Whose Better, Giannis or Harden?

NBA fans had the opportunity to see two of the biggest favorites for this season’s NBA MVP title clashing one against another, last night in Wisconsin.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had more reason to happy because his Bucks defeated Houston, 108-94.

Both guys weren’t at their usual level of play, as Eric Bledsoe stole the show from them. But that didn’t affect the debates after the contest, about who should win the trophy for the Most Valuable Player in the league.

Harden’s chances for that rapidly rose over the last several days. Back on last Thursday, his odds were +450, while Giannis’ -700. Yesterday Harden stood at +200, while Giannis -250.

The reason? To be honest, we don’t know, because when looking at the overall situation nothing changed that dramatically to reshape the odds in that measure.

Though, they were like this before the game started.

Harden didn’t have his night at the Fiserv Forum, and Eric Bledsoe did a huge favor for his teammate, forcing the Beard to have one of the worst shooting performances of the season.

NBA’s top scorer had 23 points, shooting 9 of 26 from the field, one of 9 from behind the arc. He did have other columns full, however, 10 boards, 7 assists, and two blocks.

Giannis had a more team-oriented night. Just 19 points, 7 of 15 from the field with 14 boards, 4 assists, and block and a steal each.

In general, the two had similar statistics, with the note that Giannis had a better shooting percentage.

And this only intensified the debates.

For Chris Paul, for example, there aren’t any doubts who should win the award. According to one of the best PGs in the league, deciding the MVP award winner with the head-to-head record is not good enough.

“Obviously, I’m biased about the MVP and whoever or whatnot, but those of you that decide it on head-to-head games with a few games left in the season, good luck with that,” said CP3 and remembered his case. “Happened to me in ’08.”

James Harden didn’t speak about the MVP race, and he was more focused on his performance in this game stating that Bucks’ players, especially Bledsoe, didn’t have any impact on his poor shooting night and that his misses were only because of him.

“None,” Harden answered when asked did the Bucks’ harsh defense had anything to do with his bad shooting performances. “I still got my shots up. I still was aggressive. I still did what I was supposed to do. Obviously, some shots didn’t go in like every other game.”

That is a bit strange statement, which could open a lot of different question, like did he choke if there were open shots, and he missed them?

Meanwhile, Giannis didn’t want to speak either about the MVP race.

“As I said in the past, I won’t think about it, I just come in here, try to do my job and try to win games.”

The race between these two guys will be a tight one, no doubt about it. Houston and Harden are in a tough situation, and they need to win each and every game until the end in order to clinch the highest possible seed before the playoffs. The upcoming game against the Nuggets at Toyota Center could determine a lot of things, and we’ll see how Harden ends the season.

Bucks are in a much better position, and they should be the No.1 team in the league if everything goes as planned. Though, they have a difficult schedule, it would be a huge surprise to see them in second place in the East.

Last year, Harden won the award having worse stats than his rivals in that race, and the main reason was Houston’s best record in the league.

At the moment, Giannis finds himself in the same position, and we can’t say that he has much worse stats than the Beard.

So we will see what comes after the regular part of the season concludes.

Will we have a new MVP, or a back-to-back winner.