It's January 3rd, 2019, Oracle Arena is hosting to one of the most exhilarating games of the NBA season. Houston and Golden State have been firing shots back at each other all game. They've gone to overtime, 5.5 seconds left, this is the definition of crunch time. Golden State leads 134-132, and Houston is about to inbound the ball. James Harden has been on fire all game, hitting the clutch three that sent this game into overtime.
Gerald Greene inbounds the ball to James, this is it.
James crosses over the Golden States shooting guard Klay Thompson, pulls up for the three, and as he's falling to the ground the shot sinks. Capping off his historic 40 point triple double night with a game-winner against the NBA's best team.
That game has been almost a representation of Hardens entire season. Ever since Chris Paul went down earlier this season Harden has been on a scoring frenzy. Starting December 13th against the Lakers Harden had a 50 point trouble to begin what would be one of the most prolific scoring windows the NBA has ever seen.
Harden scored 40-plus points over a five-game period during that window. He's averaging 34.8 points this season, is arguably leading the MVP race once again and has broken multiple scoring stats previously held by the likes of Kobe and MJ, the GOAT himself.
These performances have forced sports analyzers everywhere to wonder how great James Harden truly is and where he ranks amongst the best of the best. Is he the best player in the NBA? Is he a top 5 SG all time? Top 3? Is he the best offensive weapon we have ever seen to play the game?
James Harden has always been a fantastic regular season player, but in my opinion, in order to segment his greatness and get the nod on the previous questions I asked, Harden has to transition this play into the playoffs. Harden has never won a ring, something that is continuously brought up when his greatness is discussed. If he can continue this play for the rest of the season, and win a ring at the end of it all, it will go down as one of the greatest individual seasons in NBA history.
However, with all that being said, I personally do not see this type of play continuing. I'd love to see Harden continue to terrorize teams and make a run in the playoffs while dropping 40 every night, but this is hard to imagine for the one reason that is fatigue. Harden has no help around him at the moment and these heavy minutes will way on any player. Harden takes an unconventional amount of three-pointers every game. These shots weigh heavy on a players league and can result in a player burning out.
I'm rooting for James Harden to continue his tear on the NBA as much as the next guy, but I've always been a realist. Realistically I've seen Harden burn out too many times, especially in the playoffs, to put my money on him Continuing this dominance.
