J-Speaks: More Scoring History at MSG

There have been many history making nights when it comes to sports at “The World’s Most Famous Arena,” Madison Square Garden. Another chapter was added on Wednesday night by the greatest one-man scoring show the National Basketball Association’s (NBA’s) has had in recent memory. A game which brought a lot of things full circle and had a rookie who started this season on a two-way contract and showed why he earned a straight NBA contract earlier this season. 

Authoring another out-of-this world scoring night, the league’s most sensational scorer James Harden notched a career-high and a new franchise record of 61 points as he led the Houston Rockets (27-20) to a 114-110 win at the struggling New York Knicks (10-36), who lost their seventh straight contest, the 15^th loss out in their last 16 games, and their 20^th defeat in their last 22 games. 

For Harden, who historic streak of games with at least 30 points reached 22 in succession, which included his fifth 50-point performance of this season, he scored in double-figures in all four quarters in leading the Rockets to their ninth straight win over the Knicks at MSG. The Knicks last home win versus the Rockets came on Jan. 26, 2009 when current Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni was the Knicks leader on their sideline.  

He had 19 in the opening period. Scored 17 in the second quarter, which included a put back miss that capped his 36-point first half, which matched his career-best at MSG. He had 13 in the third quarter and 12 in the fourth period which was capped by a steal in the closing seconds that led to a game-clinching dunk. 

On top of that Harden, who was 17 for 38 from the field, including 5 for 20 from three-point range and 22 for 25 from the free throw line became the first player in NBA history to attempt 20 three-pointers and 20 free throws in the same game. He has also led his team or the opponent in scoring in 21 consecutive games.

“These are some of the best fans in the world, and every time you come to ‘The Garden’ you got to put on a show. They expect it and that’s what I gave them,” Harden, who helped the Rockets snap a three-game road losing streak said to AT&T Sportsnet Southwest’s Michelle Margaux after the win.  

He added about that last play where his steal on Knicks’ forward Noah Vonleh, which led to the game-clinching dunk with 03.8 seconds left in the fourth that set the single-game franchise record for scoring, “In order to give ourselves a chance, especially with most of the guys that’s injured we have to play defense and create defense with our offense. And so, first half we didn’t do it. Second half we did it and we won.” 

The Rockets needed every basket and free throw that Harden made because the Rockets’ 10-point was quickly erased early in the fourth quarter with Harden getting a rest.

The Rockets regained it thanks to Eric Gordon’s third three-pointer of the game from the top of the circle with 09.8 seconds left that gave the Rockets a 112-110 lead.

With less than a minute to go, the Knicks cut the deficit to 107-106 when Rockets’ forward PJ Tucker had a major lapse in concentration when he did not pick up Gordon’s inbounds pass that led to a Vonleh steal and layup. 

Then undrafted rookie Allonzo Trier, who scored a career-high 31 points on 12 for 18 from the field and grabbed 10 rebounds off the bench in 33 minutes hit a driving layup that put the Knicks ahead 110-109 with 20.0 seconds left before Gordon as mentioned recaptured the lead for the Rockets with his aforementioned third triple of the contest moments later. 

For Trier, this was his most productive game since coming back from a hamstring injury that has hampered him since he signed his new contract. It looked like the NBA figured him out and that he just had a good run. 

This game showed as Knicks studio analyst Alan Hahn said during the Knicks postgame show of Trier, “He’s as good as you thought he was. He can get to the basket.” 

“These last three games that he’s played he has looked like the strength is back and that’s the player that we saw early this season that captured everybody’s imagination as this guy that went undrafted. What we learned about Allonzo Trier is he’s a legit scorer.” 

The Knicks put themselves in position to win even without their head coach David Fizdale, who was ejected with his second technical foul with 1:08 remaining left. 

Referee Pat Fraher said to Fizdale that he was tossed because of his continuous complaining after he was warned to stop it, which led to his second tech for unsportsmanlike conduct.  

Harden along with spectacular scoring night pulled down 15 rebounds and had five steals. Gordon added 20 points on the night and the Rockets latest addition Kenneth Faried was the only other player to score in double-figures with 11 points adding eight boards, three steals and three blocks in just his second game and first start since being claimed off waivers. 

A day after saying he had yet to have his Madison Square Garden moment, Harden had one where he tied future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant’s 61-point performance at MSG, exactly a week to the day of Feb. 2, 2009 for not just the second most points scored by a player at MSG but tied the second most points scored by a visitor. It was four more than the famed double-nickel (55-point performance) by the great Michael Jordan on Mar. 28, 1995; five more than the 54-point explosion by two-time Kia MVP Stephen Curry of the now defending back-to-back champion Golden State Warriors on Feb. 2, 2013. Four-time Kia MVP LeBron James now the Los Angeles Lakers scored 52 at the Knicks on Feb. 4, 2009 in his first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers and NBA champion Richard “Rip” Hamilton of the Detroit Pistons scored 51 points at the Knicks on Dec. 27, 2006. 

Harden finished one shy of the 62-point night, with 13 rebounds of a former Knick and the player the Rockets just traded earlier this week in 10-time All-Star Carmelo Anthony on Jan. 24, 2014 versus the then Charlotte Bobcats, now Hornets. 

Harden even out-performed the two spectacular scoring nights of former Knick Bernard King, who scored 60 on Christmas Day in 1984 at MSG, and had 55 points two months later on Feb. 16, 1985. 

Unlike those performances that Bryant and Anthony had, where they got drew cheers from those in the stands at MSG, Harden’s performance went from that to them booing him after he drew foul after foul, after foul sending him to the foul line countless times.

“James Harden is a very good offensive player. I know it’s not the prettiest thing to watch but as far as one-on-one goes it’s impressive what he does with the basketball,” Knicks’ studio analyst and former member of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Boston Celtics, then Seattle Supersonics and Cleveland Cavaliers Wally Szczerbiak said during the postgame. 

“The way he can get by his defender. The way he can shoot with range. The way he can create his shot. The way he can get to the free throw line. Those are all characteristics of phenomenal offensive talent and he’s a phenomenal offensive talent.”  

To put into context how Harden has been producing the last four games, where he has scored a total of 204 points, he did not have an assist from a teammate. In this victory at the Knicks, the Rockets as a team had 10 total assists. 

Harden, who also became the first player with 60 points and 15 rebounds since NBA on TNT studio analyst Shaquille O’Neal did it in 2000 has been doing all of his scoring by himself and has been getting it done, which has shown the incredible shape he is in not just physically but mentally. It does not matter if you double him, triple team him, force him to help he is just finding a way to score to help his team win games. 

As Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady pointed out on Thursday’s edition of “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN though that during his playing days when he got hot at the offensive end they got double-teamed, each and every single time they touched the basketball. 

“Harden is not getting double-teamed at all without his best players on the basketball court,” he said. 

Former NBA head coach Stan Van Gundy said the same thing that he has been surprised that Harden during this hot streak has not gotten consistently doubled as soon as he passes half court. 

“Look, you’re going to have to play 4-on-3 in a wide-open court. I’m taking my chances 4-on-3 against those other guys,” he said. “How many times does he have to prove that he can beat you, when we’ve seen teams double team him? I’m talking about from the opening tap, we’re going to try to take the ball out of your hands. I’m surprised no one has done that.”

Harden in the absence of nine-time All-Star Chris Paul, who missed his 16^th straight game due to a Grade-2 strain of his left hamstring and starting center Clint Capela recently had surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right thumb that will shelve him for 4-6 weeks has risen his game and the Rockets have climbed their way out of 11-14 hole that had them outside of the Western Conference playoff picture and now has them at the No. 5 spot. 

Chamberlin is the all-time leader in career 60-point games with 32. Bryant is second with six, followed by the four of Jordan; Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor with three and Harden just had his second. 

As Hahn also said this game really showed that James Harden is the perfect player for Coach D’Antoni’s offensive system of shooting threes, scoring at the rim, and getting to the free throw line, and not just Hall of Famer Steve Nash, who was D’Antoni’s point guard when he was with the Phoenix Suns and saw Nash win back-to-back Kia MVP awards in the middle of the 2000s.

The big difference between how Nash played in D’Antoni’s system and they way Harden has played, particularly during this great scoring run is that unlike those Suns teams where ball movement was a staple, this system with Harden at the forefront is one-on-one isolation basketball at the highest level. It is the kind of basketball that many do not like to see, which is a major reason Anthony did not last long with the guys from “Clutch City,” and D’Antoni was not a fan of it either, especially when he and Anthony were together in the “Big Apple” a few years back. 

This isolation style though is helping the Rockets win games as they have no gone 15-6 in their last 21 games and Harden is not only taking care of business at the offensive end, he is doing it at the defensive, which was not always the case dating back to the prior season.

 “This was a team that was in the cellar at the beginning of the season. He has them back in playoff respectability,” NBATV analyst Steve Smith said on Thursday’s edition of NBATV’s “Gametime.” 

Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady echoed that same feeling saying on the Thursday edition of “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN, “As long as those guys are out, he can continue to do this.” 

“What I’m impressed by is his ability to put up these many shots every single night. The free throws. Just the burden he has on his shoulders. I’m not impressed by the numbers that he’s putting up because he’s taking a volume of shots…. To sustain this throughout the season and into the playoffs this could be a problem.”

On Wednesday night on perhaps the biggest and most famous NBA stage Madison Square Garden, James Harden showed out and his stellar performance put the Houston Rockets back in the win column again. He showed that he can not only take care of business at the offensive end but that he can make it happen at the defensive end. He did both to clinch another win and has put himself as the front runner for his second straight Kia MVP award. That said he is more concerned about making sure he leaves his mark on the game and that is why he puts in the work and time when no one is watching to be ready to capitalize on the moment like he had on “hump day.” 

“I got to keep going. I got to keep going. This is my legacy at stake man,” Harden said to Margaux. “So, while I’m here. While I have the opportunity to play basketball, something that I love doing. Something that I put the time and effort into, there’s no limit to what I can do.”

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 1/23/19 7:30 p.m. “Houston Rockets versus New York Knicks,” on Madison Square Garden Network, presented by Chase with Mike Breen, Walt “Clyde” Frazier, and Rebecca Haarlow; 1/23/19 10 p.m. edition of Ford Knicks Postgame with Al Trautwig, Alan Hahn and Wally Szczerbiak; www.nba.com/games/20190123/HOUNYK#/matchup/recap; 1/24/19 5 p.m. edition of NBATV’s “Gametime,” with Casey Stern, Steve Smith, and Ryan Hollins; www.espn.com/nba/standings; www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/3992/james-harden; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wally_Szczerbiak.