There is a new King James, thanks to a bold and brash tweet by the Houston Rockets, and he is a guy who would NEVER miss eight free throws in a single game.
Congratulations, James Harden. You have solidified your hold on the first-place spot in the MVP race in the mind of this voter and in the minds of other voters, and you now have six weeks to produce a finishing kick that holds off Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry and a guy in Ohio who missed the game-winning shot at the end of regulation and then two free throws with 4.2 seconds left in overtime with the Cavs trailing the Rockets by one.
Here is the tweet the Rockets put out after the game:
Long live the new King. Highlights, photos, recap & reactions from today’s big OT win on http://t.co/VBY18eSOmU. pic.twitter.com/91utdhnqTx
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) March 2, 2015
Sure would be nice if some of that East vs. West moxie could be carried over into the the first three rounds of the playoffs with East teams playing West teams in the earlier rounds. Unfortunately our commissioner, Adam Silver, does not have the authority to rule via executive order, and we will likely be stuck with a couple of duds in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Memo to Adam: Put a proposal before the owners that gives the top six seeds to the division winners, then ranks teams 7-16 by record regardless of which conference they play in. That way, we will never have to see a team as feisty as this season’s Pelicans or last season’s Suns have to sit out the playoffs.
Although here is the thing with the Pelicans … they refuse to go away, even while missing Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday and Ryan Anderson. Their victory over the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night made it five straight wins, and they remain on the heels of the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs. And another thing about the Pels to keep in the back of your mind: They have already secured the tiebreaker over the Thunder by winning the season series 2-1, and they are up 2-1 on the Spurs with one game remaining – on the last day of the season.
Given what we have seen from New Orleans since the All-Star break, there is no counting them out.
In the East, meanwhile, the week begins with the Heat and Pacers sitting in the 7-8 spots. Not for nothing, but wouldn’t it be nice to have those two clubs in the mix when the postseason begins, just for old times’ sake? After all, they were the clear-cut top two teams in the East for the past two seasons, and if Paul George can make it back, hey, maybe Chris Bosh can, too.
More on the MVP race and the playoff races in this video with CineSport’s Noah Coslov.
Chris Sheridan is publisher and editor-in-chief of SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter.