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| It takes two to tango, but LeBron looks to be a step ahead of Kobe at the moment. |
I know it’s early in the season, but so far the MVP race has been a wild game of musical chairs, more specifically, the top four spots in my rankings. At this point, barring some wild chain of events[1] the award is going to be won by four candidates, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Derrick Rose or Kevin Durant. Outside of those four players nobody really has a shot. But within this selected group of elite players, each one has made their case, both for and against, winning this year’s award.
Let’s first start with Kevin Durant. Led by Durant’s scoring, the Thunder got off to a hot start, winning their first five games to start the season. Durant scorched the league by scoring 30-plus points in his first four games and the only reason he didn’t in the fifth game is because the Thunder were manhandling the Suns and Durant only logged 26 minutes. This stretch was highlighted in game four when, less than a second after Vince Carter nailed an improbable three to give the Mavs a one-point lead, Durant took an inbounds pass five feet outside the three-point line and nailed the game winner. It was clear he was in the zone. But since that hot stretch Durant has cooled off. The Thunder are still playing great with only three losses on the season, but the winning as of late has had less to do with Durant’s scoring or late game heroics and more to do with the teams supporting cast of Russell Westbrook and James Harden.
Next is last year’s MVP Derrick Rose. Rose broke out last season averaging careers highs in points (25,) assists (7.7,) and rebounds (4.1) per game en route to leading the Bulls to the leagues best record. As of today, the Bulls still have the leagues best record and are also allowing only 85.8 points per game, also good for first in the league. But, as for Rose, there has been a significant shift in his production. He is averaging nearly five points less per game; meanwhile his assists are at a new career high of 8.7 per game. It seems as though he is making an attempt to become more of a “true” point guard and a facilitator. His season has been highlighted by hitting the game winner against the Lakers on Christmas Day, torching the Clippers for 29 points, 16 assists and 8 rebounds and dropping 17 in the 4th quarter alone to steal a game from the Atlanta Hawks. All of the happened within the first six games of the season. Now we sit 16 games in and Derrick Rose has missed three of those games and disappeared in another versus the Hawks in which he only scored 8 points. And in the games he has missed, the Bulls have two wins and one loss. Definitely their most valuable player, but as of now, not the MVP.
If you haven’t suffered from amnesia yet, you will remember in last week’s MVP column I gave an enormous amount of praise to Kobe Bryant. At that point Kobe had logged two of what would eventually become four straight 40-point games. Something we haven’t seen since the last time Kobe did so…several years ago. Perhaps I jumped the gun, but it looked like old Kobe was back, and maybe he is, but in the two games following that run he has gone for 14 points in a three point win against the Mavericks[2] and 24 points[3] last night in a huge loss to the Miami Heat. Kobe currently has the Lakers tied with the Clippers for the lead in the Pacific Division and leads the league in scoring[4], two facts that make him a prime candidate for the award. If only it weren’t for the player who is second (barely) in scoring thus far throughout the season.
After his past two performances LeBron James once again has me convinced he is the MVP of the league. With Dwyane Wade missing now his fifth game this season, LeBron has had a chance to prove that the Heat are his team and they will go as far as he will take them. On Tuesday night against the Spurs the Heat found themselves in a large hole at halftime, down 63-49. But in the second half the Heat erupted, outscoring the Spurs 72-35 and wound up winning handily, 120-98. LeBron led the way in the second half run, and wound up with 33 points, 5 rebounds and 10 assists. Then, last night, against Kobe’s Lakers, LeBron was in control again, going for 31 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 blocks and 4 steals, leading the Heat to a 98-87 victory, a score that doesn’t fully represent how badly the Heat beat the Lakers. And this isn’t the first time this season LeBron has done this. In the first game of the season, a rematch against the defending champion Mavericks, he dropped 37 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. Days later against the Bobcats he went for 35 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists followed by an encore performance against the Wolves when he dropped 34 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists. Then he made fools of the upstart Pacers going for 33 points, 8 rebounds and 13 assists. And it was of no surprise to anyone when he got the Nets for 32 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists. On the season LeBron is averaging 29.9 points, 7.9 rebounds, 7.6 assists, 0.8 blocks and 2 steals per game. Out of all four of the top candidates for the award, he has been the most consistent and if you look at his numbers, the most impressive.
MVP Rankings
1. LeBron James- The number one spot in this week’s rankings was up for grabs last night when the Heat faced off against the Lakers. LeBron showed up. LW: 3
2. Kobe Bryant- Dropping 40 four games straight is impressive. A little less though when it’s followed up by 14 points against the Mavs and a relative no-show against the Heat. LW: 1
3. Derrick Rose- He’s been out the past couple of games, but the Bulls do hold the best record in the league. LW: 2
4. Kevin Durant- As of right now, it does not look as though KD will lead the league in scoring a third season in a row. The past few wins have been accented by major support from Russell Westbrook. And after losing by three to the lowly Wiz-Kidz, KD has only been hurting his candidacy the past couple of weeks. LW: 4
5. Dwight Howard- D12 is averaging an astronomical 20.1 points, 15.6 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game and he has the Magic only a half-game back in the Southeast. LW: 5
6. Kevin Love- As I stated in last week’s rankings, once Kevin Love gets the Wolves to win games he will move up some spots. They’ve won three of four. Oh, and by the way, Love is averaging 25.2 points, 14.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. LW: 9
7. Dirk Nowitzki- His numbers are still down, but he is the leader of the defending champs and has done a solid job turning their slow start around. The Mavs now sit only 1-1/2 games back from the Spurs in the Southwest. LW: 6
8. LaMarcus Aldridge- The Blazers have hit a rough patch the past five games, winning only one of them. But, three of those four games were decided by three points or less. Aldridge is the leader, he gets the street cred. LW: 8
9. Chris Paul- He has missed the last three games and the Clippers have gone 2-1. That’s largely in part to the influence Paul’s presence has had on the development of this young team. The Clips sit tied for the Pacific Division lead with the Lakers. LW: 7
10. Carmelo Anthony- The Knicks have lost four in a row and using the word “lost” is a bit of an understatement. Melo has always been a scoring machine, but now he needs to be a leader. Without Chauncey Billups around to handle those duties, the Knicks look doomed. LW: 10
[1] Such as Kevin Love skyrocketing the Wolves to win their division, LBJ, KB, KD and DR getting injured or kidnapped for the rest of the season or Melo and the Knicks finding an identity.
[2] Thanks to not Kobe’s, but Derrick Fisher’s game winning three.
[3] About 10 of which came in garbage time.
[4] Kobe is averaging 30.4 ppg.
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