Sorry, Houston Rockets fans, but the West Player of the Month for March will not go to Jalen Green despite his sensational run.
"The main reason is that Luka Doncic just won his second Player of the Week in three weeks."
The Rockets guard elevated himself to another level last month and led his team to a 13-2 record. In those 15 games, he averaged 27.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.9 assists.
Jalen Green's stats are great. However, they're not better than Doncic's.
The Dallas Mavericks superstar recorded 32.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 10.1 assists in 14 games last month.
The NBA rewarded him with the last Player of the Week citation for March after he averaged 32.5 ppg, 11 rpg, and 9.5 apg to lead his team to a 4-0 win in Week 4.
The Mavs' last win ended the Rockets' 11-game winning streak, making them the hottest team in the league with seven straight victories.
Doncic has now bagged four Player of the Week awards this season, two of them in March.
Two POW in a month should make him a strong candidate to seal his second Player of the Month award, strengthening his campaign for his first Most Valuable Player title.
Luka Doncic's MVP case
Doncic, in his sixth NBA season, climbed the MVP ladder to the second spot after his March performance.
Above him is the two-time MVP of the Denver Nuggets. He leaped over another two-time MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Oklahoma City Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
He never finished higher than fourth in MVP voting.
He knows his MVP chances are not that high.
"I can't answer that (MVP question)," he told The Athletic's Sam Amick after their win over the Rockets.
"That's for the media. I'm happy we're winning, man. That's it. You know I'm not going to answer that question."
One reason behind Luka Doncic's weak MVP campaign is team record. The Mavs are fifth in the Western Conference standings, two games behind the Los Angeles Clippers.
The award rarely goes to a player from a team seeded lower than third.
The last time it happened was when Russell Westbrook took home the award as part of the sixth-seed team in the Western Conference in 2017.
Why Luka Doncic should get the MVP award
The Luka Magic has been there since the first day he stepped on an NBA court, and each year, he gets to another level.
He is about to set a historical record like Westbrook in 2017.
He is about to become the first player to average at least 33 points, nine rebounds, and nine assists this season.
He is doing this while being the league's leading scorer and topping almost all the Mavs' stats. He also leads the team in assists and rebounds.
Should he get the POM for March, it will be his second. Nobody has won it more than once this season.
When Jokic won his second MVP in the 2020-2021 season, he was adjudged POM just twice.
His best argument for an MVP award is his team's incredible second half of the season.
If they can overtake the Clippers in the standings with eight games to go, ignoring Luka Doncic's MVP campaign should be hard.
Related article: Rockets Head Coach Ime Udoka Gives Esteemed 'GOAT' Praise to Mavericks Star Kyrie Irving
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