James Harden was feeling it last night with the Hornets in town. He finished Houston’s dominating 102-83 win having shot 12-for-19 from the field, including 8-for-11 from downtown — a career-high number of three-pointers. But we’re going to look at some of his team-high six dimes, too, because a few of them were just as spectacular as his shooting night.
It’s easy to get sidetracked by Beard’s unconscious shot-making, but Harden is a real-deal player who can beat opponents in a number of different ways, including with his passing. He had a pair of pinpoint lobs to Dwight Howard, for instance:
Then there was this pass that traveled half the length of the court when Harden spotted recent signee Josh Smith behind the Hornets defense:
Click to see Harden’s best dime of the night, and his incredible shooting performance…
While Harden’s assists to Howard and Smoove were nice, this delayed give-and-go with Trevor Ariza is transcendent. It’s a true no-look dime he rifles past the defense after first receiving the pass from Ariza at the top of the key and waiting until he makes his break. Props to Ariza for catching the fireball for the layup:
While we think Harden’s assist to Ariza is more impressive than any of his pull-ups or the bevy of three-pointers he tossed in, he did a lot of that, too, as the video below shows.
Yeah BUDDY.
Which was more impressive: Harden’s passing or shot-making?
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