Fun with numbers! Harden vs. Curry!

Everyone has, in the last week or two, shifted their MVP vote to having always been Harden. And no wonder; the man is on a tear, averaging 35.7 points on 23.5 shots per game for the season and a stupefying 42.5ppg over the last 19 games on roughly 44/38 splits.

For ships and skittles, I thought I would attempt ot demonstrate how dominant Steph would be in a D'Antoni offense.

Why you hatin', bruh?

Regardless of percentages (which Matter, in the same way True or False, Right or Wrong, Real or Fake matter...) if Steph shot at the same rate as Harden, he'd be .6 ppg behind.

This, mind you, taketh not the Free Throw into account. Mindeth you, the FT is the reason James Harden isn't a borderline All-Star, but rather an MVP contender. He currently averages 8.5 FTA per game at 85.5%, while average 11.7 at 86.3 this year.

Harden's patented scoring magic.

Curry averages a career 4.1 FTA per game at 90.5% though he's done better this year at 5 attempts, 4.6 makes and a percentage so high I'm not entirely sure it's an acutal number. If we were to grant Curry Harden's current (ridiclous and silly) FTAs per game, we'd end up with a whopping total of...11.7 at 92.5% for the season, or another 10.8 ppg. or another 5.4 ppg.

Curry once again annihiliates the 'possible.'

But then, let's take 3pt% into account. Curry has hit 5.3 on 11.8 attempts for a staggering, Kerr-like 45.4% this year, while Harden has 4.9 makes on 13.1 attempts for 37.6% in 2018-19. Let's balance the shot attempts, shall we?

If Curry took 13.1 3PA/g, he'd make 5.9 3's per game, or another 4 ppg, putting his at a whopping 39-40 ppg this season.

That would immediately put Curry as the highest single-season scorer since Wilt.

Look, this is clearly a somewhat lopsided comparison, but I wanted to point out that Harden is the beneficiary of 3 things that inflate his scoring and reputation. First, D'Antoni. He's an offensive-minded coach who coaxes the very best--or at least most--from his guards because the offense is about ISO and pick n roll n spam. Second, he gets foul calls Curry does not. Third, he gets away with traveling on his double-jump-back 3 at least a few times a game, a privilege no other player gets.

Who says the league doesn't support overseas travel?

Did Curry get Harden's shot and free-throw attempts, he'd average over 40ppg in my opinion and would put on a light show that would make a supernova look like a damp squib.

Is Harden great? Yes, but not as much as people think. He's clever more than great, having found loopholes and asymmetries in League rules and officiating, which he barrels his truck-like body through.

Is Curry great? No. He's the greatest. Did he get the Harden treatment, he would BLOW Harden's MVP case out of the water and the Warriors would have an additional 6 games based on a flat application of Curry's extra scoring to this year's game results.

This would leave them with a clear league-best 38-8 (possibly even more, because if Curry was scoring 40+ppg then Klay and KD would have been shooting freely and joyfully from the land of Totally Open....)

Curry is the MVP this year, or should be, all things considered. Harden is amazing, but he's the next TMac or Barkley: a great player who is never getting a ring.

Let's try to keep two things in mind; Harden's recent nova of scoring is incredible to watch in one way but is based on hideously ugly basketball and loophole finagling...and he ain't winning sh*t in the post this year.

Whereas the Dubs are going to get Ring Number Four based on the utterly unique, once-in-an-eternity talent of Steph. The moral of the story is--as always--that we should appreciate the unprecedented, historic greatness of Steph AND his unprecedented, historic team-play and humility. He is the perfect superstar for the modern NBA (it's made in his image; how could it not be.)

Enjoy the Golden ride, my Golden fam.