Thursday NBA Roundup: Westbrook's MVP Chances Remain Strong, but Winning Matters

When the NBA names the 2016-17 MVP, a game from early January could loom large for James Harden and Russell Westbrook.

After all, the Houston Rockets' 118-116 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday was a triple-double away from serving as a microcosm of the race for the league's biggest individual award. 

Houston's bearded point guard struggled with turnovers but finished with an efficient 26 points, eight rebounds and 12 assists. That line doesn't even include the brilliant play he made with the game on the line, pulling in multiple defenders during the final seconds and then slipping the ball to Nene, who drew a foul and took the lead at the stripe: 

It does, however, include this beauty of a three-pointer: 

Westbrook matched him step for step. 

The dynamic floor general was a terror, recording 49 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals while shooting 16-of-34 from the field and making a career-high eight triples, which you can see below: 

His vision was also on display, most notably when he stepped his way through traffic and dumped the rock to Andre Roberson: 

But Westbrook's heroics weren't enough.

Even after he helped his team erase a double-digit deficit and tie the game with seconds to spare, he couldn't capitalize on an advantageous situation. And that's why, if the margin between these two leading candidates remains close after 82 games, voters could look back at the final possessions (not including the Thunder's desperation tip attempt with 0.7 seconds remaining). 

When Westbrook had a chance to take the lead, he settled for a contested three against Harden. Little action occurred other than the isolation set, and his attempt clanged off the iron. Conversely, Harden made the proper play and earned the victorious postgame interview with TNT.

CBSSports.com's Matt Moore commented on the implications of Harden's play:

"

Harden's willingness to make that pass should be assessed in MVP conversation

— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) January 6, 2017"

Those brief moments may not seem significant over the course of a season, but they sum up the portion of the unofficial MVP criteria in which Westbrook trails: Typically, the man who holds up the Maurice Podoloff Trophy achieves statistical excellence, has a narrative working in his favor and is on a successful team. 

There's no question Harden and Westbrook have numbers working in their favor, but the latter's are superior. He's averaging 31.4 points, 10.4 rebounds and 10.3 assists. Even including Oscar Robertson's historic triple-double season, which came during an era that featured far more possessions per 48 minutes, we've never seen anything like this.

Bob Levey/Getty Images

That also aids Westbrook in the narrative department. So long as he averages a triple-double, his resume for that criterion will remain unblemished. 

But winning matters. It has to. No MVP since Michael Jordan in 1988 has earned the award while playing for a team that finished outside the top two seeds in its conference. Even then, his Chicago Bulls finished third in the East, a mere four games shy of the No. 2 Detroit Pistons.

That may change this year, with the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs continuing to perform like juggernauts. But it's more likely the voters acquiesce to Harden's record since his Rockets have yet to lose their 10th game.

"It doesn't surprise me," head coach Mike D'Antoni told ESPN.com's Calvin Watkins about his team's place in the Western standings. "I didn't know how good we could be really quick or how good we could be anywhere. They're picking it up and after about 10 games we got our stride and we got Pat [Beverley] back [from knee injury]. We've been good every game and we just got to keep it going."

Billy Donovan can't quite say the same about his Thunder, who fell to 21-16 after this disappointing finish.

And while it may seem unfair to hold team success against Westbrook when he doesn't have a supporting cast quite like the one assembled around his former backcourt mate—and it is unfair—that's what will happen. It also doesn't help that Westbrook failed to come through down the stretch, taking over possessions and bogging down the offense to no avail. 

In clutch situations—defined as possessions within the last five minutes of games separated by no more than five points—Westbrook is shooting 42.7 percent from the field and 26.7 percent from beyond the arc while turning the ball over 5.9 times per 36 minutes. He's done a lot of good, and the Thunder wouldn't be in high-leverage moments without him, but the bad decision-making could be significant. 

Rest assured this battle will rage on for the rest of the season. We already can't wait for the March 26 rematch, when Westbrook will attempt to tie the season series against his rival. 

Jeff Teague Picking Up Steam

Jeff Teague's tenure with the Indiana Pacers didn't get off to the best start. The point guard struggled his way to a 37.1 field-goal percentage during his first 10 contests in a new uniform.

But he's turning on the jets: During the dozen games leading into Thursday night's matchup with the Brooklyn Nets, he averaged 16.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 9.5 assists while shooting 44.4 percent from the field. Then he put on another show. 

Teague excelled throughout Indiana's 121-109 victory over the Nets, recording 21 points, seven rebounds and 15 assists while making nine of his 13 field-goal attempts. But he was never better than in the third quarter, when the game seemed to slow down and open up every passing lane for him.

During those 12 minutes, he recorded eight assists—many of which involved him picking apart defensive fronts or squeezing the ball through defenders: 

This is exactly how the Pacers need him to play. 

Teague doesn't have to throw up more than a dollar's worth of dimes every time he's on the court, but his thriving as a primary distributor eases the offensive pressure Paul George endures every night. And when George's offense comes easier—or he doesn't have to produce as much—he's freed up to play high-level defense against the opposition's best forward. 

All of a sudden, the offseason trade is looking a lot better than it did during the season's opening salvo. 

A Motivated Kyle Lowry Is Dangerous

Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images

With Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jimmy Butler qualifying as frontcourt players, there shouldn't be any doubt that Kyle Lowry has been superior to every other Eastern Conference backcourt member. Yet he trailed five players in the first returns of All-Star voting, even falling behind Derrick Rose and another member of his Toronto Raptors, DeMar DeRozan. 

As NBA Math showed, this is ridiculous: 

If Lowry was peeved, he didn't say anything. Instead, he let his play do the talking, willing the Raptors back against the Utah Jazz's stifling defense and sparking the 101-93 come-from-behind win. 

During the final 12 minutes, the point guard shook off an ankle injury he suffered before halftime to record 16 of his 33 points to go along with three rebounds, two assists and three steals. He shot 5-of-6 from the field and knocked down both of his three-point attempts.

Meanwhile, the rest of his team only produced 14 points, and Utah was held to a mere 20 after entering the last period with a two-point advantage. 

Of course, this isn't anything new for the Toronto 1-guard. He's been the driving force behind one of the pre-eminent offenses in NBA history, constantly aiding the scoring efforts with his sharpshooting ability and relentless creativity as a distributor. 

Just imagine what he might do if he thinks he was snubbed. After those first All-Star returns, he has a legitimate reason to feel that way. 

Boban Is Boback

It's been a while since Boban Marjanovic earned anything more than a cursory mention. After parlaying his rookie per-minute excellence for the San Antonio Spurs into a three-year, $21 million deal with the Detroit Pistons, he's all but disappeared.

Prior to Thursday night's 115-114 victory over the Charlotte Hornets, Marjanovic had suited up just 14 times for the Motor City. He'd played a meager 5.4 minutes per game, averaging nothing more than 2.5 points, 1.9 rebounds and 0.5 blocks. 

But with Aron Baynes (ankle) unavailable, Marjanovic got his chance. And boy did the 7'3" behemoth capitalize. 

In 22 minutes, he exploded for 15 points and 19 rebounds—a line only DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond, Dwight Howard, DeAndre Jordan and Hassan Whiteside have matched this season. Perhaps even more impressively, he did so while taking just four shots from the field. He made three of them and was fouled so frequently that he went 9-of-11 at the charity stripe. 

Now take a look at how this performance compares to the season's body of work: 

	PTS	REB	PTS/36	REB/36
Jan. 5	15	19	24.5	31.1
Every Other Game Combined	35	26	16.6	12.3

What's even more amazing is none of it would've mattered if this desperation attempt from Marco Belinelli had counted:

Denver Nuggets Proving Mike Malone Right

Bart Young/Getty Images

"We have the worst defense in the NBA," Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone said after his team's Tuesday loss to the Sacramento Kings, per Denverite.com's Christian Clark.

"That's the bottom line. It's embarrassing how we go out there and defend every night. That's something we have to try to fix as soon as possible because it's at an all-time low right now, and that is a huge concern of mine.” 

Two days later, Malone inserted Darrell Arthur into the starting lineup for Wilson Chandler, hoping to provide a bit more defense against the San Antonio Spurs. But the boost instead came on offense, where the Nuggets made each of their first 10 shots from the field. 

And they still couldn't pull away from the Spurs, whose early field-goal percentage was nearly as impressive. Fast-forward to the end of the game, and they'd lost 127-99—their fourth consecutive outing allowing at least 120 points:

Game	Result
Dec. 30 vs. Philadelphia 76ers	124-122 loss
Jan. 2 @ Golden State Warriors	127-119 loss
Jan. 3 vs. Sacramento Kings	120-113 loss
Jan. 5 vs. San Antonio Spurs	127-99 loss

It's worth noting how unique this is. 

The Brooklyn Nets are the only other team to have hemorrhaged at least 120 points in four straight contests during 2016-17. Before them, you have to go back to the end of the 2009-10 season to find another candidate for such defensive futility—the Warriors allowed at least 120 in five consecutive outings. 

The Sacramento Kings and Portland Trail Blazers can't pull away in the race for the West's No. 8 seed, but the Nuggets won't be able to keep pace if they can't solve these point-preventing woes. 

Thursday's Final Scores

• Indiana Pacers 121, Brooklyn Nets 109
• Toronto Raptors 101, Utah Jazz 93
• Detroit Pistons 115, Charlotte Hornets 114
• Atlanta Hawks 99, New Orleans Pelicans 94
• Phoenix Suns 102, Dallas Mavericks 95
• Houston Rockets 118, Oklahoma City Thunder 116
• San Antonio Spurs 127, Denver Nuggets 99
• Portland Trail Blazers 118, Los Angeles Lakers 109

Adam Fromal covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @fromal09.

Unless otherwise indicated, all stats from Basketball-Reference.com, NBA.com or NBA Math and accurate heading into games on Jan. 5.