Cleveland Cavaliers star Kevin Love has revealed that he believes Russell Westbrook should win the MVP award this season, not teammate LeBron James.
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Love was asked the question on the Dan Patrick Show as to whether Westbrook or James was having the better season, and he responded by picking his former UCLA teammate.
“They’re both having an MVP-type season, but I’m going to go with Russell Westbrook because he’s, every single night you’re looking at his stat sheet, they’re fighting for a playoff spot, with Serge Ibaka going down now, Kevin Durant potentially being out the rest of the year and him still going out there and fighting for his team, and winning, and fighting for that seventh or eighth spot in the playoffs. I think Russ is arguably having the better season,” Love said, as reported by Cleveland.com.
Naturally, this response will cause controversy with the media set to make a significant deal of the fact that the former Minnesota Timberwolves star didn’t side with his teammate.
Coupled with his comments suggesting that he “isn’t best friends” with James, there may well be some tension between the pair as Love has struggled to have a consistently positive impact on the Cavs’ season this year despite their general success.
However, it is difficult to argue with his choice given Westbrook’s form which has seen him post nine triple-doubles this season as he drags the Thunder into the playoffs.
As noted by Love, with both Durant and Ibaka out of action, the responsibility is falling on Westbrook each and every night, and so far he hasn’t disappointed as OKC now have a two-and-a-half game lead for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
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