currently hitting them 91.4 percent of the time. He is unquestionably one of, if not the, best sharpshooters in the league and his outstanding leadership on the court has led the Warriors on their way to an outstanding season so far.

3.       Russell Westbrook – Oklahoma City Thunder

Russell Westbrook. Image credit: Keith Allison

Westbrook has been on fire of late in the absence of Kevin Durant, registering an astonishing nine triple-doubles (a tenth was taken away when the NBA decided one of his ten rebounds against the Heat was not in fact his rebound) including an astonishing four in a row. He is the first player to accomplish this feat since Michael Jordan did so in 1989. He is currently averaging the most points of any player in the NBA with 27.5 per game, along with 8.7 assists and 7.2 rebounds. Since Durant was forced to the sideline by injury, he has averaged 32.3 points as well as 10.2 assists and 9.3 rebounds according to NBA.com. However, to the detriment of Westbrook’s MVP case, the Thunder are currently eighth seed in the Western conference – perhaps (well, more than likely if you consider no player in history has won on a team seeded that low) not high enough for Westbrook to be awarded MVP.

4.       LeBron James – Cleveland Cavaliers

No stranger to being part of discussions, the four-time MVP winner has this year again shown exactly why many rate him as the best player in the world. Again putting up MVP-worthy numbers with his usual (probably even expected) ridiculously-good stat lines, currently averaging 25.9 points per game along with 5.8 rebounds and 7.3 assists, LeBron has helped lift the Cavaliers from missing the playoffs every year since his 2010 departure to clinching a playoff berth with just under a month remaining in the regular season. Despite a slow start, due in part to nagging injuries, LeBron’s returned from a period of rest early in 2015 in excellent form. The Cavaliers have been the hottest team in the NBA since, now sitting second in the Eastern conference.

5.       Chris Paul – Los Angeles Clippers

In the absence of Blake Griffin, Paul has stepped up and reminded everybody why he is considered one of if not the premier point-guard in the NBA. This month he is averaging 22.4 points per game (50 percent success rate) to go with his 10.4 assists and 3.8 rebounds according to NBA.com. While Paul is ultimately unlikely be the receiver of the MVP award, due to a number of other arguably more worthy candidates based on performance this year, he has certainly asserted himself as the leader of his Los Angeles team and certainly deserves to be mentioned in MVP talks given that.

 

Anthony Davis. Image credit: Keith Allison

On another note

Anthony Davis – In just his third season in the NBA after being the number one pick in the 2012 draft, Davis has continued to put up impressive numbers and is no doubt the centrepiece of his New Orleans team. Averaging a career-high 24.6 points per game so far this season on .546 percent shooting and leading the NBA in blocks with 2.91 per game, Davis has been a real presence on the court and will no doubt be a serious MVP candidate when he is able to maintain his health. Injuries have forced him to the sideline at times this year, while the Pelicans are also currently sitting outside the top eight in the Western conference which likely has contributed to him being part of the MVP discussion this year but not quite up there with the serious contenders just yet.

 

Places to follow the MVP race

There are a number of sites NBA fans can use to follow the race to the 2014/15 season NBA MVP award:

– The official Kia sponsored NBA MVP ladder. Includes current rankings based on recent events.

– Basketball Reference ranks MVP candidates based on historical MVP voting.

– SB Nation posts regular reviews and rankings of MVP candidates.

– ESPN online regularly posts news and views regarding MVP award.

The Bleacher Report post some interesting articles with evaluations of player performance

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