James Harden Posts Historic Triple-Double
James Harden posted an historic triple-double for the depleted Houston Rockets on Tuesday night. Harden scored 60 points to help the Rockets to a 114 – 107 home win against the Orlando Magic.
He is the first NBA player to score as many as 60 points as part of a triple-double. James Harden also finished with 10 rebounds and 11 assists to complete the triple-double.
His 60 points are also a single-game scoring record for the Houston Rockets. James Harden’s 18 final-quarter points took him past Calvin Murphy, who scored 57 in 1978.
It was a significant offensive performance from James Harden, considering the Rockets were without their key players on the night. Chris Paul missed the game with a sore groin. Trevor Ariza also sat out the game with a hamstring strain. Houston also lost it’s second highest scorer with 19.5 points a game in Eric Gordon. He left the court in the second quarter due to lower back stiffness.
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It was James Harden’s fourth 50-point game this season, as well as being an NBA season high of 60. LeBron James is second, with the 57 points he scored against the Washington Wizards in November. Harden himself is third, with the 56 points he scored against the Utah Jazz, also in November.
He also made four steals and a block. He made 17/18 free throws and shot 19/30 from the floor to round out an exceptional performance.
“I just gave it all I had tonight,” Harden said. “We all did. We all fought for 48 minutes, we got key stops when we needed to and we made big shots.
“It’s a good feeling, I guess. Just try to go out there and make an impact every single night on the game, however I can. Whether it’s scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, whatever it is. And tonight, I guess I was doing everything.”
Harden is now now averaging a league-leading 31.6 points, 9.1 assists, 5.0 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game.
