The Houston Rockets, for a stretch of time, were depleted. Most of their players became sidelined either through injuries or disagreements.
Carmelo Anthony was sent home packing after his experiment to mesh with the team failed. Gerald Green sat out for some games to nurse his ankle after spraining it on November. Chris Paul wrecked his hamstring a month later in a game against the Miami Heat. P.J. Tucker battled an illness. Eric Gordon faced complications with both his leg and knee. Brandon Knight underwent surgery on his left knee, putting him out of commission for a number of months. Clint Capela hurt his right thumb which put him on the shelf for nearly 6 weeks. James Ennis strained his hamstring against the Pelicans. Danuel House Jr., a revelation for the team this year, failed to sign a contract in time and was therefore relegated to the G-League.
The expectations of the team rebounding from their agonizing loss to the Warriors in last year’s WCF was diminishing with each passing day in this hospital-sized disaster. Who would ever think that Houston, a team filled with emergency signings on the heels of a rampant injury bug, could stay in the playoff hunt nearly 50 games into the season?
James Harden probably did.
The lack of key pieces such as Gordon and Paul on the court meant only one thing for Harden= the “green light” (that is, seizing the issue and carrying the team on his back).
And boy has it worked for the Rockets.
As of January 26th, Harden is in an array of streaks most players can only dream of accomplishing, save for Wilt Chamberlain. Oh Wilt Chamberlain. He was a once-in-a-millenia type of player, way too good for his time. His body was a cheat code.
Anyway, allow me to present a convenient list of numbers so that one can comprehend.
50
32
47
35
35
39
41
45
41
43
44
38
32
42
43
38
57
58
48
37
61
35
All these numbers signify the amount of points Harden scored in each of his last 22 games. Nobody else other than Wilt Chamberlain has done this. Not Michael Jordan. Not LeBron James. Not Kobe Bryant. No one.
It doesn’t end there though. So far, he has recorded 296 straight points without receiving an assist from one of his teammates, averaged 40 points per game in the last 26 games, and put up back-to-back-55-plus-point games within a calendar month.
This stretch is reminiscent of the 2016-17 season where Harden played as the team’s point guard and directed the offense to his liking, becoming the NBA assists leader in the process. But what differentiates back then to right now is the rate of production to which he is exhibiting. In other words, everything has been amplified to infinity. His point average for this year is 36.2, by far the most for this year in the league. It’s an improvement to his already stellar career in Houston, where in his last 5 years there, he improved his average by going from 25.4 points per game to what it is right now.
Much like how the Earth revolves around the sun to sustain its biological capabilities, the Rockets’ offense revolves around Harden as he is isolated to do his thing on any unfortunate defender which draws attention away from his teammates, thereby creating potential plays. But if Harden decides to keep the ball, then his defender would flail his arms around to try to stop him. Unfortunately, his timorous attempts would amount to nothing as he can simply execute his patented dribbling moves, step back and hit the swish all in succession from beyond the arc.
