Chris Paul is extremely confident his teammate James Harden will take home MVP this season, telling Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle that it’s “not even going to be close.”
“You look at how many different lineups we’ve had,” Paul said. “Look at what he does for our team. All everybody does now is look at the numbers. Nothing against stats. … But nobody looks at how the game went. Watch the game, too. I’m here. I get to see what he’s doing night in, night out.
…A dynamic guard like that, a guy who can score and pass, do whatever, I think he showed everybody why he’s going to be the MVP. Not even going to be close.”
Harden is averaging a career-high 31.5 points to go along with 9.1 assists and 5.0 rebounds on 45 percent shooting from the field. The Rockets are second in the NBA with a 37-13 record.
Head coach Mike D’Antoni also made his case for Harden:
“Without a doubt, he’s been that guy for the last two years,” D’Antoni said. “Above all, he wants to win. He’s always going to get numbers, no matter what system, no matter what team. Now, he’s putting up numbers with wins. That’s a tough combination.”
