Kevin Durant vs. LeBron James: Why Durant Is the NBA's MVP

Kevin Durant vs. LeBron James. Who is the most valuable player in the NBA?

It's the battle fans have been watching unfold all year as two of the game's most incredible players go head-to-head and shot-for-shot to win an NBA Championship.

Both have had big wins; both have had frustrating losses.

Both have won the game for their teams; both have also missed the game-winning shot.

But when all is said and done and the season is complete—regardless of who ends up winning the Championship—Kevin Durant must be considered the Most Valuable Player in the league.

It's a prize that he and only he deserves from this season.

Durant has taken the Oklahoma City Thunder to the number two seed in the Western Conference and the number three seed in the league, but his impact on the court is simply second to none.

Certainly not second to LeBron James, who despite all the criticism to the contrary has been just as strong this year as any other season in the NBA.

This article will explain why Durantula (and not King James) is the league's most valuable player for 2012—looking at their season averages, averages when they lose and averages without a break—to show their significance to their respective sides.

A quick glance at the numbers of both Durant and James show the reality that the Thunder star should take the title and not the South Beach celebrity.

	Kevin Durant	LeBron James
Minutes/game	38.7	37.7
Field goal %	0.505	0.534
Rebounds/game	8.0	8.0
Assists/game	3.5	6.5
Turnovers/game	3.7	3.4
Points/game	27.9	26.8

Looking at these numbers, it's really easy to make the case that Durant is scoring more points so therefore he must be the better player. That might sound over-reaching, mainly because it is, but I've seen it written that way so it's not as crazy as it might seem.

There are a few interesting points to note—first being that despite playing less minutes and putting up less points per game, James is shooting far better than Durant is for the season.

The other interesting note for me is the significant increase that James has in assists over Durant—perhaps an insight in to the higher level of depth Miami has over Oklahoma City—and that for all the talk of his turnovers costing the Heat, Durant is averaging more turnovers that LeBron.

However, these numbers are quite simplistic and don't provide the bigger picture behind both players' individual successes this year as well as their significance to their respective teams. To do that, we'll have to break those numbers down even further.

Let's start by looking what happens when the Thunder and the Heat lose matches.When a side is losing, the most valuable player will step up and try to lead their team back to the win. Seeing that both teams have lost the same amount of games this season (15), that makes our job even easier!

In matches that the Heat have lost this year, James is shooting at 0.500 for a total of 26.4 points per game. He's attempted 306 field goals and 46 from beyond the arc, giving him a total of 352 shots attempted in matches the Heat have lost.

Durant, on the other hand, is shooting at 0.455 for a total of 28.1 points per game—an increase on his average throughout the season. He too has attempted roughly 300 field goals, but has also tried over 100 3-point attempts, giving him a total of 426 shots attempted in matches the Thunder have lost.

It's worth noting a few things about this.

James isn't taking enough shots when the Heat lose. I know this has been well-documented in regard to him passing up the final shot, but he simply isn't commanding the ball enough when Miami are down—which he should be doing as the go-to-guy.

Durant's attempts numbers are astronomically high, and while I'm not saying that everyone should be shooting this much, it does show that the Thunder forward is trying to lift his side and get through more work on the floor. This is also demonstrated by his points, assists and rebounds numbers which are all up on his season averages.

When the team is firing and everything is just working at both ends of the court, it's far easier to score points than it is when the team can't make a stop on defense and is turning the ball over when they finally get down the other end.

Durant's ability to score more points when his team loses rather than when they win is a great example of his importance to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The final key for me is to watch what happens when teams have to back up and play without decent rest—again showing a player's significance to a side when things aren't going as smoothly as they would like. And again, looking at Durant and James' numbers, the difference in significance begins to show again.

	Kevin Durant	LeBron James
0 days rest	27.8 points/game 0.498 field goal % 7.8 rebounds/game	28.5 points/game 0.540 field goal % 8.3 rebounds/game
1 days rest	28.4 points/game 0.496 field goal % 8.1 rebounds/game	25.5 points/game 0.536 field goal % 7.8 rebounds/game
2 days rest	27.3 points/game 0.574 field goal % 9.8 rebounds/game	24.0 points/game 0.488 field goal % 8.1 rebounds/game

Similar to losing, playing without rest throws off a team's balance and in doing so, shows the overall significance that a certain player has to both their team and the league.

Consider also the fact that all but three matches this year have had two days rest or less and the numbers above are of even greater significance.

Again we see a similar trend from James—fewer shots, but also fewer points this time, with Durant also taking over in terms of rebounding numbers.

The real nail in the coffin is over one and two days rest—which is most of the matches played during the year— and the difference that Durant really has over James across the board. More points at a higher percentage with more rebounds shows that the Oklahoma City star truly does have the edge over the Miami forward.

So for me, the argument is an open and closed case—Kevin Durant should be named the Most Valuable Player and not LeBron James.

Looking not only at their season averages, but in particular games lost and games without rest, Durant's class shines and his significance and value to the Thunder is undeniable.

It's not about the Thunder being better than the Heat and it's not about James passing up shots in the clutch—it's simply the truth that Durant has been the more valuable player during the regular season of the NBA.

Whether the Oklahoma City Thunder will go on to win the playoffs and championship or whether the title will fall to Miami still remains to be seen, but for now, the award is Durant's and only his name should be on it in 2012.

Read more articles by Dan here — or   Follow @dantalintyre