Harden stays unconscious
Second straight 50-point game keeps Orlando at bay
ORLANDO, Fla. — Perhaps James Harden always knew he would have another blast in store should the Rockets need it.
The previous three quarters Friday, as with the entirety of his romp through the Cavaliers on Wednesday, had offered a good clue. He just was hoping it wouldn’t be necessary.
But the Magic kept things close enough, cutting a 20-point lead to 11, that Harden had to step up again.
He had happily spent the night against a relatively normal defense, with fewer of the trick defenses that have filled his nights this season. So even when the Magic began tossing the kitchen sink his way, if not quite the entire kitchen, dining room and back porch as so many have before, Harden was
ready to light them up, driving the Rockets to a 130-107 blowout he had expected to secure much earlier.
When he was through, he had followed his 55 points on Wednesday with 54 on Friday, giving him consecutive 50-point games for the second time this season and the fifth time in his career. His five 50-point games this season are not only more than any other active player has collected in a full season, it is as many as the entire rest of the NBA combined this season.
“It’s just unbelievable the things he’s doing over and over again,” Rockets center Clint Capela said. “Right back at him every time. It must be hard for the defense. He’s just been amazing.”
In a five-day stretch in which the Magic had gone against Giannis Antetokounmpo, LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Harden, Harden most impressed the player given most of those unenviable assignments.
“I would say (Harden) is the toughest so far,” forward Jonathan Isaac said, “with the way that he’s able to get everybody else involved on top of him having a great shooting night.”
The Magic did swarm to Harden on drives. By the second half, they were rushing a second defender at him, usually center Khem Birch. He did not seem to notice. By then, he was already on a roll after an 18-point, eightminute burst in the second quarter.
“I’m finally getting the regular defensive coverage,” Harden said. “These other games there’s been box-and-one and doubleteams and triple teams, things like that. It feels good to actually have somebody one-on-one.”
As with Wednesday’s scoring binge in Cleveland, Harden matched the franchise record of 10 3-pointers he shares with Chandler Parsons, this time needing just 15 attempts (he took 17 3s on Wednesday.) And as with Wednesday’s game, he went to the line less than usual, going 6-of-6 after he went 5-of-5 against the Cavs to join Rick Barry as the only NBA players to score at least 50 with five or fewer free throws.
He was far from alone in burning the Magic from deep. Ben McLemore made 6-of-7 3-pointers and has hit 26-of-53 in his past five games. P.J. Tucker was 3-of-5 on 3s.
“We’re just reading,” McLemore said. “Obviously, James and Russ (Westbrook) are doing a great job penetrating and finding us. Guys like me, P.J., (Danuel) House and Austin (Rivers) just knocked down open shots.”
Westbrook had his fourth-consecutive strong shooting game, making 9-of-18 shots to score 23 points. In his past four games, he has made 41of-73 shots with the Rockets’ offense seeming more in sync and sharper against the wide assortment of defenses they have been seeing.
“It’s getting better and the ball movement’s better,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said of the execution that led to 22 3pointers, the most an opponent has ever made against the Magic. “We hadn’t seen the type of defenses that they do with James that we’ve seen for about 10, 15 games. It should get better if we’re doing our job.”
Still, when the Magic were back within 11 with 8½ minutes still left, Harden needed to take over for a 3½-minute stretch in which he scored or set up 18 of 20 points to clear the benches.
He believed that should not have been necessary.
“We’re supposed to as a group close that game out,” Harden said. But the Rockets never really seemed threatened with the way he has been rolling all along.
“When James is like that, it’s hard for anybody to really beat us,” D’Antoni said. “The main guy making it, and when you double him, the other guys making it. Really, not a whole lot else you can do.”