There's probably a LeBron James hater somewhere reading this, thinking otherwise, but that's okay.
I said what I said and I mean it.
Yes, James Harden is one of the best players in the game right now. He's been cooking up behind the arc as well as down in the paint, especially with his new right-hand man Chris Paul.
Yes, Anthony Davis is arguably one of the greatest bigs of all-time. He and his sidekick DeMarcus Cousins had insane stat lines in almost every single game.
However, the difference is, neither Harden nor Davis could carry their team all the way to the finish line.
Yes, I am speaking rather boldly because I am writing this before Game 1 of the Finals, but think about it:
Davis and the Pelicans swept the Portland Trail Blazers, but then got inevitably destroyed by the Golden State Warriors.
Harden and the Houston Rockets put on such an entertaining, compelling and frustrating fight against the Warriors--then Paul got a hamstring injury and it was basically game over from there.
I'm by no means discrediting Davis nor Harden for what they've done this season; especially after Harden capped this year by averaging 30.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and 8.8 assists and Davis who tallied up 28.1 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists.
It's just when I think of "MVP" I think of a player whose team without him would be absolutely nothing. This is the same reason as to why I truly ached for Russell Westbrook to win the 2016-17 MVP.
And for this season, when I use that reasoning, I think of no one but LeBron.
LeBron has been carrying his team all season. It got so bad that there was a long period of time when sports analysts and reporters questioned the capabilities of the Cavs.
The Cavs began losing to teams they should've beat and LeBron didn't seem to be having it--and not to mention basically Cleveland's whole team got traded away.
The way I see it, if you take away Harden from the Rockets, they can still compete; take away Davis from the Pelicans, they can still compete; take away James, people won't even know who's on the team (no offense to them but like.... seriously).
If you're still not getting it, let's see what Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com has to say (http://kwese.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/23627904/lebr...):
What must be understood is it came when James was playing in his 100th consecutive game of the season. That he played his third game in five days. That he got round-the-clock treatment on his right leg after playing 46 minutes to stave off elimination 48 hours earlier. That he played all 48 minutes in a playoff game for the first time since 2006, when he was 21 years old. That in the fourth quarter he made 4 of 6 shots, had three rebounds and four assists after he'd played 3,757 minutes this season, more than anyone else in the entire association.
... James has won six straight Game 7s over the past 10 years, two of them on the road. He has won seven of the past eight elimination games he's been in, including three this postseason. And he has now come from 2-0 down to win a series three times in his career. That has happened only 20 times in seven-game series in NBA history.
