James Harden makes MVP case in win over LeBron James, Cavaliers

Photo Credit: NBA.com

The NBA MVP race is as good as ever this season, and two of the candidates went head-to-head on Sunday afternoon in Houston. On one side was James Harden, the man I would currently vote for if I had a vote. On the other side was LeBron James, the four-time MVP who has burst into the discussion over the last month after a sub-par start to the season.

After a thrilling affair that needed an overtime to decide the victor, it was Harden and the Houston Rockets that came out with a 105-103 victory. (And a cover!) Harden finished with 33 points, eight rebounds and five assists in the win, and in typical Harden fashion, he went 15-of-18 from the free throw line.

Free throws were also a big part of the game for James, only in a bad way. James went 3-of-11 from the charity stripe, and he missed two in the final seconds of overtime that would have given the Cavaliers the lead. He also missed a potential game-winning jumper at the end of regulation, and his late-game failures covered up what was a largely superb performance leading up to the end of the game.

James scored a game-high 37 points on 15-of-35 shooting, and he also grabbed eight rebounds and four assists. However, he was 12-of-24 through three quarters, meaning he shot 3-of-11 in the fourth quarter and overtime.

Kevin Love also didn’t do much during winning time, and by not much, I mean basically nothing. Love had 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting through three quarters, but he didn’t score a single point in the fourth quarter and overtime and only took three shots. The big man spent most of the crunch-time possessions as a spectator watching James try and score.

The Cavaliers relied on James isolations quite a bit down the stretch, and it was clear they missed Kyrie Irving, who missed his second consecutive game with a shoulder injury. Irving provides the Cavs another elite ball-handler who can get his own shot, and with him out of the lineup, too much of the burden fell on James.

MVP’s aren’t won or lost in one game, but people are sure to look at this game when making MVP arguments. Both Harden and James had big-time performances, but Harden’s team won and many will simply remember James missing those clutch free throws.

Of course, Harden and James aren’t the only two men in the MVP race, and both Stephen Curry and Russell Westbrook have excellent MVP cases as well. Anthony Davis also has a strong case because of his otherworldly numbers, even if he has dealt with injury problems over the last month. After all, Westbrook has missed a good chunk of games as well.

At any rate, Cavaliers-Rockets was a whole heck of a lot of fun, and it’s always great to see two MVP candidates go at it in tight games.