Stop us if you’ve heard this before: James Harden dropped 60 in another scorcher for the Houston Rockets, this time against the poor Atlanta Hawks.
In fact, Harden had his 60-piece through three quarters, and with the Rockets already nursing a 52-point lead by that point, he was benched for the rest of the game. His career-high of 61 points, set earlier this year in January and then matched again in March, lives on for now, but you can’t hate on a tidy 60 in just 31 minutes of play.
Harden shot 16-of-24 from the field, 8-of-14 on threes and 20-of-23 on free throws, and that's actually the fewest amount of shots required by any player to score 60 points in NBA history.
Every game is a high-volume game for Harden, and since so many of them are high-efficiency as well, these high-scoring games are nothing new. In fact, if you want to see a truly crazy stat, just take a look at the list of the ten highest-scoring games in the calendar year.
Harden. Harden. Harden. (deep breath) Harden. Harden. Harden. Harden. Harden.
Sort of like how the Rockets’ offense works, right? Even after the addition of Russell Westbrook, another player known for historically high rates of usage, it looks like Harden’s touches remain very much intact in Mike D’Antoni’s offense.
We’re sure there will be more 60-point games to come from Harden, even this season. For now, just enjoy the highlights.
