Before the 2001-02 season, the NBA player of the month is not divided into two parts.

In other words, at that time, only one month's best player would be born, not the two now. The whole season has only 6 months' best seats.

Therefore, in that era, it was very difficult to be the best month for two consecutive months.

Even if you can get the best of the month twice in a single season, it will be extremely difficult.

The best three times a season in a single season? That is simply an impossible task.

Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing and other best "big players" of the month in the 1990s have never achieved the achievement of winning the three player of the month in a single season.

Under the selection rules of the east and west parts, only the peak "Shark" completed the best miracle of the next month after three consecutive seasons.

Starting from the 2001-02 season, the selection of the best player in the month began to distinguish between the east and west, and the best seats in the month also changed from 6 to 12.

So, it seems less difficult to win the best of the month in a single season.

Since the 2001-02 season, Garnett, Kobe and James have won three or more Best Month Awards in a single season.

The most ruthless one is undoubtedly James in the 2009-10 season. That year, he became the Eastern Conference Player of the Month for four consecutive months. It seemed that the entire East was spinning around James.

Although it is easier to win the best of the month in a single season than before, there are only 4 stars who can do this in NBA history.

And these four guys are undoubtedly all future Hall of Fame level players.

In other words, if Link wins another best in January, then he will be as famous as the above four!

And in the fiercely competitive West, no one has ever been able to win the best of the month for three consecutive months.

There are too many strong players in the West. Take this season as an example. None of the top eight teams in the West are easy to mess with. And among these teams that are not easy to mess with, there is usually a star with outstanding personal abilities.

For example, James Harden of the Houston Rockets!

"The best month? Of course I long for it! In fact, I am working hard for it. So far in my career, I have never been to the honor of the best player in the month. I really hope to break this awkward record this season."

In the sideline interview after the Rockets defeated the Thunder, Harden expressed his determination to seize the best of the month without hesitation.

Now, the schedule for January is half over. The ones who have the best chance to win the best of the month are just Link and Harden.

Curry's data in January fluctuated slightly, and the Warriors also lost several key battles, which were left far away by Harden and Link.

Others' personal performance is completely incomparable to Link and Harden.

If there is no change in the second half of the month, the best month in January is basically the situation where Harden and Link choose 1 in 2.

The next day, the reporters also interviewed Link, another protagonist in the incident.

Unlike the energetic Harden, Link was not too excited when facing the honor of the best of the month.

"The best month? To be honest, I didn't think about this. The only thing I think about now is to continue the Grizzlies' winning streak. For me, victory is the most important thing."

Link did not say that he must compete with Harden and that he must break the situation where no one in the West can have the best three consecutive villages in the month.

His desire for this matter was obviously much weaker than Harden.

Harden has never won the Best of the Month in his career, but after all, Link won the Best of the Month in his rookie year...

This honor is no longer surprising to Link.

What's more, the Grizzlies' lineup is relatively complete compared to the beginning of the season, so Link doesn't need to take over the big shots anymore.

Therefore, the data will certainly not be as gorgeous as the previous two months.

Seeing that Link didn't seem to care about this, Harden was even more determined to do a big fight.

The first best month seems to be right in front of you!

In the remaining games in January, James Harden showed his best form.

On January 17, when the Rockets lost, Harden's data of 23 points, 3 rebounds and 8 assists was still very eye-catching.

On the 19th, the Rockets beat their opponents with 12 points, and Harden scored 45 points in a single game!

After the game, Pacers coach Frank Vogel bluntly said, "James Harden has played MVP-level performance this season!"

On January 21, the Rockets lost to the Warriors for the second time in five days. But soon on January 23, Harden used 33 minutes and 10 assists to 3 steals, plus a final shot in the last 1.3 seconds to win the Phoenix Suns who were tenaciously resisting!

A 45-point game and a final game made Harden's call for the best of the month become even higher.

The news about this beard is everywhere, and the popularity even surpassed Link for a while!

Now, people know that Harden is the best place to go for the moon. Everyone believes that Harden's performance is invincible.

Even Harden himself thinks so.

Harden continued to play in the remaining four games in January and played very well.

On January 25, Harden scored 37 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, and played another game with a shooting percentage of more than 60%.

When playing against the Mavericks on January 28, Harden did not give face to former teammate Chandler Parsons at all.

In the whole game, Harden scored 21 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. At first glance, Harden's data seemed to have dropped sharply, but his 61.5% shooting percentage was a season high!

In the past, people complained that Harden was only good at striking and complained that his performance was extremely unstable.

But now, Harden has blocked everyone's mouth with two consecutive wins of 60% shooting percentage.

At the same time, it also proves that he does have the strength to compete for the best of the month.

On January 30, the Rockets vs. Celtics, Harden made only 4 of 21 shots and scored only 14 points in the game.

But it is generally believed that occasionally poor performance is harmless. Overall, Harden's performance in January was still quite amazing.

And the next day, in the back-to-back match against the Pistons, Harden was also very determined to win back the game for himself.

Facing the defense of Pistons sophomore defender Cardville Pope, Harden hit 10 of them with only 17 shots in the game!

The data of 26 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists also completely broke the controversy.

At this point, all the Rockets' January games ended. At the moment the game ended, espn immediately played Harden's January data below the screen.

Harden averaged 25.8 points, 6.7 assists and 4.7 rebounds, plus 2.2 steals in 17 games in January, and led the Rockets to 11 wins and 6 losses.

During this period, Harden scored at least 30 points in 8 games. In the game against the Indiana Pacers on January 20, Harden scored 45 points and 7 assists. Then, on January 24, he challenged the Suns away, Harden scored 33 points and 10 assists, and made a final shot in the mid-range shot.

He was extremely confident and believed that the best month was already in his pocket.

In an interview with reporters after the game, Harden said confidently, "I finally broke the embarrassment that no player in the Rockets has been able to win the best of the month since 2008!"

Although the best result of the month will be announced two days later, Harden has put the "crown" on his head!

After returning to the locker room, Harden happily checked Chalink's data in January. Link basically did not make any big news this month, and there was no single game of 60 points and no consecutive triple-double.

Harden thought to himself that Link's performance should be quite mediocre.

As a result, when the bearded man saw Link's January statistics and the Grizzlies' victory, he was completely autistic.
Chapter completed!