James Harden Had 61 Points As The Rockets Escaped With A Win In New York

James Harden has been absolutely ridiculous for the last two months of the season. On Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, the reigning MVP had another phenomenal night with 61 points and 15 rebounds, and the Rockets needed every bit of that to take down the Knicks, 114-110.

The Rockets led by as many as 12 in the fourth quarter, but found themselves down one after a Knicks rally, aided by P.J. Tucker for some reason choosing not to pick up an inbounds pass with a minute to play to gift New York a layup. However, an Eric Gordon three — in which he was wide open because New York was terrified of Harden as the screener — put them up two with nine seconds to play.

That’s when the Knicks inbounded the ball to Noah Vonleh, who got harassed by Gordon into fumbling the ball, which Harden picked up and streaked to the basket for a game-sealing dunk to get to 61 points.

That 61 points is one shy of Carmelo Anthony’s record for points scored in the Garden and gives Harden his 21st straight 30-point outing and sets a season-high in the process. In the last six games, Harden is averaging an absurd 49.8 points per game as that includes a 57, 58, and now 61-point outburst.

Harden continues to have iffy nights from distance — he was 5-of-20 from three in New York — but he continues to carve up defenses by slicing to the basket for layups and getting to the line almost at will and hitting just enough threes when they needed them most.

https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/1088259218497523712

https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/1088257218326261766

There is, of course, a question of how long Harden can continue this and whether the Rockets will need these kinds of Herculean efforts to make any kind of noise in the postseason. While those are valid concerns, we should enjoy this run in the moment because it’s the type of thing that hasn’t happened since Wilt Chamberlain dominated the hardwood.