James Harden drives to the basket during a game this season. Harden’s 36.5 points per game this season leads the NBA. Photo by Troy Taormina/USA Today.
What James Harden is doing is absolutely ridiculous. The last time he scored less than 30 points was Dec. 12 against the Portland Trail Blazers. It is indisputable that what he is doing is incredible.
But it does not matter. At all.
In the 29 games the Houston Rockets played between Dec. 12 and Feb. 10, they are 20-9. Against current playoff teams, they are only 8-6. On top of that, it took 48 points from Harden to beat the LeBron-less Lakers by four and 61 points to beat the Knicks by the same amount.