NBA MVP: Does James Harden or LeBron James have the better case? - USA TODAY

Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) dribbles the ball as Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) defends during the second quarter at Toyota Center.(Photo: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports)

The NBA MVP won't be announced until after the Finals are over, but there's a compelling case for at least two candidates. 

One, James Harden, has guided the Houston Rockets to a franchise record in wins and the top seed in the West. The other, LeBron James, has navigated a particularly difficult year without a consistent supporting cast. 

USA TODAY's MVP voters Sam Amick and Jeff Zillgitt make their respective cases for who they are planning to vote for.  

The case for James Harden

We didn't know it at the time, but James Harden's MVP story was already being told on opening night.

It was Oct. 17 at Oracle Arena, and his Houston Rockets downed defending champion Golden State 122-121 in a game that featured Chris Paul at his worst. Harden's new co-star had just four points in 33 minutes to go with 10 assists, and reaggravated a knee injury that night that sidelined him for nearly a month. With Paul sitting the fourth quarter, Harden had 27 points, 11 assists and six rebounds en route to the tone-setting win.

Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) reacts after a play during the first quarter against the Portland Trail Blazers at Toyota Center. (Photo: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports)

This wasn't the one-star script that Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni had in mind after Paul forced his way to Houston via trade to help lighten Harden's workload. Yet by the time Paul came back, the Rockets had won 10 of 14 games and Harden – who was edged out by Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook for MVP last season – was still at his best.

He hasn't stopped since.

Harden is the MVP over LeBron James because he did it from beginning to end, leading the Rockets to the top of a Western Conference that the Warriors were supposed to dominate. And the way he did it, with that lethal combination of scoring and playmaking on one end and a much-improved defensive effort on the other, makes him worthy of the league's top individual award.

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Harden's case, as opposed to James', isn't all that complicated. While Cleveland's locker room was in utter chaos for much of the season, there weren't dry spells or dramas to dissect in Houston. And even with Paul missing 23 games due to injuries, the Rockets are still running away with the league's best record.

• According to Basketball-Reference.com, Harden is about to become just the fourth player in league history to average at least 30 points, eight assists and five rebounds for an entire season, with Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson and Westbrook the only others (he's currently at 30.6 points, 8.7 assists and 5.4 rebounds per game).
• According to NBA.com/stats, his shooting (league-leading 262 made threes), ability to get to the line (league-leading 721 attempts) and dominate in isolation (1.22 points per possession, compared to James' 0.96) make him a peerless scoring talent. What's more, Harden – despite playing alongside one of the best point guards of all time in Paul – is third in the league in assists for the Rockets team that is tied with the Warriors for the top offensive rating (112.7 points scored per 100 possessions).
• Harden's oft-ridiculed defense will never win him any awards, but it could have cost him this one. Instead, he was a capable part of a Rockets defense that is seventh in defensive rating (103.9 points allowed per 100 possessions). James' Cavs are 29th (109.5). 

- Amick

The case for LeBron James

Third in points per game. Second in assists. Fifteenth in rebounds. Shooting 54.4% from the field and 36.7% on three-pointers.

Only player in the league this season to average at least 25 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and shoot 54% or better from the field. Career-high in double-doubles (51). Career-high in triple-doubles (18). Accomplishes feats routinely that are unthinkable for most players.

Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) dunks past Philadelphia 76ers forward Robert Covington (33) and forward Dario Saric (9) during the third quarter at Wells Fargo Center. (Photo: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports)

LeBron James has made the amazing mundane.

You can bend stats favorably for anybody in the MVP conversation, but for a player with four MVPs, this season is one of the top three of James' career. When James is having this kind of campaign, he's a legit MVP candidate.

Besides, this is not a runaway MVP season for any player. No one is unanimous, and group think shouldn't dictate for whom voters vote.

But what James has done individually and with Cleveland's roster – dragging the team to 49 wins (as of Monday; two games remaining) when they won 51 last season with a better roster – makes him the 2017-18 MVP.

The Cavs lost Kyrie Irving to Boston in a trade over the summer, and what they got back, especially Isaiah Thomas, didn't work out. The roster was a mess, and it required a massive trade-deadline overhaul.

Even then, it took time. The Cavs didn't have a healthy roster post-trade, with Kevin Love, Rodney Hood, Larry Nance Jr. and George Hill missing games.

Through all the roster turmoil, James was phenomenal, and since Feb. 1 is averaging 29.5 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists and shooting 54.3% from the field and 39.4% on three-pointers. In the games before that period, James still averaged 26.6 points, 8.7 assists and 7.9 rebounds and shot 54.5% from the field and 35% on threes.

Few players have been as productive as James in the fourth quarter in both traditional and advanced stats. In the final quarter, James has averaged 7.5 points, 2.4 rebounds, two assists and shot 51.5% from the field while registering a plus-6.4 net rating.

Yes, he had a bad January, as did the Cavs as they struggled to incorporate Thomas into the rotation after he returned from the hip injury that sidelined him for seven-plus months.

Without James, the Cavs are likely a lottery team. With him, they are still the oddsmakers' favorite to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals.

To be clear, a case for one player does not detract from the case of another. James Harden is deserving, and should he win, great.

But there is more than one deserving MVP candidate.

- Zillgitt

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