On his expected return to Houston, James Harden heard the mockery first. Then he received the applause. And in the end, he won.
Harden’s triple-double led his new team to overtake the previous one, while the Nets won by 132-114 a victory over the Rockets fighter at the Toyota Center.
The reception of more than 3,900 attendees was not as poisonous as Kevin Durant received during his return to Oklahoma City. But Harden – who demanded a trade-off and forced his way to Brooklyn – was booed mostly at performances, and all his touches were mocked in the early stages of the game.
But the Rockets – who plan to retire Harden’s shirt 13 – honored him with a tribute video from the first quarter that drew genuine applause. Moved, Harden responded by raising both hands in recognition and then touched them to the heart.
“A lot of mixed emotions for fans,” said Harden in a TV interview, thanking Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta for promising to retire his shirt. “But my team did an incredible job and protected me, allowing me to come here and achieve this victory.”
The positive sentiment was echoed by Rockets’ first-year coach Stephen Silas, whose job became much more difficult when Harden demanded an exchange.
“I hope it is positive for him. He did a lot for this organization. So we will see, obviously, but I assume it is positive, ”said Silas. “He did a lot, scored a lot of points, took this team into the playoffs.
“And he stayed here for a long time and it was a lot more good times with James Harden for the Rockets than bad ones, so he should be recognized for that.”
Harden, who said openly that the Rockets were not good enough while trying to be traded, showed Houston how good his new team is. He had 29 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds, only the sixth player to face his former team and get a double triple. He took the Nets to a 23 point lead and a seventh consecutive win in the franchise record.
Kyrie Irving scored 24 points, while emerging great second-year man Nic Claxton scored 16 points (in the 7-in-8 pitch) and eight boards off the bench.
The shorthanded Rockets (11-23) played with only eight men, and showed. They got 36 points, the best of the season, from John Wall and 33 from Victor Oladipo, but they lost the 13th straight.
The Nets (24-13) ended the first half of the season with the third best winning percentage in the team’s history, and were halfway through the Eastern Conference leadership after the 76ers rallied for an overtime victory over Jazz.
The Nets led 82-59 after Bruce Brown’s floater (17 points) with 7:35 remaining in the third. They then coughed a 21-8 run that allowed the Rockets to pull within 90-80 with 2:25 remaining in the period in a 3-point Oladipo.
Landry Shamet’s left corner 3 padded the cushion back to 18. Houston reduced to 105-97 after Wall punched Andre Roberson’s hard save.
But a pullback from Claxton and a 3-point Harden gave the Nets a 113-97 lead with 6:48 to play. The fourth period turned into a pickup game.
Harden won the 2018 MVP with Houston, took the Rockets to two Western Conference finals and won the last three scoring crowns. His contributions to the court may have been outweighed by what he made in the community.
In 2017, Harden donated $ 1 million to the city of Houston for Hurricane Harvey’s relief efforts. And while the Houston area was dealing with power outages and food shortages after last month’s winter freeze, its restaurant, Thirteen by James Harden, donated 3,000 meals to needy residents. A week later, the restaurant donated 100 meals a day to five different schools and another 150 to a low-income senior center.
Still, many fans were mostly salty, as expected.
“Fans can be emotional, and with good reason. They can be upset at night. But if it is [now] or at some point in the future, they will fondly remember all the amazing things that James did here and Mike [D’Antoni, former Rockets coach and now Nets assistant] did here, ”said Nets coach Steve Nash. “Sometimes it’s a little early, a little hot. So let’s see how it goes.
“The community here will really respect and remember them fondly, but it is too soon.”