James Harden: ‘I feel as though I am the MVP’
Houston Rockets guard James Harden said he would vote for himself for MVP, Fran Blinebury of NBA.com reports.
Harden is widely regarded as a frontrunner for the award along with Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry. Harden is averaging a league-leading 27.6 points, 6.9 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 1.9 steals compared to Curry’s 23.9 points, 7.7 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals.
Despite center Dwight Howard being limited to 38 games so far this season, Harden has led the Rockets to a tie for the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference behind Curry’s Warriors.
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“I feel as though I am the MVP," Harden said. “I think the MVP is the most valuable player to your team. Obviously you have to be winning and be one of the top teams in this league and we are.”
“I'm looking at all those things put together," Harden said. “Like I said, not taking away from Steph or that team. It's an unbelievable season that they're having. But we're having a pretty good season as well with all the injuries and all that we've been going through this season.”
Earlier this month, former Warriors coach Mark Jackson gave the edge to Harden over Curry in the MVP race.
Other MVP candidates include Russell Westbrook and LeBron James, who said earlier this week that he would also vote for himself.
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- Paul Palladino
