James Harden Becomes 4th Player in NBA History to Average 29 PPG, 7 APG, 6 RPG
All season long, James Harden has rightfully taken flak for his poor defense. On Wednesday, we were all reminded of his historic greatness on the other end.
With his 37th point in the Houston Rockets' 116-81 win over the Sacramento Kings, Harden became the fourth player in NBA history to average 29 points, seven assists and six rebounds per game in a season. Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle noted Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson and LeBron James are the only others.
Harden finished the game with 38 points, four rebounds and four assists. It was his fourth straight game of 30-plus points. The 26-year-old averaged 34.8 points for the month of April, spearheading the Rockets' last-ditch push for a playoff berth. Houston finished the regular season with three straight wins to sit 41-41 and earn a date with the top-seeded Golden State Warriors in the first round.
“[Harden] is such a fantastic player," Kobe Bryant said Sunday, per Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com. "All I can do is sit on the sideline and shake my head at some of the plays he was making, the shots he was making. Those are difficult shots for 90 percent of the players in the league. He makes them look effortless.”
Much of the focus all season has been on Harden's lackadaisical defense. Opposing players shot 46.9 percent against Harden during the regular season, 2.2 percent better than their average, per NBA.com. Keep in mind that Harden rarely defended much more than a third option when he was on the floor, let alone an opponent's best player.
The Rockets have gone out of their way to laud a defensive improvement from Harden over the second half.
"He's been much better. The focus, coming out of the break, has been really good defensively," interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff said in March, per Feigen. "You don't make those comebacks if all five guys aren't defending. It's the joke of the moment, but we know what's really going on."
Still, Harden makes his money on the offensive end. His counting stats are better than they were in 2014-15, when he finished second in the MVP voting and bested Stephen Curry in the vote among his peers. He won't come anywhere near the top five in this year's voting, but Harden has had a much better season than most realize.
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