Oh my god, James Harden is out of his mind. In a game that reminded everyone why he was the league MVP last year, Harden did everything he could to carry the Houston Rockets to a win over the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena, dropping 44 points in a 135-134 overtime victory.
Harden stuffed the stat sheet in general, adding 15 assists and 10 rebounds along with his prolific scoring output. Still, the thing that fans will remember about this game was the triple that Harden canned with one second remaining in overtime to seal the win.
Despite being contested by both Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, Harden pulled up from way behind the three-point line and fired away, drilling a three to deflate the crowd in Oakland.
JAMES. HARDEN. https://t.co/tcPc3amsAx
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) January 4, 2019
This outing marked Harden’s fifth-straight game with at least 40 points and his second game in a row with 40+ points and a triple-double. The Rockets needed all the help from him they can get, both because Chris Paul and Eric Gordon are out, and because it looked like an egregious missed call was going to lead to the Warriors stealing a win. Watch where Kevin Durant was as he saved this ball on a possession that ended in a Steph Curry jumper to put Golden State up by two.
Ya, KD was just a bit out of bounds there… (not called) pic.twitter.com/xv2CG5mipZ
— Steve Noah (@Steve_OS) January 4, 2019
Somehow, the officials missed it, which was so bad that it actually made Joel Embiid and Damian Lillard laugh.
Lmao how do you miss that??????😂😂😂😂😂😂
— Joel Embiid (@JoelEmbiid) January 4, 2019
😳 lol
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) January 4, 2019
Still, Harden’s heroics saved the day for Houston. While he did get help from those who took the floor for the Rockets on Thursday — most notably Clint Capela, who was out of his mind en route to 29 points and 21 rebounds — Harden got the ball when it was time to win the game, and my goodness, did he deliver.
