IT4 - The MVP chase is on

[Neurotic Guy]

There's not much I care less about than who wins the MVP award.  I hope it's meaningless to IT and I hope his 4th quarter stats are meaningless to him.  Much like Rondo's assist streak, the MVP award or record-setting performances become the holy grail for non-contenders.  The only relevant concern is who the Cs can get so IT can share, rather than own, the offensive load.

[makaveli]

How the hell Kawhi isn't even on the discussion? The guy is averaging 24 PPG along with his game changing defense while carrying his team in the top 5.

yeah defense and the the turnover numbers of both Harden and Westbrook.
Russell had a quad-double yesterday with 21-10-11 and 10 turnovers

[TrueFan]

There's not much I care less about than who wins the MVP award.  I hope it's meaningless to IT and I hope his 4th quarter stats are meaningless to him.  Much like Rondo's assist streak, the MVP award or record-setting performances become the holy grail for non-contenders.  The only relevant concern is who the Cs can get so IT can share, rather than own, the offensive load.

IT is an emotional player. The last thing you want to do is take away the emotion by having him not get into his fourth quarter mode and have him not thinking about how he's doing in the fourth.

My favorite part of last night was IT yelling this is my quarter after hitting a huge bucket. I don't know how long he can keep this up but he's riding that emotional wave and I love watching it. It's by far the best story line happening for the Cs this year.

[Surferdad]

I think IT4 just moved himself into the top 5 for MVP after last night.

You also have to give him serious consideration now as a top 10 player in the league. He's been playing that good.

Yup, I just posted the same thing in the game thread.  Thing is, he has no shot of winning unless the C's make a deep playoff run.  That's the other factor for MVP which hasn't been discussed and focuses on the meaning of "valuable".

[Redz]

I think IT4 just moved himself into the top 5 for MVP after last night.

You also have to give him serious consideration now as a top 10 player in the league. He's been playing that good.

Yup, I just posted the same thing in the game thread.  Thing is, he has no shot of winning unless the C's make a deep playoff run.  That's the other factor for MVP which hasn't been discussed and focuses on the meaning of "valuable".

It's a regular season award, so a playoff run has no bearing.

[Neurotic Guy]

There's not much I care less about than who wins the MVP award.  I hope it's meaningless to IT and I hope his 4th quarter stats are meaningless to him.  Much like Rondo's assist streak, the MVP award or record-setting performances become the holy grail for non-contenders.  The only relevant concern is who the Cs can get so IT can share, rather than own, the offensive load.

IT is an emotional player. The last thing you want to do is take away the emotion by having him not get into his fourth quarter mode and have him not thinking about how he's doing in the fourth.

My favorite part of last night was IT yelling this is my quarter after hitting a huge bucket. I don't know how long he can keep this up but he's riding that emotional wave and I love watching it. It's by far the best story line happening for the Cs this year.

I don't deny the quality of the story line or the attraction of the 5'9" wizzard hitting long distance shots and carving through giant defenders.  But I am not so big on the bravado and the kind of attention it can engender (from teammates and opponents).    He was scoring at a high clip before he started checking his "watch".   I love his emotion, but you can have lots of emotion without the showmanship.  Cocky showmanship on your team works great as long as things are going well.  Only the true greats can sustain it, everyone else will eventually fall.   IT may be transcendent in his talent, but his size makes him vulnerable. 

[Surferdad]

I think IT4 just moved himself into the top 5 for MVP after last night.

You also have to give him serious consideration now as a top 10 player in the league. He's been playing that good.

Yup, I just posted the same thing in the game thread.  Thing is, he has no shot of winning unless the C's make a deep playoff run.  That's the other factor for MVP which hasn't been discussed and focuses on the meaning of "valuable".

It's a regular season award, so a playoff run has no bearing.

I stand corrected about when the award is announced, but the larger point is your team has to win, a lot, to get the award.  Have to be a playoff team ranked no lower than 5th or 6th seed, IMO.

[TrueFan]

There's not much I care less about than who wins the MVP award.  I hope it's meaningless to IT and I hope his 4th quarter stats are meaningless to him.  Much like Rondo's assist streak, the MVP award or record-setting performances become the holy grail for non-contenders.  The only relevant concern is who the Cs can get so IT can share, rather than own, the offensive load.

IT is an emotional player. The last thing you want to do is take away the emotion by having him not get into his fourth quarter mode and have him not thinking about how he's doing in the fourth.

My favorite part of last night was IT yelling this is my quarter after hitting a huge bucket. I don't know how long he can keep this up but he's riding that emotional wave and I love watching it. It's by far the best story line happening for the Cs this year.

I don't deny the quality of the story line or the attraction of the 5'9" wizzard hitting long distance shots and carving through giant defenders.  But I am not so big on the bravado and the kind of attention it can engender (from teammates and opponents).    He was scoring at a high clip before he started checking his "watch".   I love his emotion, but you can have lots of emotion without the showmanship.  Cocky showmanship on your team works great as long as things are going well.  Only the true greats can sustain it, everyone else will eventually fall.   IT may be transcendent in his talent, but his size makes him vulnerable.

Wow. IT checking his fake watch bothers you? That is some serious hate. Do you prefer him to be a robot without any emotion?

I remember KG making an amazing play once and he pretended to tweet something on a fake phone. These guys get into the moment. They feed off of it. It's not showboating. It's living in the moment and having fun. 

Are there other posters also bothered by IT's fourth quarter antics? I just don't get the hate.

[TrueFan]

I think IT4 just moved himself into the top 5 for MVP after last night.

You also have to give him serious consideration now as a top 10 player in the league. He's been playing that good.

Yup, I just posted the same thing in the game thread.  Thing is, he has no shot of winning unless the C's make a deep playoff run.  That's the other factor for MVP which hasn't been discussed and focuses on the meaning of "valuable".

It's a regular season award, so a playoff run has no bearing.

I stand corrected about when the award is announced, but the larger point is your team has to win, a lot, to get the award.  Have to be a playoff team ranked no lower than 5th or 6th seed, IMO.

I was thinking about this also. If the Celtics finish with 55 plus wins IT should move up even higher. It's all going to come down to how many wins we end up with.

[timpiker]

IT is our MVP but no way is he better than Westbrook or Harden or maybe a few others.  But, think about IT for a sec.  DA traded almost nothing for him and got an absolute steal.

[Surferdad]

There's not much I care less about than who wins the MVP award.  I hope it's meaningless to IT and I hope his 4th quarter stats are meaningless to him.  Much like Rondo's assist streak, the MVP award or record-setting performances become the holy grail for non-contenders.  The only relevant concern is who the Cs can get so IT can share, rather than own, the offensive load.

IT is an emotional player. The last thing you want to do is take away the emotion by having him not get into his fourth quarter mode and have him not thinking about how he's doing in the fourth.

My favorite part of last night was IT yelling this is my quarter after hitting a huge bucket. I don't know how long he can keep this up but he's riding that emotional wave and I love watching it. It's by far the best story line happening for the Cs this year.

I don't deny the quality of the story line or the attraction of the 5'9" wizzard hitting long distance shots and carving through giant defenders.  But I am not so big on the bravado and the kind of attention it can engender (from teammates and opponents).    He was scoring at a high clip before he started checking his "watch".   I love his emotion, but you can have lots of emotion without the showmanship.  Cocky showmanship on your team works great as long as things are going well.  Only the true greats can sustain it, everyone else will eventually fall.   IT may be transcendent in his talent, but his size makes him vulnerable.

Wow. IT checking his fake watch bothers you? That is some serious hate. Do you prefer him to be a robot without any emotion?

I remember KG making an amazing play once and he pretended to tweet something on a fake phone. These guys get into the moment. They feed off of it. It's not showboating. It's living in the moment and having fun. 

Are there other posters also bothered by IT's fourth quarter antics? I just don't get the hate.

Agreed.  Being an NBA player is a hard job.  It's a lot of work, heavy travel schedule, taking care of your body and what you put in it.  There's not much that's fun other than having success within the game.  Let them celebrate and joke around for goodness sakes, just be sure to get back on defense.

[TrueFan]

There's not much I care less about than who wins the MVP award.  I hope it's meaningless to IT and I hope his 4th quarter stats are meaningless to him.  Much like Rondo's assist streak, the MVP award or record-setting performances become the holy grail for non-contenders.  The only relevant concern is who the Cs can get so IT can share, rather than own, the offensive load.

IT is an emotional player. The last thing you want to do is take away the emotion by having him not get into his fourth quarter mode and have him not thinking about how he's doing in the fourth.

My favorite part of last night was IT yelling this is my quarter after hitting a huge bucket. I don't know how long he can keep this up but he's riding that emotional wave and I love watching it. It's by far the best story line happening for the Cs this year.

I don't deny the quality of the story line or the attraction of the 5'9" wizzard hitting long distance shots and carving through giant defenders.  But I am not so big on the bravado and the kind of attention it can engender (from teammates and opponents).    He was scoring at a high clip before he started checking his "watch".   I love his emotion, but you can have lots of emotion without the showmanship.  Cocky showmanship on your team works great as long as things are going well.  Only the true greats can sustain it, everyone else will eventually fall.   IT may be transcendent in his talent, but his size makes him vulnerable.

Wow. IT checking his fake watch bothers you? That is some serious hate. Do you prefer him to be a robot without any emotion?

I remember KG making an amazing play once and he pretended to tweet something on a fake phone. These guys get into the moment. They feed off of it. It's not showboating. It's living in the moment and having fun. 

Are there other posters also bothered by IT's fourth quarter antics? I just don't get the hate.

Agreed.  Being an NBA player is a hard job.  It's a lot of work, heavy travel schedule, taking care of your body and what you put in it.  There's not much that's fun other than having success within the game.  Let them celebrate and joke around for goodness sakes, just be sure to get back on defense.

Exactly. It's also great for the fans for the home games. I was at the Wizards game and IT was playing it up for the fans several times. It was one of the most fun games I've been to. I would hate to see him ever change from being himself. The games would be a lot less fun.

[TrueFan]

If IT4 keeps playing the way he is he will be on James Harden's level.

He might put a serious run at the top of the list. Westbrook has been shooting poorly. The Rockets have had some losses lately. I think IT is closing that gap between Westbrook, Harden and himself.

[esel1000]

35 pts, 17 in the 4th and no ft attempts. Dude's just amazing

[esel1000]

If IT4 keeps playing the way he is he will be on James Harden's level.

He might put a serious run at the top of the list. Westbrook has been shooting poorly. The Rockets have had some losses lately. I think IT is closing that gap between Westbrook, Harden and himself.

I'd be happy if he finished top 5... he's almost there