Mike D'Antoni: James Harden 'Rusty for About 30 Seconds' in 1st Bubble Practice

James Harden arrived at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, five days later than his Houston Rockets teammates for the NBA restart, but the superstar guard hit the ground running in his first day of practice Thursday.   

"He looked good," Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni told reporters. "He probably was rusty for about 30 seconds, and then he was back."

Harden said his arrival was a few days behind his teammates for family reasons, but he was clearly ready to go once he hit the Disney campus.

"I thought we'd have to ramp him up a little bit, but he's been going hard before he got here," D'Antoni said. "I didn't see any difference whatsoever. Now, we'll watch [Friday]. If he's sore or something else, then maybe we'll back him off, but right now he's full tilt. He looks like he's ready to go."

The Rockets remain without Russell Westbrook, who tested positive for COVID-19, and Luc Mbah a Moute. At 100 percent, Houston is a dangerous team and will head into the NBA restart as the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference playoffs at 40-24, having already clinched a playoff berth.

But expectations are higher than just getting into the postseason, even in the unusual circumstances of the bubble.

"We don't have any fans, so it's you versus us and we're going to have to figure it out," Harden said. "If you're fourth seed, fifth seed, sixth seed, it doesn't really matter. For us, it's about being in shape and making sure that our offense and our defense is crispy and we're all on the same page. We'll play anybody."

The Rockets will go as far as Harden—averaging 34.4 points, 7.4 assists and 6.4 rebounds—can take them. If nothing else, it didn't take the 2017-18 NBA MVP long to get back into the flow.