"Single mother, 2-3 jobs just to make sure we have food on the table" - James Harden appreciates his mother's influence on his life and mentality, cites her as an inspiration

NBA and Brooklyn Nets superstar James Harden recently spoke about how influential his mother was during his upbringing and lauded her leadership capability.

When asked about who has impacted him the most as a mentor, the first name that sprung into Harden's mind was his mother and the wisdom she imparted to the guard. He said:

"She's a leader, that's my mom. She created me, and the things that she instilled into my mind on how to approach life, how to try to be life or stay ahead of life as much as you can and is one of the reasons where I am today."

Harden continued:

"Strong, single mother, two to three jobs to make sure we have food on the table, just things like that where you don't take it for granted and you try to do everything to make life easier for her."

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How important is James Harden to the Nets?

Harden with Kyrie Irving against the Cleveland Cavaliers

One of the greatest scorers the game has ever seen, James Harden was an unstoppable machine during his nine seasons with the Houston Rockets. But he was also a great facilitator, and that is the version of Harden the Brooklyn Nets desperately need.

Harden, this season, is averaging 23 points, 8.1 rebounds and 10.1 assists while shooting the ball better than 33% from beyond the arc and 42% from the field. He has recorded nine triple-doubles and 28 double-doubles this campaign for the Brooklyn-based side. Arguably the most consistent figure in terms of availability, Harden out of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant has been the only one who has shown up to work. He has missed only seven games all season long and the Nets have lost four of them.

What makes Harden great is his ability to be a quintessential point guard and also be a scoring machine that can excel in one-on-one situations and put the ball in the net whenever he wants.

With Irving available for road games for Brooklyn, the Nets will need Harden to be a quintessential point guard, while the scoring burden will rest on Irving and KD. He is an excellent orchestrator of the offense and you don't need him to focus on scoring with Kyrie and the Slim Reaper on the court.

And in games without Irving, Harden will need to handle more of the scoring responsibilities along with KD, but with Durant out for a couple of weeks, the onus now lies on Harden to get his team back to winning ways and perhaps get home court advantage for the playoffs.

James Harden is one of the best players in the league and the Brooklyn Nets are a better team with him on the floor.