Making History:
On Friday night, the Rockets made NBA history. As a team, they broke both records for most three-pointers attempted and made shooting 24-for-61. Houston would defeat the New Orleans Pelicans 122-100 for their ninth straight victory.
James Harden scored 29 points with 11 rebounds, 13 assists, and six 3-pointers in 34 minutes. In five seasons with the Rockets, Harden now owns the franchise record for the most career triple doubles passing the great Hakeem Olajuwon. In 341 rockets games, Harden has accomplished this feat. This just goes to show how much faster the NBA has gotten in the last 20 years. It took Olajuwon 1,177 games and 17 seasons to just reach 14 triple-doubles.
Is he the MVP so far?
Looking at the early favorites for the MVP race. There are a few names that come to mind, Russell Westbrook, Lebron James, Kawhi Leonard. However, at this moment, you have to consider Harden the early favorite. Harden has produced six triple-doubles on the year. On the season he’s averaging 27.7 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.4 steals 3.0 three-pointers made and a league-high 11.8 assists per game. He is doing all this on a .524 effective field goal percentage. At this rate, even though Westbrook had an incredible triple-double streak, Harden is putting his team in position for a possible playoff run. The Bearded one has dished out at least seven assists and double-digit scoring efforts every night so far this season. The Mike D’Antoni system is clearly working for Harden and this run and gun offense. Right now, you can call him the leading MVP Candidate.
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