Harden Leads the Way as the NBA OD's on Points

If ever anyone wound up on a team that personnified his style of play, it's none other than James Harden plying his trade with the Houston Rockets.

Dude launches. Early and often.

Of course, in the attack Mike D'Antoni has designed around him, that's the idea.

 

Anyone who's even glanced at NBA highlights is well aware than dude's lighting it up at an extraordinary pace:

• The last time Harden scored less than 20 points was 21 games ago when Utah held him to 15 in a 118-91 Jazz victory.
• The last time he scored less than 30 points was 18 games ago when he posted 29 as the Rockets beat Portland, 111-104.

 

Giant is right ...

• Harden's rung up 10 performances of 40 points or better since that Utah game, and
• Dude poured in 50 points or better in 3 of them.

Ironically amid all that productivity, he wound up popping 38 in a 116-109 loss to Orlando. In so doing, Harden went 1-17 from downtown, tying Damon Stoudamire's single-game record for most misses from trey-range.

 

Fittingly, as white-hot as he is, Harden one-upped last night's league-wide plethora of points:

• Golden State also set a record by racking up 51 points in the first quarter on their way to drubbing the Nuggies, 142-111;
• Atlanta was led by Trae Young in pounding the Thunder, 142-126; and
• Philadelphia and Jimmy Butler crushed the Butler-less Timberwolves, 149-107.

Somewhere, Paul Westhead is nodding in approval.

 

His teams stopped for nothing and were refreshingly undaunted. Old School, it was not.

Neither is Harden. Maybe his next team should be Portland, because he's blazing new trails.

Of course, it helps when refs give him the star treatment, enabling him to dispense with annoying tasks like dribbling.

 

Gotta love the Harden Hop.

What the league's officials contend is that his back foot's in the air when he steps forward, so his front foot is the pivot. Thus, Harden gets a step-and-a-half on his way back to the shot.

Steph Curry's still wondering how that works.

 

The Dubs will probably still be arguing about it come springtime should these clubs meet in the playoffs again.

However, that's when D'Antoni's offense fell apart. The Dubs had an entire series to focus on stopping Harden, and they did. The Rockets had no effective Plan B.

So, until proven differently, Houston and Harden had best enjoy their regular season fireworks. The game'll change again in April.