NBA scores 2017: Russell Westbrook and James Harden won’t give up the MVP award without a fight

Both MVP front-runners dropped triple doubles on Sunday, but Westbrook’s stat line made history.

Apr 10, 2017, 12:00 PM UTC

NBA: Oklahoma City Thunder at Houston Rockets

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Both Russell Westbrook and James Harden each picked up triple-doubles in their respective wins on Sunday night.

Westbrook broke another record, passing Oscar Robertson for the most triple-doubles in NBA history. He also scored Oklahoma City’s last 15 points and hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to squash the Denver Nuggets’ playoff hopes.

Harden picked up his 21st triple double of the season, putting up 35 points (albeit on 9-of-22 shooting), 11 rebounds and 15 assists against a lowly Kings team. He would have had a quadruple double if his 10 turnovers counted.

Together, Harden and Westbrook are having two unprecedented seasons. The Beard has led the Rockets to a third-best 54-26 record, orchestrating Mike D’Antoni’s offense as the maestro leading his gang of flanking shooters. Westbrook has shattered record after record while yanking his supporting cast into the mix of the playoff picture.

If there were ever a time for Most Valuable Player to be decided in the playoffs, it’s this season.

Voters for this season’s awards are required to have their ballots in at the end of this week. But the Thunder and Rockets are going head-to-head in the No. 3 vs. No. 6 matchup in the first round of the playoffs.

Harden has struggled in crunch time in recent seasons. Westbrook has come up big for Oklahoma City all season long. It’s unfair to voters to make this decision knowing the two MVP front-runners will go head-to-head in two weeks.

Moment of the night

Westbrook found Semaj Christon for the 10th assist of his night, notching his NBA record 42nd triple-double of the season.

Sunday’s blunder

With just a few seconds left and the Cavaliers up on the Hawks by three, LeBron James committed a cardinal sin and inbounded the ball to Kyrie Irving who was running into the corner. The Hawks then trapped Irving, forcing a jump ball. (The referee missed an out of bound call during that wrap-up.)

The Kent Bazemore-Kyrie Irving jump ball ended how you thought it would. As did Paul Milksop’s clean look at a buzzer-beating shot to send the game into overtime.

In all, Cleveland allowed Atlanta to outscore them 44-18 in the fourth quarter. They blew a 14-point lead in the game’s final 3:30 and lost in overtime, 126-125.