The Z Report
Lance Zierlein: Despite LeBron's strong finish, the MVP race isn't really that close
Lance Zierlein
Apr 4, 2018, 8:30 am
You are already starting to hear it and starting to read it. You didn’t really think it would be that easy, did you?
LeBron James appears to be gaining some ground on James Harden in the race for MVP thanks to a tremendous stretch of play that has been punctuated by some of the best statistical output of his career. That’s the thing… LeBron doesn’t like the notion that anyone else is considered to be better than him in any given year and it is one of the things that drives him to be great. He has ego. Ego in sports can be a very good thing.
But the truth of the matter is that no matter how much LeBron “gains” on Harden, it will just be a matter of closing the distance with the final vote total. The race for MVP is over as it should be. In the grand scheme of things, Harden’s legacy could hinge on how he performs in these playoffs, but taking home an MVP is the culmination of his journey with the Rockets.
LeBron is the darling of the national media. He’s the modern day Michael Jordan, but with 41.2 million Twitter followers. He embraces media attention and has since his days in high school. LeBron is never stagnant and wants to move the needle during the news cycle and the national media is eternally grateful.
You don’t have to be paying close attention to realize that many of the move visible and vocal basketball pundits and television talkers are unabashed LeBron fans. They don’t just admire him, they clearly enjoy their role in his life. They see themselves as more than media members covering him, they are acquaintances or even friends.
Make no mistake, I am in awe of the run that LeBron is on and he will be revved up to keep his consecutive trips to the NBA Finals streak alive. I just know that there will never be a time that the more visible media members won’t have LeBron’s back. That could even extend to an MVP vote.
The national media respects and appreciates the brilliance of James Harden. Don’t kid yourself - it’s true. Now there have been times that they’ve gone after him, but we have too and we were all in the right. Harden’s defense has been non-existent in the past. Harden has disappeared at inopportune times during playoff series.
James Harden dates Trina, Amber Rose, and Khloe Kardashian while LeBron is all about the family. Harden doesn’t subtweet his teammates flaws, he just tells them to their face - at the club. Harden doesn’t come in a nice, neat package that was meant to be marketed to children and fanboys. I’m sure the NBA is always a little leery about promoting Harden because he’s got a little more edge than they are used to.
Even though the national media would love to crown LeBron the “King of the League” again with another MVP, it’s not going to happen. The unwritten rules are already set and followed. The elite player on the best team wins the MVP. That’s how it works. This isn’t a handout to Harden, he earned it. He’s been in the driver’s seat all year. There hasn’t been any drama about where he plays next year, or discord in the locker room or long stretches of losing for his team. It’s been the opposite.
LeBron is great, but Harden is the King for this season. Now about those playoffs...
Houston spent time this week practicing an inbound play that coach Kelvin Sampson thought his team might need against Purdue.
Milos Uzan, the third option, ran it to perfection.
He tossed the ball to Joseph Tugler, who threw a bounce pass right back to Uzan, and the 6-foot-4 guard soared to the rim for an uncontested layup with 0.9 seconds left, giving the top-seeded Cougars a 62-60 victory — and a matchup with second-seeded Tennessee in Sunday's Elite Eight.
“Great execution at a time we needed that,” said Sampson, who is a win away from making his third Final Four and his second with Houston in five years. “You never know when you’re going to need it.”
The Cougars (33-4) made only one other basket over the final eight minutes, wasted a 10-point lead and then missed two more shots in the final 5 seconds. A replay review with 2.2 seconds left confirmed Houston would keep the ball when it rolled out of bounds after the second miss.
Uzan took over from there.
“I was trying to hit (L.J. Cryer) and then JoJo just made a great read,” Uzan said. “He was able to draw two (defenders) and he just made a great play to hit me back.”
Houston advanced to the Elite Eight for the third time in five years after falling in the Sweet 16 as a top seed in the previous two editions of March Madness. It will take the nation's longest winning streak, 16 games, into Sunday’s Midwest Region final.
The Cougars joined the other three No. 1 seeds in this year's Elite Eight and did it at Lucas Oil Stadium, where their 2021 tourney run ended with a loss in the Final Four to eventual national champion Baylor.
They haven't lost since Feb. 1.
Uzan scored 22 points and Emanuel Sharp had 17 as Houston survived an off night from leading scorer Cryer, who finished with five points on 2-of-13 shooting.
Houston still had to sweat out a half-court heave at the buzzer, but Braden Smith's shot was well off the mark.
Fletcher Loyer scored 16 points, Trey Kaufman-Renn had 14 and Smith, the Big Ten player of the year, added seven points and 15 assists for fourth-seeded Purdue (24-12). Smith assisted on all 11 second-half baskets for last year’s national runner-up, which played in front of a friendly crowd about an hour’s drive from its campus in West Lafayette.
“I thought we fought really hard and we dug down defensively to get those stops to come back,” Smith said. “We did everything we could and we just had a little miscommunication at the end and they converted. Props to them.”
Houston appeared on the verge of disaster when Kaufman-Renn scored on a dunk and then blocked Cryer’s shot with 1:17 to go, leading to Camden Heide’s 3 that tied the score at 60 with 35 seconds left.
Sampson called timeout to set up the final play, but Uzan missed a turnaround jumper and Tugler’s tip-in rolled off the rim and out of bounds. The Cougars got one more chance after the replay review.
Sharp's scoring flurry early in the second half finally gave Houston some separation after a back-and-forth first half. His 3-pointer at the 16:14 mark made it 40-32. After Purdue trimmed the deficit to four, Uzan made two 3s to give Houston a 10-point lead in a tough, physical game that set up a rare dramatic finish in this year's tourney.
“Smith was guarding the inbounder, so he had to take JoJo,” Sampson said. “That means there was no one there to take Milos. That's why you work on that stuff day after day.”
Purdue: Coach Matt Painter's Boilermakers stumbled into March Madness with six losses in their final nine games but proved themselves a worthy competitor by fighting their way into the Sweet 16 and nearly taking down a No. 1 seed.
Houston: The Cougars lead the nation in 3-point percentage and scoring defense, an enviable combination.
Houston guard Mylik Wilson gave the Cougars a brief scare with 13:23 left in the game. He leapt high into the air to grab a rebound and drew a foul on Kaufman-Renn.
As the play continued, Wilson was undercut and his body twisted around before he landed on his head. Wilson stayed down momentarily, rubbing his head, but eventually got up and remained in the game.