With only a week left in the 2014 NBA regular season, time has essentially run out for the NBA MVP hopefuls such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, and Joakim Noah to make their case for the prestigious award. It is, after all, a recognition of a player’s accomplishments over the course of an entire season, and the final week of play should have little no effect on the MVP race.
In all honesty, however, this has been a two-man race between LeBron James and Kevin Durant from the get-go, with other possibilities like Paul George, Blake Griffin, and Joakim Noah periodically being thrown into the argument solely for pure entertainment purposes. With James bringing home the award for four of the past five seasons, including the last two, many NBA fans are ready for a change, and this is very likely the year it will come, as Kevin Durant has compiled an extraordinary season, and truly is the most valuable player in the league.
It’s not that superstar LeBron James’ play has declined at all, as he has put together a tremendous season himself, averaging a whopping 27.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 6.9 assists per game. It’s not even that the Miami Heat’s play has declined, as they are still among the elites, and currently hold and are likely to finish with the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference for the second year in a row. It is simply that Kevin Durant has been even better. While playing in the much-tougher western conference, Durant has, at times, been forced to put the his team on his back, and has only thrived when doing so. Despite extended absences from several key players such as Wesbrook (34 games), Kendrick Perkins (20 games), and Thabo Sefolosha (21 games), Durant has led the Thunder to an impressive 56-21 record, good enough for second place in the western conference.
When point guard Russell Westbrook went down with a knee injury in late December, Durant responded by leading the Thunder to a 13-4 record during the month of January, while averaging an astounding 35.9 points and shooting 54.9% from the field. More recently, however, Durant scored 25 or more points in 41 straight games, a streak that did come to an end on Tuesday night, but not before he passed Michael Jordan’s mark of 40 consecutive games. For the entire season, Durant is averaging 32.0 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game. While it seems extremely pointless and counter-productive to try and find fault in the remarkable season that LeBron James has put together thus far, it is a much easier thing to do once you examine Durant’s historically remarkable year.
Kevin Durant’s time is finally here. After finishing second in MVP voting behind LeBron James in three of the last four seasons, he looks to be on track to change that trend this year. He has finally proven that he is not the just the second best basketball player in the NBA, but should, in fact, be strongly considered in the “best player” argument. Durant himself stated his strong desire to step out of James’ shadow last April, when he told Sports Illustrated, “I was the second-best player in high school. I was the second pick in the draft. I’ve been second in the MVP voting three times. I came in second in the Finals. I’m tired of being second. I’m not going to settle for that. I’m done with it.”
The NBA MVP race is over, and has been for a while. Durant’s next task is to take his team to that Championship finish he craves.
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