Harden makes All-Star team
Rockets guard named starter for the fourth time.
Before Rockets guard James Harden returned to the court Thursday, he learned he would be participating in the NBA AllStar Game in his hometown.
Harden was named an All-Star for the Feb. 18 game at Staples Center in Los Angeles. It is his sixth All-Star selection and his fourth as a starter.
Harden, the NBA’s leading scorer this season, had missed seven games with a strained left hamstring but returned to the court for Thursday night’s game against Minnesota.
Warriors guard Stephen Curry was the top vote-getter among Western Conference selections. Also named from the West were Golden State’s Kevin Durant and New Orleans’ Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins.
The media voting had LaMarcus Aldridge ahead of Cousins. The fan voting had Manu Ginobili ahead of Harden. The players had the five players ultimately selected.
The Eastern Conference’s top vote-getters were Cleveland’s LeBron James, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, Boston’s Kyrie Irving and Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan, with James a 14-time selection and Embiid making his first All-Star team. In the players’ voting, New York’s Kristaps Porzingis was ahead of Embiid, but Embiid was the pick on the strength of the media and fan voting.
The teams will not be divided along Eastern and Western lines. As the top vote-getters in each conference, Curry and James will select the teams from the pool of starters and reserves chosen in a compilation of votes by fans, players and a media panel. The reserves will be named Tuesday, with the captains’ picks revealed on Thursday.
Harden went into Thursday’s game averaging 32.3 points and nine assists per game. This season, he became the first player in Rockets history to score 50 points in consecutive games and the first to do it in the NBA since Kobe Bryant put up 50 in four straight games during the 2006-07 season.
Harden is on pace to have the top scoring season in franchise history.
Harden scored at least 20 points in each of his games this season until he was kept to 10 in limited minutes Thursday night. Before he was hurt on Dec. 31, he joined Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only players to score at least 20 in each of his team’s first 35 games.
Harden has three 50-point games this season, including a careerhigh 56 against the Jazz. With 35 points, 13 assists, 11 rebounds and five steals against the Cavaliers, he became the first player in NBA history with those numbers since steals became an official statistic in the 1973-74 season.
With his sixth All-Star selection, Harden moves past Rudy Tomjanovich and Moses Malone for third most in Rockets history, behind 12-time AllStar Hakeem Olajuwon and eight-time pick Yao Ming.