Harden provides plenty of magic in win
Magic can’t find an answer for Houston point guard, as Rockets grab road win
The Magic had Evan Fournier, which on some nights might have been enough.
The Houston Rockets, meanwhile, had James Harden, which on most nights is more than enough.
Friday was one of those nights for the Rockets and Harden, who showed once again why he’s the NBA’s premier scorer. Harden had 54 points in 36 minutes on 19-of-31 shooting as Houston (17-8) defeated Orlando 130-107 at Amway Center.
Russell Westbrook added 23 points for Houston and Fournier had 27 for the Magic (11-14).
It was Harden’s second consecutive 50-point game, his fourth in his last seven games and his fifth 50-point effort of the season.
The Rockets made 22 of their 39 3-point attempts. Harden was 10-of-15 from beyond the arc.
“I feel like we lost against just him,” Fournier said. “He’s the [former] MVP for a reason. … When has 54 on you, it’s almost like it’s embarrassing because you want to give your all and stuff but he’s that great. And the fact that he does it every night is really impressive.”
Every time the Magic played good defense on him or sent another defender at him, Harden either made a shot or he dished out one of his game-high seven assists.
Fournier was one of the multiple defenders assigned to try to slow down Harden. He also had the task of continuing to shoulder the scoring load for the Magic.
He did his best to trade baskets with Harden but Fournier seemed to run out of gas late in the game as the Rockets pulled away midway through the fourth quarter.
“Evan is playing at a really high