You might not appreciate him turning NBA games into streetball battles.
You might take his insatiable thirst for drawing fouls as a personal affront.
You might not like him full stop.
But whether you’re ready to admit it or not, James Harden is in the midst of one of the most remarkable scoring runs in NBA history.
In the process, he has generated some of the most eye-popping stats we’ve ever seen.
Here’s the proof:
- Harden is averaging 44 points this calendar year.
- He’s averaging 47.6 points over his past 5 games.
- He has scored 115 points over his past 2 games and none of those baskets were assisted.
- He has tied Elgin Baylor for the 5th-longest 30-point-game streak in NBA history (18). Only Wilt Chamberlain has ever had a longer streak.
- He has now dropped 40 points on every team in the NBA not named the Houston Rockets.
- He has the most 50-point games among active players. Harden has 13, LeBron has 12.
- He has been in 691 direct isolation plays this season (before today’s Brooklyn game), more than any other team.
- He’s averaging 13 three-point attempts per game. Even Steph Curry – who’s averaging 11.6 – can’t compete with that.
- He has gone 1-on-1 more this season than any team’s combined roster has.
- His usage rate sits just below 39 percent, not far off the NBA-record 41.7 percent mark set by Russell Westbrook shortly after Kevin Durant left Oklahoma City.
We’ve just never seen anything like this.
The James Harden show resumes on Saturday night against the Lakers.
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