NBA Playoffs: Rockets’ James Harden Inches Closer to All-time NBA Record Held by Wilt Chamberlain

In the last six years, James Harden of the Houston Rockets has been the leading scorer in the NBA on four occasions (2015, ‘16, ‘19, ‘20). In the remaining two, he came second only to Russell Westbrook (2017) and LeBron James (2018). He has piled 20962 career points since 2009. 

In Game 1 against the Los Angeles Lakers in the western conference semis, James Harden outscored every player as he had 36 points, 2 rebounds, and 5 assists in just 34 minutes of play. He had earlier said in the media conference after their Game 7 win against the Oklahoma City Thunder that he was not good at offense. However, that totally flipped today!

Houston Rockets have a world-class missile with them!

The Beard has played 76 (68 regular + 8 post-season) games so far in the 2019-20 season. In those, he scored more points than the total minutes played an impressive 39 times (51.32%). This implies that Harden outscores his played minutes in every other game. He is now second to only Wilt Chamberlain who did it in 1961-62 season.

If James’ Rockets gets to play 10 or more matches in this post-season, chances are high that The Beard can match or even surpass this record. 

In the 1961-62 regular season, the legendary Wilt averaged 50.4 points in the 80 games where he timed 48.5 minutes per game. He also averaged 25.7 rebounds that season, which is out of the question, because that record is untouchable in today’s era. 

James Harden snatched the victory away from the Lakers

Step Daddy scored 12/20 from the field (60%) and another 3/6 from behind the arc (50%). This accuracy ensured that no other player came even near to his numbers. Russell Westbrook supported him with 24 pts, 9 rebs, and 6 assists. Watch how they played against the Lakers today:

The spacing that the Rockets created left the Lakers’ defense with no answers. The job that Luguentz Dort of the OKC did against Harden in round 1 was better than the job any of the Lakers’ defenders. The three-pointer accuracy of the Rockets (35.9%) was lower than expected, but the Lakers did an even worse (28.2%) job and never came back in the game. The field goal accuracy for the Lakers also lagged behind the Rockets. No wonder they lost with such a fat margin.

The two teams will play their next game on Sunday.