Houston Rockets: Why Ric Flair is Right About James Harden’s MVP Snub

More Overall Artillery Around Antetokounmpo

Milwaukee was stacked with more talent than Houston last year, which should have also been taken into account for the MVP discussion. Simply put, “The Greek Freak” had significantly more around him. In fact, the Bucks had the coach of the year in Mike Budenholzer, whereas Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni wasn’t even a finalist for this award. In addition, Giannis had Eric Bledsoe, who joined Giannis on the First Team All-Defense. On top of that, the Bucks had another All-Star player in Khris Middleton.

It was a completely different story for the Rockets last season, as Harden was the only All-Star and the only player on any All-Team list. The Rockets didn’t have any other player considered for any personal awards including Sixth Man of the Year, Most Improved Player, or Defensive Player of the Year. The Rockets also didn’t have any players named to any of the All-Defense teams and didn’t have any players named to any All-NBA teams either.

Not only did Harden have less around him, but he was also much better in the clutch than Giannis. Harden had the most points in the clutch in the entire league, as he had 192 points, compared to Giannis who ranked 30th and had only 92 points. But Eric Bledsoe, Khris Middleton and Malcolm Brogdon all joined Giannis in the top 70 of clutch scoring, whereas Harden was the only player for the Rockets in the top 70. This is further proof of how much more Giannis had around him.

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