James Harden now has a signature MVP moment

We’ve seen the other major candidates for the 2016-17 NBA MVP Award have signature moments in recent weeks, including Kawhi Leonard’s seven seconds of doom against the Houston Rockets. James Harden has been making spectacular plays all season long, but this one takes the cake:

If you’re keeping score at home, that’s a 94-foot downhill sprint into a game-winning layup. This is both an illustration of Harden’s smarts, speed, and skill as well as an indictment of the Nuggets transition defense. Denver certainly needed to avoid fouling here. But you have to at least make Harden swerve or break at a move!

Instead, Harden used his golden mushroom and zipped more or less straight down the court for the winner with time to spare. It’s a wonderful illustration of the benefits of trusting your superstar and taking additional live ball chaos instead of setting up a halfcourt play. For someone who can catch defenders off guard in any circumstances, this is such an advantage for the Rockets.

(Yes, Nene is holding Jameer Nelson. No, that is never getting called.)

Denver is now tied in the loss column with the Blazers for the No. 8 seed. Y’all should have thrown the banana peel when you had the chance!

ATL 90, CHA 105
PHI 109, ORL 112 (OT)
UTA 100, IND 107
WAS 102, BOS 110
DEN 124, HOU 125
GSW 111, OKC 95
NYK 105, LAC 114

I’m starting to think the Thunder and Warriors don’t like each other. Stephen Curry and Semaj Christon started scuffling a bit during a jump ball, and then Russell Westbrook got into it with Steph, which drew Draymond Green’s ire, and now the All-Star Game seems like it never happened.

Steph followed that incident by hitting a wild three at the halftime buzzer and running to the locker room. He also used this salty game to dunk for the first time this season. The Chef is actually quite a rude individual at his core.

Speaking of rude individuals: Here’s a cupcake mascot on crutches in OKC. Sheesh!

Last bit from Warriors-Thunder: Steve Kerr denied the whole “Golden State is mad OKC didn’t hold a parade or whatever for Kevin Durant in February” story. I hardly think ESPN’s Chris Haynes made it up, though. So someone in Warriorland or on Team Durant said something.

Ricky O’Donnell has your first SB Nation NBA mock draft of the season, with Markelle Fultz hanging onto No. 1 and Lonzo Ball following at No. 2.

Watch a referee trip Bojan Bogdanovic, causing a turnover. Why is the league trying to prevent the Wizards from winning a championship, huh? HUH?

Oh my goodness. The Lakers quoted LeBron calling D’Angelo Russell “a special player” after Yung Wiretap had a big night against the Cavaliers. Except LeBron was talking about Kyrie Irving, not D’Angelo. So the Lakers had to acknowledge that LeBron did not, in fact, call D’Angelo “a special player” after touting such all day. Now we’re all curious as to what LeBron really thinks of D’Angelo!

In the wake of the Cavaliers’ DNP-Rests Saturday night, I wrote that the NBA is going to have to take a stronger stance against these types of decisions. Sure enough, Adam Silver sent a memo to teams on Monday reminding them of potential penalties and declaring that NBA owners will discuss this topic in April.

Damian Lillard’s huge game exposed Miami’s defensive flaw, writes Mike Prada.

Andre Roberson might not be the worst free-throw shooter in the NBA, or he might be. I mean, look at those. He might be.

Rajon Rondo, a card-carrying member of the Petty All-Stars, is organizing a reunion for the 2008 NBA Champion Boston Celtics someplace warm and sunny this summer. Ray Allen is not invited. (Apparently, neither is Scot Pollard.)

Welp. Cameron Payne is going to the D-League a month after the Bulls traded Doug McDermott and Taj Gibson to get him.