A day after scoring 34 points in a loss to the Warriors where Golden State surged ahead in the final minutes, James Harden went off again in Sacramento last night while hitting the game-tying three-pointer to send the game to overtime. On this night, the Beard won it for his team with 12 of their 18 points in the extra session for a 113-109 win.
Harden didn’t shoot particularly well — 43.8 percent on the night — but he took the big shots Houston needed on his way to a season-high 44 points, 12 of which came in that extra session. He actually scored the first seven points of overtime to give the Rockets enough of a cushion to hold tight for the victory. The Beard knocked down a shot to close the end of each half, too. Like this step-back on Ben McLemore right at the end of the first half:
And the game-tying three-pointer from over 25 feet away (Rudy Gay and Harden would both miss attempts to win in regulation after Harden tied the score).
He was the best in the overtime session, though.
“Attack, just attack,” Harden said after the game about his strategy once the extra session started. “I felt that was an opportunity. I didn’t really shoot the ball especially well in the first four quarters so my mindset was just to be aggressive. Be aggressive and you put the work in, it’s bound to pay off.”
It did. Harden hit a driving layup, knocked down another three-pointer and snuck into the paint for a second layup before the Kings could even collect their breaths after losing their lead late in regulation time.
Before it was done, Harden had scored 12 of his 44 in the extra five minutes and the Rockets had a 113-109 win over the Boogie-less Kings. Harden wasn’t joking when he said, “I had a lot left,” when OT rolled around on the road.
Harden’s game wasn’t that out of ordinary during his recent surge to keep the Rockets in contention against a bruising Western Conference. The former Thunder Sixth Man has been shouldering most of the load during the 10-game absence of All-Star center Dwight Howard when the Rockets have gone 8-2.
League-leading scorer @JHarden13 has scored 34+pts in 4 of his last 6 Games. In the span,he has a 62.8%FG in Restricted Area, 52.6% Midrange
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) December 12, 2014
Former player and coach, Avery Johnson, was even talking MVP after the game:
I Love @AntDavis23 but my 2014-15 MVP preseason pick @JHarden13 is putting on a show! @dmorey @bull50 @ESPNNBA #MustSeeTV @JalenRose @heydb
— Avery Johnson (@CoachAvery6) December 12, 2014
(First two GIFs via r/NBA)
Is Harden an MVP candidate?
Follow Spencer on Twitter at @SpencerTyrel.
Follow Dime on Twitter at @DimeMag.
Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.