Rockets’ James Harden gets creative to draw a 6th foul on Bulls’ Michael Carter-Williams pic.twitter.com/NpbcXq8tbh
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) February 4, 2017
James Harden is notorious for a lot of things. For starters, he’s one of the NBA’s most prodigious scorers, but he’s also one of the most egregious floppers the league has ever seen. As a byproduct of that, he’s become an absolute wizard at drawing fouls. But there’s a marked difference between initiating the contact and coaxing a defender into committing a foul and…whatever this is.
Late in the Rockets’ game against the Bulls on Friday night, The Bearded One saw an opportunity where literally no one else would’ve seen one and quickly seized upon it. Armed with the knowledge that his defender, Michael Carter-Williams, was playing with five fouls, Harden inexplicably decided to take him for a piggyback ride and was promptly and astonishingly rewarded by the refs.
The Rockets ended up eking out a 121-117 win on the night that legendary center Yao Ming had his jersey retired to the rafters. Harden put in yet another phenomenal performance, just missing a triple-double with 42 points, 12 rebounds, and nine assists. Carter-Williams played well in a losing effort, posting 23 points, nine rebounds, and six assists on 11-of-18 shooting from the field.
