Starting with a four-day forced quarantine that followed weeks of his desire to be traded, dominating the titles, Houston Rockets superstar James Harden had a show on Saturday night that reminded people why he is a perennial MVP candidate.
It simply wasn’t enough to lead an extremely short team from Houston, missing six players due to positive COVID-19 tests and following contacts, until a victory in the late opening of the Rockets season.
Harden had 44 points and 17 assists while playing 43 minutes in a 128-126 loss in overtime to host Portland Trail Blazers. The only flaw in Harden’s lineup was the four turnovers, including one in the final seconds that sealed the defeat, when Blazers striker Robert Covington stole a pass after Harden drove on the lane and tried to give him a teammate.
“It was okay,” Harden said of his performance, which included shooting 12-of-22 from the floor and 6-of-13 from a 3-point distance. “Too many turnovers. But other than that, the first game playing 40 minutes, I feel like my conditioning could be better, obviously, but it was pretty solid. I think I let them get away from us. “.
The opening of the Rockets season scheduled for Wednesday was postponed because Houston did not have at least eight players available. The NBA ruled that Harden was unavailable for that game because of violations of the league’s health and safety protocols, attending a private indoor party on Monday, which resulted in Harden being fined $ 50,000.
The Rockets made the trip to Oregon with just nine players. New starting linebacker John Wall and the Rockets’ top three bench players – Eric Gordon, DeMarcus Cousins and Ben McLemore – are among the Houston players currently in quarantine.
“I’m proud of the way we fought,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “We obviously have some things to clean up, but overall I’m so proud of this group and how they fought in these conditions.”
Harden has removed any doubt that he will be competing on the field as the Rockets front office patiently explores the commercial market in search of a package that represents fair value for a historically aged elite player.
Harden dominated as a distributor – eliminating seven of the 17 assists for Christian Wood’s center, who had 31 points and 13 rebounds in his Rockets debut – as he engaged in a striking duel with Blazers goalie CJ McCollum. According to Harden, McCollum “caught fire” after a slow start, also finishing with 44 points, shooting 17 out of 30.
McCollum hit a 3 with 6.9 seconds left in overtime which proved to be the winner when Harden failed to generate a shot in the final possession. Harden hit a pair of 3s in the back – the first to equalize, the second to take the lead – on the Rockets’ two previous possessions.
“James is very good,” McCollum said. “No matter what James does in his spare time, James is good at basketball. In fact, he’s very good.”