Chris Hu said:
Like I already said he is putting up all those numbers in the vastly inferior East. As long as the Rockets win their division Harden will easily win the regular season MVP and Luka Doncic will easily win rookie of the year since both play in the superior Western conference. Also if we are talking about big man I would easily take Anthony Davis and Nikola Jokic over Giannis. |
And I already said East vs. West is a separate conversation, but since you want to cling to that so desperately, we can talk about it. What is the Rockets record? 24-18, putting them sixth in the WC. Fourteen of those wins are against teams that would be in the playoffs if they started today, across both conferences. Their point differential is +1.8.
The Bucks are 30-12, good for second best record in the league, and was at the top of the league for a bit for losing to the Raptors last week (and again, they are 2-1 against the Raptors HTH). They have 15 wins against teams that would be in the playoffs today, and have a point differential of 9.3. The next highest team is Golden State at 5.7. THAT IS A HISTORIC NUMBER. The Bucks are merely winning, they are dominating. They are beating the shit out of teams. And you want to paint as if they are loading up on bad EC teams, but they have wins against the Lakers, Pacers (who are only one game behind the top WC team in the standings and was ahead as recently as a week ago), Sixers, Kings, Warriors IN OAKLAND THREE GAMES INTO A ROAD TRIP, in Denver, Portland, San Antonio, in Boston, Utah, and in Houston. So this team that you want to claim must really suck because the lower half of its conference sucks has loaded up on plenty of wins against quality opponents, many of them in their houses. And did I mention they have an astronomical 9.3 point differential, which many people will tell you is a sign of a quality team? Have I already mentioned that THEY ARE THE ONLY TEAM IN THE LEAGUE, THROUGH AN ENTIRE HALF SEASON OF GAMES, THAT HAS YET TO LOSE TWO GAMES IN A ROW? Keep in mind this team has already had two road trips through the mean streets of the WC, the place you claim is so much better than the EC. Why aren't they getting put in their place on the road out there? Could it be because they are a damn good team, and the conference they play in is a nonfactor in the conversation?
Oh, I may have neglected to mention that they have also beaten the Raptors TWICE, one of them in Toronto.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that THEY ARE THE ONLY TEAM IN THE LEAGUE RATED IN THE TOP FIVE IN BOTH OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY. Remember how you were touting Harden's ppg? Well the Bucks have the highest team PPG at 117.6, a full 3.0 higher than the next team. At opponent's PPG, they are right at number five with 108.3 PPG. They aren't just squeaking by with wins, they are kicking teams' ass, be it the Cavs or the Jazz. And at the center of all of this is Giannis. No other player on that team has ever even made an all-star game, although that might change this year. Giannis doesn't just get his buckets. Giannis actively makes his team and his teammates better when he is on the floor ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BALL. Can Harden say that? No, he can't.
Please continue to cherry-pick stats and bring up points that are irrelevant to the MVP conversation. I have way more facts I can give you that point in Giannis' favor. ~_~
And Luka Doncic will win rookie of the year because he's this year's best rookie. Let's pretend like MVPs never come out of the east, like it didn't happen five years in a row from '09-'13. You could make the same argument about the weak East those years, yet the East held it for five years straight.