Houston Rockets guard James Harden has claimed that he was the best player in the league last year, and deserved to win the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award ahead of winner Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors.

Harden led the Rockets to the Western Conference Finals where they were eliminated by Curry’s Warriors in five games. He made just 2 of his 11 shots on the night and made an incredible 12 turnovers, one of his worst ever playoff performances.

Harden was dominant in the regular season, however. Dwight Howard missed half of the regular season, Terrence Jones missed 49 games, Patrick Beverly got injured in March and Donatas Motiejunas got injured in April as the latter two missed the playoffs, and yet, Harden managed to put in MVP-like numbers. He averaged 27.4 points, 7 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game as the Rockets reached the Western Conference finals for the first time in nearly two decades.

"Credit the Golden State Warriors for an unbelievable year. They had an unbelievable team, coaching staff, everything. But that award means most valuable to your team. We finished second in the West, which nobody thought we were going to do at the beginning of the year even when everybody was healthy. We were near the top in having the most injuries. We won our division in a division where every single team made the playoffs. There's so many factors. I led the league in total points scored, minutes played. Like I said, I'm not taking anything away from Steph, but I felt I deserved the Most Valuable Player. That stays with me,” Harden told NBA.com.

Harden finished second behind Curry in MVP voting. The latter averaged 23.8 points, 7.7 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game, while also leading the league in making 286 three-pointers, 163 steals and an efficient .914 free-throw percentage over the season. Harden, meanwhile, led the league in minutes played (2981 minutes), points made (2217) and free throws (715).

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