D’Antoni pleased with Harden, who was ‘rusty for 30 seconds.’
D’Antoni pleased with star guard’s condition after arrival was delayed by “family issues”
His arrival to the NBA’s restart campus delayed because of “family issues,” James Harden finally can compete on a basketball court. He can rifle no-look passes, shoot 3-pointers, and talk all sorts of trash. He is at last free again to “hoop.”
More than four months since the NBA season was halted and five days after his Rockets teammates began workouts at the Disney complex outside Orlando, Harden was happily back practicing with them Thursday.
“I think the world knows no matter what’s going on, James Harden likes to hoop,” the star guard said. “He’s a competitor. Today in practice, we got after it. We pushed ourselves. I’m doing a lot of trash-talking as usual to get the guys motivated and keep pushing.
“I’m happy I’m here. I felt actually really, really good to be out here with the guys, getting after it, just pushing our way.”
To the Rockets, it was almost as if had been playing all along. He did need some time, however, to knock off rust from the layoff.
“He was probably rusty for 30 seconds,” coach Mike D’Antoni said. “He played well. It might be one of those things you first come out and you’re way up and you go down in the next few days. We played a lot. A good beginning.
“He went through a full practice like everybody else. His wind was as good as anybody else. Obviously, he’s been working. They ramped him up well before he got here. I’m pleased.”
When describing the play of the NBA’s leading scorer, D’Antoni said: “I didn’t see any difference whatsoever. Right now … he looks like he’s ready to go.”
Guard Ben McLemore described Harden as “Same James.”
“He’s one of those guys that loves to work,” McLemore said. “It shows out here. Today was amazing just to have him back out there. It felt great.”
It was enough for D’Antoni to believe Harden will be able to play as much in the Rockets’ first scrimmage July 24 against the Raptors as he would have if he arrived with the team a week earlier.
That will be determined by the medical staff and how Harden responds to practices. But even one practice was enough to show he
had been working to the point that D’Antoni said Harden was “for sure” better prepared than he anticipated.
“He wants to play,” D’Antoni said. “He is really the ultimate professional in what he needs to do to get ready. I trust him totally.”
Harden said he spent the hiatus working on conditioning, lifting weights and doing yoga. But he has long been opposed to missing time on the court, playing in the offseason and strongly preferring to go through every in-season practice.
“I feel I’m in a good place,” he said. “Today was actually the first time I played pickup, some fiveon-five contact, in over a month. Individual working out and conditioning is totally different. You can do track workouts. You can do all kinds of different conditioning workouts. But when you’re actually out there, you get bumped. You have to make plays and make reads and get up and down the court. It’s totally different.
“Now that I’m getting older, I have to make sure my conditioning is where it needs to be in order for me to perform. Now, being here with the guys, (I’m) getting a great opportunity to get in that great game shape. The guys have been here for a few days now, so they already kind of went through that. Keep pushing. Keep pushing.”
Harden said he and D’Antoni spoke about using the eight “seeding” games more for postseason preparation than to contemplate matchups. The Rockets will begin play July 31 tied for fifth in the Western Conference and as the sixth seed. But echoing what D’Antoni said Wednesday, Harden said the standings and seeding are not the concern.
“No matter if we are the fourth seed, fifth seed, sixth seed, for us, it doesn’t really matter,” he said. “For us, it’s about getting in shape and making sure our offense and defense is crispy and we’re all on the same page. We’ll play anybody.
“I’m excited. Once we get Russ (Westbrook) back and we’ve got our full roster healthy and get in shape like we need to be, we can compete with anybody.”
The Rockets have cited no timetable for when Westbrook, who tested positive for COVID-19, will join them. But at least Thursday, Harden was back on the court, looking as if he never left.
“He didn’t miss a beat at all,” McLemore said. “He’s the same old James Harden.”