[ESPN]: James Harden Making His Case as the NBA's Best Player

media conspiracy

http://www.espn.com/blog/houston-rockets/post/_/id/3033/james-harden-making-his-case-as-best-player

James Harden making his case as NBA's best player

• 
  Calvin Watkins
• ESPN Staff Writer

SAN ANTONIO -- Two years ago, James Harden said he deserved the MVP award that went to Stephen Curry. The following season, Harden said he felt like he was the best player on the planet, and he finished second in the league in scoring and led everyone in minutes and free throw attempts. But Harden didn't receive any postseason awards, and he didn't make any of the first three All-NBA teams.

So when Harden told a reporter in Washington the other night that he was the best player in the league again, it was just a case of him reiterating previous claims.



But considering the way Harden has played so far this season, he may be on to something.

"He's always been a great passer," San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said after his team lost to the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night, 101-99. "He has the ball in his hands a lot more as the point guard. He is one of the best players in the league. Very difficult to guard."

Harden recorded his first triple-double of the season, and the 10th of his career, finishing with 24 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds against the Spurs. He became the first player in franchise history to record a triple-double with 15 assists.

Nearly every night, Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni says that Harden had a monster game. He has recorded 20-plus points in a career-high 23 consecutive games dating to last season and has done so in 261 of 322 games with the Rockets.

Harden said last week that he just shrugs at the numbers he has been producing and tries not to think about it.

Against the Spurs, Harden played a season-high 40 minutes. When asked whether he ran out of gas in the fourth quarter, Harden exclaimed, "What?!"

It seems OK, and the Rockets will take it from their best player, who is making a case for being the best player in the league.

"We ask so much from him, and he was playing some great defense," D'Antoni said. "I wanted to keep him out for three or or four more minutes. But I thought the game was getting out of hand. We had to have some kind of lead, and I brought him back earlier than normal."​

 

wow, I thought the fact that this was BY Calvin Watkins might have impressed some folks. guess not.