With the NBA at the halfway point of the season, there’s been a lot of talk about the league’s Most Valuable Player award.
A lot of people are making a strong case for Kevin Durant from the Oklahoma City Thunder as the league’s MVP. Although there is still a lot of basketball left to be played this season, there can be no question the “Slim Reaper” has made quite the case for himself.
The first quarter of the season started off with Paul George of the Indiana Pacers making an MVP run for himself. George has cooled down a bit and has fallen out of the top three for me. Still, he’s averaging 22.6 points per game to go along with 6.4 rebounds a game.
Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Kevin Love and Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks have also had impressive seasons, but the MVP race is going to come down to the two best players in the world in Durant and LeBron James of the Miami Heat.
Durant is ahead of LeBron right now, but both are putting up some great numbers. The big question will be whether or not LeBron will catch Durant, and I believe he can.
Durant’s had a lot of trouble facing LeBron, from losing in the NBA Finals to finishing behind James in the three of the last four MVP races. This year, he wants to dethrone James and secure his first MVP award. His dominating performance in the Thunder’s win over LeBron and company down in South Beach earlier this year definitely helped that effort.
January was a monster month for Durant. He scored 30 points or more in 12 straight games, including a 54-point performance against Curry’s Warriors.
He has certainly earned the right to be the frontrunner for the award right now, leading his team without the Thunder’s other superstar, Russell Westbrook. But although they are a better team with Westbrook in the lineup, his return will mean a decline in Durant’s big time stats.
We forget how much Westbrook shoots. When he’s back, Durant’s production will slow down. Westbrook shot 112 more attempts than Durant last season and is likely to continue along those lines upon his return.
So with all that taken into account, all LeBron has to do is continue with his stellar numbers. He’s averaging 26.3 PPG with 6.9 rebounds and 6.6 assists so far.
Despite his solid numbers, LeBron also needs to make some noise like Durant did in January. He’ll need something big for us to remember the season by to make it his season instead of the season that Durant took over.
Whether it’s going on a huge scoring binge, putting together another winning streak like the Heat did last year, or even shutting down Durant and the Thunder in their next meeting, James has to make his mark. He’s got to do something to take the focus off of Durant’s season if he wishes to get his fifth MVP and third in a row.