James Harden continues to rewrite the record books in his pursuit of MVP

(Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

With the NBA All-Star Weekend approaching, the Houston Rockets head to the break at 40-18, which stands as one of the best starts in franchise history through 58 games.

A major key in the Rockets’ success is All-Star James Harden. Although the Rockets lost in their last game to the Miami Heat, James Harden put up another monster stat line to continue his pursuit to be the league’s Most Valuable Player. Harden scored 38 points, dished out 12 assists and grabbed 12 boards, racking up his 15th triple-double of the season.

The Beard continues to rise up in the history books as he has been all season. Harden is tied for the 2nd-fewest games (43) to reach 1,000 points and 500 assists in a single season in NBA history. Harden also has the most games with 20-plus points and 10-plus assists before the All-Star Break since the 1985-1986 season with 28.

Averaging 29 points, 11 assists and 8 rebounds per game for the season, Harden ranks 3rd in scoring and his 11 assists per game is tops in the league. Those stats are historical as Oscar Robertson is the only player in NBA history to have averaged at least 28.0 points, 11.0 assists, and 8.0 rebounds in a single season.

Fans and the league have taken notice. James Harden is playing incredible ball for Mike D’Antoni and the Houston Rockets. Harden has won three Western Conference Player of the Week awards this season and a Western Conference Player of the Month award for December. For the month, Harden averaged just under a triple-double with 28.3 points, 12.0 assists, and 9.1 rebounds per game.

The historical stats are nothing of the ordinary for Harden as he became the first player in NBA history to record at least 50 points, 15 rebounds, and 15 assists in a single game when he cooked up a career night on New Year’s Eve ainst the New York Knicks (53 points, 17 assists, 16 rebounds and a career high nine three-pointers). In their game against the Dallas Mavericks, Harden had 34 points and 11 assists in just 29:57 minutes. With those numbers, he became the first player in NBA history to record at least 30 points, 10 assists, and 5 rebounds in a game with fewer than 30 minutes played.

During wins against the Toronto Raptors and Charlotte Hornets, Harden notched back-to-back 40-point triple-doubles, which put him in elite company- joining Russell Westbrook, Michael Jordan, and Pete Maravich as the only players with back-to-back 40-point triple-doubles in a season. Also, after the triple-double performance against the Raptors, Harden has been creating, assisting or scoring 82 points per 48 minutes this season, which leads the NBA.    

Harden has also been efficient offensively this season as he leads the league in isolation scoring per game with 6.2 points per game and is second in the league in pick & roll scoring with 11.7 points per game.

With some Harden naysayers saying he doesn’t play any defense and he is just an offensive player, No.13 has come up clutch defensively this season as well in wins against the Raptors and Hornets. Against the Raptors, with the Rockets up 122-112 with 3:15 left to play in the game, Harden stepped up and drew a crucial charge on Patrick Patterson. A few plays later, Harden blocked his Compton boy DeMar DeRozan with 2:03 remaining in the game. By scoring 40 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks against the Raptors, Harden joined LeBron James and Michael Jordan to have those stats in a single-game.

In their second matchup of the season against the Philadelphia 76ers, Harden became the only player in NBA history to get multiple 50-point triple-doubles of the season as he scorched the Sixers with 51 points, 13 assists and 13 rebounds- leading the Rockets to a 123-118 victory.

James is also surpassing the Rocket elites as he has the most 40-point games in franchise history and passed Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon this season to become the franchise’s all-time leader in triple-doubles.

Although some disagree that Harden should win MVP over Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook because Westbrook is averaging a triple-double with 30.9 points, 10.5 assists and 10.7 rebounds per game- which is a feat only Oscar Robertson has accomplished in NBA history- it’s clear that Harden’s stats and feats are more valuable because the Rockets have a winning record. His on and off-the-court leadership has grown along with his passing and the way he gets his teammates involved. The Rockets were 31-10 at the midpoint of the season, which matched the best record at the midpoint in franchise history.

Its clear as day that if James Harden continues to put up monster stats, triple-doubles, reach milestones and the Rockets keep winning games, he is the obvious choice for the 2016-2017 Kia Most Valuable Player Award.