Why this MVP race is actually fun and a classic Celtic riders seems inevitable

The most useful player in the NBA has not yet been decided – the way he should be with a little more than a month in the regular season.

Let’s be honest here. There has been a moment in recent years when the MVP discussion has become really toxic, the breed was involved and it was really heartbreaking – not that the introduction of the race with regard to the preferences of the voters is so insulting, but the whole discussion has moved away from having an excellent basketball at the center of all this.

Fortunately, this is not the case between Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Triple MVP Nikola Jokić. Apparently, each evening, one of the candidates puts a strong brand in his favor for the price. Friday evening, History 30-20-20 of Jokić against Phoenix. 40 pieces of Gilgeous-Alexander against Jokić’s Nuggets two days later.

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It becomes an appointment so as to see that these teams are generally not – that they are not good teams with convincing stories, not that the nuggets have not been worthy champions who always deserve to meet in the final this spring, or that Whitehoma City has not built from the ground in recent years, ready for species during this year. But Jokić avoids praise and Oklahoma City was not great for marketing itself historically.

But even now, no one can deny that we are witnessing one of the major MVP races in modern history.

Jokić was the king of victories by 48 minutes – a statistical model which was the largest MVP indicator through history – and who has a year of career to all gross figures. His 48-minute victory shares are a career summit. 316 and he is on average a triple-double for the first time in his career. His 28.9 points, a career in career. His 10.5 assists, a career summit. Ditto for its precision of 43% from the range of 3 points – it pulls better from there than Stephen Curry, although in less volume, but he takes a total of 4.5 triples per game.

Gilgeous-Alexander leads the league by scoring almost 33 points and drops to 6.2 assists per game-High-Highs in both.

Feeling a trend here, friends?

He dropped 40 points in 11 games this year, reaching 50 brands four times. He is third of the NBA in flight and obtains more than one block per game – and the position of the guard who enters the territory of Michael Jordan -Dwyane Wade.

The Thunder was the best team of the best team of the Western Conference. In some respects, with all the dramas and upheavals in Los Angeles, Dallas and Golden State, the Thunder was easy to neglect.

The riders are rightly so the darling of the league (more on them later), but the Thunder is only 1.5 match behind them in the overall record at 53-12 – a lock to cross the threshold of 60 victories.

The bidirectional game of Gilgeous-Alexander is the catalyst. And his victory shared by 48 minutes? .315 – Better than each Jokić season except for this one.

Nugget coach Michael Malone, an entertaining guy subject to a little hyperbole, said that it was not even a close race between the two. It is obviously false. You can stick to your guy without insulting anyone else – and I hope it doesn’t get worse.

There are no criteria defined for MVP and you should not be. This is one of these things “you know when you see it”. This is what makes him fun.

Charles Barkley had the most votes in first place in 1990, but finished second ahead of Magic Johnson – which meant that Jordan, who collected on average 33.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 2.8 interceptions for a team that went to match 7 of the final of the East conference which followed May, finished third. Third!

The assertion by 1997 is that Karl Malone obtained a vote of sympathy against Jordan, despite Jordan leading her bulls to 69 victories. He was obvious then and still feels this way now.

Steve Nash won two in 2004 and 2005 does not feel so blatant when he is considered the way he played, inaugurating a new style with the Phoenix Suns in their seven seconds or less, a pioneer of the game that we see today. Shaquille O’Neal is still on this subject, and fans of Kobe Bryant feel that he was stolen in 2006 (he actually finished fourth, therefore …), but time seems to bear the validation from here.

You had to be there to understand.

And it may be there that this year will eventually land.

But whoever obtains the vote, it will be because an voter considers that the player has had the best season and not because it is an indictment of the other candidate.

Again, it’s fun and fortunately not toxic.

Cavs, celtics on collision race

It looks like we are on a collision trajectory for the finals of the Eastern Conference. The Boston Celtics champion against surprising riders, who are at a crazy pace.

All victories. The three stars. The best home record in League 29-4.

The Western Conference seems to be much more volatile, even with the aforementioned thunder leading the pack. There are a number of possible combinations for a conference final – realizing Adam Silver’s dream of an unpredictable league where the results of the playoffs are not predetermined.

(There is trouble with it to a certain extent, fans like to know who loves and who hate, but it is not so bad.)

However, in the East, a classic match could be on the horizon, unless the Milwaukee Bucks crash the party in the second round – which would not be a terrible or impossible thing to consider with the addition of Kyle Kuzma paying dividends and Bobby Portis anxious to return from its PED suspension before the end of the regular season.

But except that – and unless that, New York Knicks fans – having a champion wishing to repeat themselves against a hungry challenger sporting an impressive regular season record and taking revenge as motivator considering their confrontation in playoffs last year, makes basketball convincing.

We were treated to a recently overview, the riders turning a deep deficit on the road to beat the Celtics on national television. Perhaps it was only an 82 match for the Celtics – you would have trouble finding many games that have an important meaning for the champions once they climbed the mountain – or perhaps the riders sent a message that they will not be intimidated, that they are much more than a credible aluminum paper and that their attack can walk a team in any building.

This last point could be the most frightening of everyone, especially if Donovan Mitchell remains healthy and is fresh enough for a race in the playoffs. The collective world of the NBA asked him to reduce his game, to allow Darius Garland and Evan Mobley to flourish and grow.

Check, check.

Mobley is the most intriguing perspective here, and could certainly be the joker of a potential series. Will the Celtics have a healthy Kristaps porziņģis to counter? Al Horford and Jrue Holiday will they reproduce their performance on the playoffs from last year?

It seems very unpredictable at the moment, but it seems that we can expect a champion to adorn against a determined challenger.

Do not put Detroit back

The easiest thing to predict in the playoffs, apparently, is a quick flame for a team undergoing an unexpected turnaround from one year to the next.

But Detroit pistons should not be reduced in a first round series. Their Mark 7-3 Post All-Star follows only the horsemen and Celtics aforementioned in the East, and so far, their overall improvement in the percentage of victories of 0.383 is among the highest in the history of the NBA-of course their most successful path since 2007-08.

This level of satisfaction generally leads to a more experienced team to benefit from it in the playoffs, but to reject them to your perils. Isaiah Stewart may have his own confrontation film, but that obscures his level of all defense level – nobody blocked more shots after the stars that Stewart and he has an average of 2.3 Swats in this section, in just 18.8 minutes.

They carry the fourth best defensive note from the break, dragging the Lakers, the Cavaliers and the Bucks.

And their best defender could very well be the second year striker Ausar Thompson. Her minutes are just starting to increase completely; He missed the first part of this season by recovering from a blood clot which cost him the end of his recruit year and everyone has been careful since. Due to the 18 games, he missed to start the season when he did not qualify for the prices, but statistically, he would be equal to the second row of interceptions per game behind Dyson Dyson of Atlanta and he is downright ravaged for this purpose.

The piston calendar to finish the season is hell, but they are one of a handful with winning records at home and on the road. Logic suggests a competitive performance in the first round is a successful year Uber, but they could become greedy if they stay six (the fourth seeded is an outside game). If they play a team of potentially exhausted and shallow Knicks on the turn 1, the Knicks could end up going home early.