Fresh out of a forced four-day quarantine that followed weeks of his desire to be traded in the dominant headlines, Houston Rockets star James Harden had a performance on Saturday night that reminded people why he is a eternal candidate for MVP.
It just wasn’t enough to take a Houston team extremely short-handed, losing six players due to positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracking, for a victory in the delayed opening of the Rockets’ season.
Harden had 44 points and 17 assists in 43 minutes in the 128-126 overtime loss to host Portland Trail Blazers. The only defect in Harden’s line on the box scoreboard was his four turns, including one in the final seconds that sealed the defeat, when Blazers striker Robert Covington stole a pass after Harden passed the track and tried to give it to a teammate of team.
“It was all right,” said Harden of his performance, which included shooting 12 of 22 from the ground and 6 of 13 from a distance of 3 points. “A lot of upsets. But other than that, the first game in the 40s or so, I feel my conditioning could be better, obviously, but it was pretty solid. I think we let them get away from us.”
The opening of the Rockets season scheduled for Wednesday was postponed because Houston did not have a minimum of eight players available. The NBA determined that Harden was unavailable for that game due to violating the league’s health and safety protocols by attending a private indoor party on Monday, which resulted in Harden’s $ 50,000 fine.
The Rockets made the trip to Oregon with just nine players. New starter John Wall and the Rockets’ top three bankers – Eric Gordon, DeMarcus Cousins and Ben McLemore – are among Houston’s players currently in quarantine.
“I am proud of the way we fight,” said Rockets coach Stephen Silas. “Obviously, we have some things that we need to clean up. But overall, I am very, very proud of this group and of how they fought in those circumstances.”
Harden eliminated any doubt that he would compete on the court while the Rockets front office patiently explores the trade market in search of a package that represents fair value for a historically elite player at his peak.
Harden dominated as a distributor – distributing seven of his assists to center Christian Wood, who had 31 points and 13 rebounds on his Rockets debut – while engaging in a goal duel with point guard CJ McCollum of Blazers. As Harden said, McCollum “caught fire” after a slow start, also finishing with 44 points, out of 17 out of 30 shots.
McCollum hit a 3 with 6.9 seconds remaining in overtime, which proved to be the winner when Harden failed to hit possession. Harden had hit a pair of contested 3s – the first to tie the score, the second to take the lead – in the Rockets’ previous two possessions.
“James is really good,” said McCollum. “Regardless of what James does in his spare time, James is very good at basketball. Like, he is very good.”