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10) Headband James Harden - 54 points in a loss to the Wizards
After finally claiming his first MVP award last season, Harden has seemed like an afterthought this season despite otherworldly performances on a nightly basis. It's not unusual for a player to win MVP and be held to a higher standard the following season. Russell Westbrook is a prime example, he won the award by averaging a triple-double and hardly got a vote when he achieved the same feat the following year.
Voter fatigue is real, and media fatigue throughout the season is too, which is what Harden is suffering currently. He will only find himself among the narrative for this season if he starts surpassing last year's efforts, rather than just matching them.
Despite the lack of media hype, Harden has flown under the radar to lead the league in scoring with a career-high 30.6 per game. His average took a boost earlier in the week when he scored 54 points in Washington all while wearing a headband, which isn't a regular occurrence for Harden. In fact, it may have been his first time wearing a headband in a game as a Houston Rocket.
He finished the game with 54 points, eight rebounds, 13 assists, three steals, and seven threes. This game would certainly be ranked higher on the list if not for the fact that the Rockets ended up losing the game in overtime and Harden had eleven turnovers.
Turnovers are inevitable with Harden due to his high usage rate, and he played 47 minutes in this game all without Chris Paul, but eleven is still too many for this game to be ranked any higher.
Game score is an advanced stat which is exactly what its title suggests - it uses a formula to give a player's game an overall score. The formula basically adds a certain amount of points for each point, rebound, assist or any other stat and also subtracts points for missed shots, turnovers and fouls; it works similarly to a fantasy score.
Harden's 54-point performance earned him a game score of 39.9, which is the sixth-highest score by a player this season, and the twelfth-highest score of Harden's career.
Inconceivably, Harden did not wear his headband the Houston's following game against the Mavericks.
