James Harden has rocketed from strong contender to hot favorite for this season’s National Basketball Association’s MVP award.
The 29-year-old Houston Rockets star did it when leading his team to a 135-134 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday night with an astonishing 44-point triple-double that included the vital match-winning 3-pointer in the final second of the game.
Harden’s odds with most New Jersey sports book operators almost immediately shortened with 888sports being one of those who hoisted him up into the favorites slot, in its case at +150.
Nine days ago Hardin was +1000 to win the award, and before Thursday’s performance, he was +300, behind Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo.
How Harden’s Most Valuable Player Odds Soared
But after his 44 points and 15 assists against the Warriors he awoke the next day to find himself way out in front as MVP favorite.
Most basketball observers saw his performance as being the single best by any player this season – and especially after the way he helped bring back his team from being 20 points down to force the game into extra time and then edge out Steph Curry and the Warriors.
Harden finished with 10 rebounds and 15 assists, giving him the 11th 40-point, 15-assist triple-double in NBA history.
But don’t get the idea that Hardin is just a one-game hero. Rockets general manager Daryl Morey says he is currently “at a level that almost nobody in NBA history has ever been at.”
Morey Pretty Close To The Truth
After averaging 40.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, 9.0 assists, and 5.9 3-pointers in his last 12 games, MVP favorite Hardin came out again on Saturday to garner 38 points with 5 rebounds and seven assists.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough this time to prevent the Rockets from losing 101-110 to the Portland Trail Blazers.
In the last 50 years, only four men have posted 40+ points in five straight games.
Along with basketball legends Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson, and Kobe Bryant, Hardin is one of them.
And there is more. His run of more than 35 points and five assists is now up to nine games, two better than the former record holder Oscar Robertson.
The Rockets meanwhile have soared from second last in the NBA West standings to fourth and, until Saturday’s loss to the Trail Blazers, were still climbing.
Harden now leads the NBA in scoring with an average of 33.6 points per game, nearly five better than Steph Curry who is in second place at 28.9 and is -1250 on 888Sport to win the scoring title.
He is also sitting in fourth in assists per game (8.6) and at current odds of +800 to come back and win the assist title as he did two seasons ago it might be a good idea to put a dollar or two on him doing just that.
