Harden pushes himself
Guard ‘wants to be at the top of his game’ when season starts.
By the end of Wednesday’s first half, James Harden was hot. He also shot well.
At this stage of Harden’s career and with the Rockets’ goals to play in June, an early October preseason game would seem an occasion to rest legs, watch the rookies and maybe wave to Khloe Kardashian across the court. Harden might have been the only starter for either team to get sweaty, but he went after Wednesday’s game as if it meant something.
Seemingly determined to work out any remaining offseason kinks, Harden pushed himself through an amazing 20 first-half minutes. He handled the ball and the Rockets’ offense as he had not the night before in Memphis.
Finally, in the final minute of the half, Harden was steaming. He argued long and angrily with official Scott Wall. He grew annoyed by the exuberant defense of Dallas rookie Maurice Ndour, popped Ndour in the chest and then nailed a 3-pointer over Ndour, talking some serious trash on his way up the floor.
With his 3-pointer, Harden had 19 points in the first half, with six rebounds and five assists and the Rockets had a 20-point lead on the way to a 109-82 win at Toyota Center.
A night after Harden often seemed determined to add more catch-and-shoot looks to his game, he went back to last season’s role, as if seeking to make a point to himself.
“He sprained his ankle pretty badly this summer,” Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. “He just hadn’t played a lot of basketball. He’s done a lot of other stuff to stay in shape. Basketball, you’ve got to play it to get your feel back. He’s playing hard in practice. He wanted to play again tonight. He wants to play basketball.
“He’s healthy. He knows that at the end of this month we start playing for real. He wants to be at the top of his game. He’s not taking any shortcuts. That’s a credit to James.”
Many missing Mavs: The Rockets had to enjoy seeing Harden back at full strength, even against only a small sample of the Mavericks who will play during the season. The Mavericks could have had a watch party of players who did not make the trip — Dirk Nowitzki, Chandler Parsons, Wesley Matthews, JaVale McGee, Dwight Powell and Deron Williams — and might have had more personnel watching in Dallas than in Houston.
With the second half nearly entirely in the hands of reserves and rookies, the Rockets pushed their lead to as many as 30 points. Rookie Sam Dekker had nine third-quarter points and finished with 12. Second-year center Clint Capela had 12 points and 14 rebounds. K.J. McDaniels added 13 points, with Corey Brewer scoring 16.
Before the benches were cleared for most of the half, Harden chose to push himself back to last season’s form.
“He looked good tonight,” Brewer said. “He’s working on his game, trying to get back in game shape, and he looks really good. So I know on Oct. 28 he’s going to be ready to go.”
On Wednesday, Ty Lawson (along with Dwight Howard, Trevor Ariza and Terrence Jones) were held out. Harden, however, wanted the playing time.