Fresh off a four-day enforced quarantine that followed weeks of his desire to be traded and dominated headlines, Houston Rockets superstar James Harden had a performance Saturday night that reminded people why he is a perennial MVP candidate.
It just wasn’t enough to transport a Houston team with extremely small hands, missing six players due to positive COVID-19 testing and contact finding, to a win in the Rockets’ delayed season opener.
Harden had 44 points and 17 assists while playing 43 minutes in the 128-126 overtime loss for the host Portland Trail Blazers. The only blot in Harden’s line in the box score were his four turnovers, including one in the final seconds to seal defeat, when Blazers forward Robert Covington stole a pass after Harden drove down the track and attempted to gift a teammate.
“It was okay,” Harden said of his performance, which included shooting 12 of 22 from the floor and 6 of 13 from 3-point range. “Too much turnover. But other than that, in the first 40 minute game, I feel like my conditioning could of course be better, but it was pretty solid. I think we let them escape us.”
The Rockets’ season opener scheduled for Wednesday was postponed because Houston did not have the minimum eight available players. The NBA ruled that Harden was unavailable for that game due to violating the league’s health and safety protocols by 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 point guard John Wall and the Rockets’ top three bankers – Eric Gordon, DeMarcus Cousins and Ben McLemore – are among the Houston players currently in quarantine.
“I am proud of the way we fought,” said Rockets coach Stephen Silas. “We clearly have some things to clear up. But overall, I’m so proud of this group and how they fought under these conditions.”
Harden removed any doubt that he would compete on the field as the Rockets front office patiently explores the trading market looking for a package that represents real value to a historically elite player in his prime.
Harden dominated as a distributor – he donated seven of his assists to center Christian Wood, who had 31 points and 13 rebounds in his Rockets debut – while competing in a scoring duel with Blazers guard CJ McCollum. As Harden said, McCollum “caught fire” after a slow start, which also ended with 44 points, on 17-of-30 shooting.
McCollum hit a 3 with 6.9 seconds remaining that turned out to be the winner when Harden failed to get a shot at the final possession. Harden had hit a few disputed step-back 3s – the first to balance the score, the second to take the lead – on the Rockets’ previous two holdings.
“James is really good,” McCollum said. Whatever James does in his spare time, James is really good at basketball. He’s really good. ‘