James Harden is an MVP candidate for the Houston Rockets, and deservedly so. He’s virtually carried the offense on his back. But is there a price to pay with that?
Harden is not only the Rockets’ leading scorer, he’s at the top of the NBA with 26.9 points per game. A large portion of those have come from the free-throw line, at which he has a league-high 704 attempts. That scoring comes with a physical toll.
Harden’s not getting a lot of time to rest, either. Only Jimmy Butler and Kemba Walker have played more minutes than his 1,379—36.3 per game. The Rockets can ill afford to sit him longer, as their offensive rating drops from 107.2 when he’s on the court to 90.5 when he’s not, according to NBA.com/Stats. That nearly 17-point differential is about as MVP-sounding of a number as you can find.
The Rockets aren’t just depending on him for scoring. He has been the most important facilitator as well, dishing 251 dimes on the season. Only seven players in the league have done more distributing.
Neither are Harden’s efforts limited to the offensive e ...
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Article written by Kelly Scaletta
Are Houston Rockets in Danger of Burning out James Harden?
January 13th, 2015 by Kelly Scaletta Leave a reply »
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