There's More Statistical Evidence James Harden Will Get the MVP Over Russell Westbrook

We’ve been trying to convince you for weeks that James Harden of the Rockets is the NBA MVP this season, but you keep getting blinded by triple doubles. Harden may meet Russell Westbrook in the 1st round of the playoffs, which would be nice, but those games don’t count toward the MVP. It’s just the regular season. And this stat shows just how good of an offensive player Harden has been:

Harden is taking fewer shots and missing fewer shots – while improving significantly in assists and rebounds and (most importantly) wins. The opposite is true for Westbrook – more shots, more misses. In case you missed it while you were devouring NCAA Tournament games, Harden had a damn good weekend:

vs New Orleans: 41 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists
vs Denver: 40 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists

Yes, back-to-back 40-point triple doubles. In fact, Harden has rung up four straight triple doubles, perhaps in an attempt to show MVP voters stat sheet stuffing isn’t as rare as it used to be. Even more important, the Rockets are two wins away from 50, which is the magic number in MVP voting: