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When the Oklahoma City Thunder traded James Harden to the Houston Rockets last summer, it raised eyebrows everywhere. The Thunder had a decision to make with regards to their salary cap and either of forward Serge Ibaka or shooting guard Harden would have to make way.
And they plumped for the big man!
Along with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, Harden formed a fearsome threesome that drove the Thunder to the 2012 NBA Finals, where they fell short to the overwhelming favourites, the Miami Heat.
Though many saw the move as a good one for Harden, questions remained about whether he could fulfill his potential and could carry a team on his own.
He answered all of that and more in his standout debut season for the Rockets last time around.
The beast had been unleashed!
“I mesh with anyone.”
“It’s a new journey for me. It’s a new growth for me, to do something special, being one of the focal points of this offense. It’s a great opportunity.”
“I’m with Houston now. I just have to come in here and play hard and win games.” – James Harden after being traded to the Rockets.
The move to Houston was a perfect fit for Harden as he immediately took a liking to the system and the coaching methods of Kevin McHale. The Rockets last year were one of the most dynamically offensive teams in the league with the shooting talent of Harden, Chandler Parsons and Jeremy Lin to go with center Omer Asik’s superb inside play.
And it saw them reach the first round of the playoffs, where they were eliminated in seven games by Harden’s former team. With Westbrook out injured, the Rockets had their chances, but good friend Durant elevated his level of play to almost single-handedly pull the Thunder through.
“He’s got a pace to his game that I like. I think he plays at a speed where he can repeat things over and over again. He’s a really sophisticated player” – Rockets head coach Kevin McHale.
Despite that opening round loss, the last season would go down as a success for the Rockets and Harden.
The Rockets got the superstar they wanted, who they could build a solid team around and the season served as a bedding in period for Harden and in their first season, they managed to reach the playoffs. And for Harden, he was in a place where it was now ‘his’ team.
Harden exploded for 40+ points in on two occasions last season, both of them resulting in wins.
The first came against the Atlanta Hawks on the road, where Harden scored 45 points shooting a ridiculous 73.7% from the field overall while draining 2 out of 4 3-pointers. He also had 6 assists in that game and just 2 turnovers.
He repeated those heroics again when he caught fire to register a 46-point game against his visiting former team, the Thunder. He matched his field goal shooting percentage from the previous 40+ game (73.7%) and in addition shot the lights out from 3-point territory as he drained 7 out of 8 3-pointers for a staggering 87.5% shooting percentage.
In total, he scored 30 or more points in a game on 23 occasions.
Even while at OKC, he had developed a habit of being a clutch player, at times even when Durant and Westbrook were on the court. It does help though when you have exceptional passing ability and vision like Harden has for a shooting guard. With the clock dying down and a game-winning play required Scott Brooks often used to place the ball in Harden’s hands.
The trend continued at Houston where Harden became the face of the franchise last season as he averaged 25.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game, and throughout the whole season remained the go-to-man for the Rockets. He had a field goal percentage of 43.8% overall, while shooting 36.8% from beyond the arc.
What makes Harden so good is his basketball acumen. For a young player, and especially someone who moved from being part of a ‘big three’ to a sole superstar, he has adapted and grown really quickly.
His decision making sets him out as one of the finest guards in the game and his ability to score with jump shots as well as while driving to the basket, make him a nightmare to guard for defenders, while his ability to beat defenders off the dribble is mesmerizing.
He’s also a very accomplished 3-point shooter. There is so much explosiveness in his game which make him one of the top impact players in the league. When he gets on a roll, he just seems to catch fire and there isn’t much that opposition defences can do about it.
His excellent season saw him selected in the All-NBA 3rd team and 3 NBA Player of the Week awards as well as the All-Star reserves for the Western Conference for the All-Star game in his home court of Houston, Texas.
Harden had a very successful debut season with the Rockets
For the second consecutive summer, Houston were involved in the most talked about deal of the summer.
Last year, it was their acquisition of Harden from the Thunder, which while weakening a Western Conference rival, added a young guard with superstar potential to their squad. And they built a nice squad around him with the addition of Asik and the existing bunch of young players at their disposal.
This year, they snapped up the big fish in Dwight Howard from the Los Angeles Lakers in the free agency.
Suddenly, with the addition of Howard, there is talk of the Rockets becoming a title-contender. As much as everybody knew Harden was good, nobody really predicted that he would have the kind of season that he did.
His breakout season catapulted him into the MVP debate and he is now ranked amongst the 10 best players in the NBA.
And now, firmly entrenched as the lead man in the team, Harden has Howard for company, the premier big man in the NBA at the moment.
Houston fans should be excited, for not since the days of Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady have they had such an exciting guard-center combination in their roster. There will be a quite optimism about them that their team can perhaps once more challenge for the biggest prize of them all.
The triple ‘H’ trinity of Houston, Harden and Howard is set for lift-off with James Harden leading the charge.
#FearTheBeard
