Rockets guard James Harden says ‘who cares’ about his shooting woes in WCF

The Houston Rockets have now inched a game away from reaching their first NBA Finals in well over two decades.

However, there has been much attention being paid toward the offensive struggles that All-Star guard James Harden has had over the last few games that included hitting just 5-of-21 attempts from the field on Thursday night. Even with those persistent shooting woes, Harden voiced no concern over his scoring shortcomings with his focus helping his team win, according to Tim McMahon of ESPN.

“Nothing,” said Harden, who finished with 19 points on 5-of-21 shooting in Game 5. “I’m just missing shots. But we’re winning, and I’m trying to compete on the defensive end and do other things to help my team win. But if we’ve got a guy like Eric Gordon making shots and being aggressive, who cares?”

It may not be a major problem in Harden’s eyes, but it’s hard to ignore his offensive issues as he has now missed his last 20 three-pointers that saw him clank all 11 of his shots in Game 5. He has shown the continued ability to get to the free throw as he nailed all nine of his attempts, but he is now shooting just 24.5 percent from beyond the arc.

He has had the fortune of his teammates picking up the slack with fellow guards Chris Paul and Eric Gordon stepping it up offensively. This was the case on Thursday night with Gordon scoring a team-high 24 points off the bench while Paul notched 18 of his 20 points on the night in the second half.

However, the offensive onus will be more on Harden’s shoulders for Game 6 with Paul being out of the lineup due to a right hamstring injury. It could set the stage for him to put together a statement game while an opportunity to lift the Rockets to the NBA Finals.