Houston’s Harden is named NBA MVP
Santa Monica, Calif. — James Harden of the Houston Rockets is the NBA's Most Valuable Player.
He joined Michael Jordan as the only players to average at least 20 points, eight assists, five rebounds and 1.7 steals in a season.
Harden led the league in scoring, 3-pointers and 50-point games with four while helping the Rockets to an NBA-leading 65 wins.
Harden beat out four-time winner LeBron James of Cleveland and Anthony Davis of the Pelicans.
He received the trophy at the NBA Awards on Monday night. Harden, who is from Los Angeles, led his mother on stage and credited her for being his backbone.
Dwane Casey won the NBA's Coach of the Year award for his work with his former team, the Toronto Raptors. He was fired last month and has since become coach of the Detroit Pistons. Casey led the Raptors to the No. 1 seed in the East for the first time in franchise history. Toronto won a team-record 59 games. Casey coached the East in the All-Star Game for the first time.
Casey won over Quin Snyder of Utah and Brad Stevens of Boston.
Lou Williams of the Los Angeles Clippers was named the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year. The guard became the first player to average at least 20 points for the first time in his 13th season or later. He led the league in fourth-quarter points and scoring average. He beat out Houston's Eric Gordon, last year's winner, and Fred VanVleet of Toronto.
Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz was honored as the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year. The center was the leading vote-getter for the league's All- Defensive first team. Gobert anchored a Jazz defense that ranked second in the NBA in defensive rating. He beat out Anthony Davis of New Orleans and Joel Embiid of Philadel- phia.
Victor Oladipo of the Indiana Pacers won the Most Improved Player honor. The guard averaged 23.1 points in his first season with the Pacers. He earned his first All-Star berth, too.
Oladipo also led the league in steals for the first time. He beat out Clint Capela of Houston and Spencer Dinwiddie of the Brooklyn Nets.
Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers won Rookie of the Year.