HOUSTON -- James Harden heard all of the talk.
Some of it was about his Houston Rockets, who followed up last season's 65-win campaign by beginning this season with an 11-14 record, one that left them languishing in 14th place in the Western Conference in mid-December. Some of it was about himself, as the league's reigning Most Valuable Player was almost instantly ruled out of competing for a chance to repeat as the award's winner this season after a sluggish start of his own.
So Harden went to work. He put in extra time in the gym.