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James Harden has one of the most interesting and frustrating playing styles in the NBA--and though he has the ability to light up the scoreboard with 50- and 60-point performances, the Houston Rockets have not advanced to an NBA Finals.
Harden, a seven-time NBA All-Star, two-time scoring champion, and one-time MVP, has notoriously performed well during the regular season but has not gotten the Rockets too far in the playoffs. Despite averaging 28.2 points in 73 playoff games for Houston since joining the team in 2012, the Rockets have only gotten as far as the Western Conference Finals twice.
He told USA Today in an interview published Monday that he hears the criticism about not getting it done in the playoffs but isn’t worried too much about the detractors.
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Houston Rockets' James Harden, left, looks for a way past Orlando Magic's Evan Fournier during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 13, 2019, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
“People can overlook that, or want to talk about the negative things, or the things they feel like they can talk about to belittle what I’m doing,” Harden said. “But I’ll continue to do it because guess what? I’m not going to stop working.”
Harden can do everything with the ball in his hands. He has nearly perfected the step-back three-pointer while also having the ability to fake a defender out of his shoes and draw a foul in the process.
“It doesn’t just happen because it happens,” Harden told USA Today. “I work every single day.”
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As of Monday, Harden leads the league with 39.3 points per game. He’s already put together six 40-point games, four 50-point games and one 60-point game.
While the term “load management” has been a hot-button issue in the NBA this season, it doesn’t appear that the Rockets have plans to sit him out just to give him a day off.
“We always have load management with him — except he can carry a big load,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni told the newspaper. “Every player is different. If he had bad knees or bad ankles, yeah, we’d sit him out.”
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Harden has only missed 16 games in the last five seasons.
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