Getty Giannis Antetokounmpo and James Harden are battling for the 2019 NBA MVP.
Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo is the NBA’s regular season MVP, says NBA Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas.
“From the regular season, I thought Harden had another great season, and he did things that another hasn’t done in a while,” the NBA Hall of Famer and two-time NBA Champion told NBA scribe, Landon Buford of USA Today.
“Giannis also had a great regular season, but from a winning standpoint, I always go with the winner.”
In the regular season, the Houston Rockets were dangerous behind the strong play of James Harden, the league’s leading scorer.
Harden ignited the Rockets and is the reason players like as Eric Gordon, P.J. Tucker and Kenneth Faried thrive in the team’s offense.
Per Basketball Society’s Cameron Fields: Harden has the highest usage in the league (39.3 percent) but also ranked 12th in the league for assists per game.
During the regular season, The Rockets relied on making three-pointers or scoring easy buckets at the rim, particularly out of the pick-and-roll and are truly an analytics-era team.
The Rockets led the league during the regular season in three-pointers attempted per game (45.4) and three-pointers made (16.1).
The Rockets benefitted from Harden’s ability to score and facilitate and benefitted from having one of the best offenses in the league.
If their offense is in top form, they’re a tough team to beat.
In the NBA Playoffs, Houston lost in Game 6 to a Kevin Durant-less Golden State Warriors.
The Dubs advanced to the NBA’s Western Conference Finals where they’ll face the Portland Trail Blazers.
“This is not a knock on the season that Harden had,” Isiah Thomas told Landon Buford in terms of picking the Greek Freak over Harden as the NBA’s MVP this season.
The Milwaukee Bucks have been the most dominant team in the NBA this year.
Per Basketball Society Online’s Alex Fischbein: The last time the Bucks finished with 60 or more wins was during the 1980-81 season. At that time, the Bucks were led by Sidney Moncrief, Bill Lanier, and Marques Johnson.
Just last season, the Bucks were scrapping and fighting just to stay above .500 with Jason Kidd as head coach. Mike Budenholzer took over and it’s a brand new ball game.
Per Basketball Society: During the NBA’s regular season, the Milwaukee Bucks were top ten in assists per game, first in points per game, second in blocks per game, first in rebounds per game, third in field goal percentage and second in three-pointers made per game.
The Greek Freek is just icing on the cake for a team that also has Eric Bledsoe, Brook Lopez and Kris Middleton on their roster.
“What Giannis did from a winning standpoint to me he would get my vote,” said Isiah Thomas.
“It would only be by a very slim margin because you can make an argument for of them and they could be Co-MVPs, but if I had to pick just one, I would have to give it to Giannis this year.”