Every James Harden Fact I See Is More Ridiculous Than The Next
I’m still riding high off the fact that both mine and James Harden’s Sun Devils actually won a tournament* game last night, and seeing as he went out and dropped a cool 57 in the Rocket’s OT loss to MEM
I’ve started to see some Harden facts come out today and honestly I can’t decide which is the most impressive. As we all know he’s having an MVP season and has carried the Rockets to contention, but I wanted to list out everything we’re seeing because it truly is ridiculous. Some you may already know about like his scoring streak and all that, but perhaps a few of these might surprise you. I am on record that he’s my MVP selection and I haven’t really seen anything to move me from that stance and I’m not sure what Giannis could do to sway me. Just take a look at this shit
– 32 straight 30 point games which is 2nd all time
– 7 50+ point games which is the 3rd most since 1976
– 5 55 point games which ties Wilt as the only players in history to do that
– Dropped 30 points against all 29 teams, becoming the 1st player in NBA history to do so
– Posted at least one 50 point game in 5 straight months
– Not known for his defense, he trails Paul George by just 2 steals for the overall lead in the entire NBA
– He’s also tied for 3rd and 2 blocks behind the leader for guards in the entire NBA
– Leads the league in post up defense and ranks in the 89th percentile
– Leads the league in deflections
– Has more 50 point games than <20 point games
– Paul George (2nd in scoring) would need to average 76 points per game over his final 10 games just to catch Harden’s 36.1
– Averaging 47 a game against MEM this season
Listen you can hate his style of play, you can think it’s boring and that he travels and refs give him too many FTs, but there is no denying what we are seeing on both ends of the floor honestly, is truly special. So special many of us haven’t seen anything like it in our lifetimes from any previous star player in history. Of course just like it always does everything with Harden will come down to how he performs in the postseason, but if you take a second and just step back and appreciate just how dominant he’s been this season it kind of blows your mind.
Personally, of this list I think the defensive metrics are what surprised me most. I knew he had improved in terms of effort on that end, but I did not expect him to be doing things we normally see with elite defenders. Is it fair to say maybe it’s time we change the narrative about that end of the floor for Harden? What more can he do. The offense, well we knew that was elite already