Harden gets 21st triple-double, leads Rockets past Kings

Sacramento Kings guard Ty Lawson, left, and Houston Rockets guard James Harden scramble for the ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, April 9, 2017, in Sacramento, Calif.

Exhausted is probably the best way to describe Harden right now. Which makes the narrative supporting his MVP case less compelling.

Harden can only do so much.

Westbrook’s triple-double record-setting season is rather jaw-dropping.

Harden is having an awesome season for Mike Dantoni and the Rockets, but when that offense is clicking, the point guard should put up incredible stats. As one scout said after Harden’s 53-point night against the Knicks, “That could’ve been Carmelo Anthony if he trusted D’Antoni’s system more”.

It’s gotten to the point where if you pick OKC Thunder guard Russell Westbrook over Houston Rockets guard James Harden to win league MVP, or vice versa, it nearly feels like you’re disrespecting the other player and doing him a huge disservice by not giving him the award. And we need your help to find who the voters are.

Before we dive into Harden’s season, let’s throw cold water on the core MVP argument for Russ.

Russell Westbrook had quite the weekend.

Westbrook, who has set a new National Basketball Association record for triple-double in a season and is on course for the MVP award, was rested for the first time this term. But now – officially – a (6) Thunder vs (3) Rockets first round battle is on deck. Westbrook gets a crowd’s attention. Anderson has averaged 20.3 points and made 18 of 27 3-pointers in his past four in Sacramento. Sort of like a jazz musician.

The big knock was that he’s been inefficient, particularly when compared to Harden. I’m a little smoother.

“They’ve both had great seasons”, Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. Few outside of Houston believed the Rockets would break 50 wins. With the win, Houston improved to 54-26 on the season which is still good for third place in the Western Conference standings.

Individual play isn’t the only factor though and Harden has somewhat of a point in saying: “I thought winning is what this is about – period”. “Again, there’s a lot of teams not playing for anything right now”. He’s as good as you can get.

Harden isn’t doing anything wrong. Led by Leonard, the Spurs are now 61-19 and second seed in the West. Leonard has averaged 25.8 points, 3.6 assists and 5.9 rebounds per game. The triple double is a statistically arbitrary concept.

Donovan said Westbrook ultimately made the decision to rest after discussing the issue with the coaching and medical staffs. Sure the 4 or 5 seed sounded nice, but we want no part of a series against Golden State.

He’s had a historic season, and is leading the Bucks into the playoffs with the most hope in many years. You derive that number by adding his scoring average to his points created a game.

Still, you watch those clips and it’s hard not to say to yourself, “Is that really going to be called in the playoffs?”

We won’t know until June.