Russell Westbrook and James Harden are in a two-man race for the Most Valuable Player. The votes have already been cast, and we won’t know until after the season. But the two get to showcase what made them such historically strong candidates (though the 1962 race was something else) in a best-of-seven series against each other.
Thunder vs. Rockets, 2017 NBA playoffs: Start time, TV schedule and live stream
Two MVP candidates going head to head.
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Harden’s Rockets are the favorite, finishing the year with the league’s third-best record (55 wins) with a boundary-pushing basketball experiment that saw Houston shatter the record for three-pointers made and attempted in a single season. Harden’s role as the engine that makes everything move is imperative, and he set a career high (and led the NBA) with slightly more than 11 assists per game while scoring 29 points per game.
It’s not just Harden, though, who is crucial. Eric Gordon is a leading Sixth Man of the Year, Ryan Anderson reliably hits shots from 28 feet out, Patrick Beverley is the mad dog who leads their not-great-but-not-awful defense, and Clint Capela and Nene bring different looks to a two-headed center rotation.
Oklahoma City could take advantage of Houston on the glass, which is the area where the Rockets might be weakest. For a chance at an upset, the Thunder will obviously need a superhuman series from Westbrook — but they’ll need their bigs to show up, too. Those same bigs will have to avoid being skewered by Houston on the pick-and-roll as well, which is never an easy task.
Still, what we keep coming back to is this: Westbrook and Harden, in the same series, playing in the same games, going head-to-head at least four times. Can’t wait!
Here’s how you watch Game 1.
TIME: 9 p.m. ET
PLACE: Toyota Center, Houston, Texas
CHANNEL: TNT
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