Over the past few seasons, Houston Rockets guard James Harden has proven himself as one of the most prolific scorers in NBA history.
Part of the reason why Harden is seen as such a talented scorer is because he goes through stretches where he is even more elite than usual. The most prevalent of those stretches came in January of last season, as Harden posted what was possibly the best scoring stretch by one player in league history.
Just look at this stretch from January 2 to January 29 last season: Harden scored at least 32 points each night of the month, shot a very efficient field goal percentage, and had games where he went off for 57, 58 and 61 points.
The month of January completely fits into Harden's mind-blowing 32-game streak of scoring at least 30 points, a stint that spanned from December 13 to February 21. Streaks like this are why Harden is in a league of his own when it comes to guards in fantasy basketball. Over the last 15 years, no player had a 30 points per game streak longer than Harden's.
While the month of January is clearly the most dominant month of scoring that Harden has ever had, the stretch he had from Dec. 15 to Jan. 23 should not be ignored.
The Beard scored 856 total points in those games, averaging 42.8 over that stretch. Wilt Chamberlain is the only player in NBA history to average more points in a 20-game stretch than Harden did in that five-week period.
There is one main reason that Harden was able to score this many points so fast: efficiency. During this stretch, Harden shot an unbelievable 53.9 percent from the field, which is even more impressive considering that the superstar shot the ball more than 15 times a game over that stretch.
Harden seemed like a video game cheat code during over the extended holiday season. He had limitless range from the three-point range, and used shiftiness off the dribble to blow by defenders for easy buckets or trips to the free-throw line.
Those trips to the charity stripe are where Harden thrived. In the month of January, the worst single-game percentage that Harden posted from the free-throw line was an astounding 80 percent. Averaging close to 90 percent shooting from the line in the first month of 2019, Harden posted a perfect free throw percentage in three games in January.
Harden gained a huge chunk of points off a common basketball move that should basically be renamed “The Harden”: the step-back three. With that unique ability to gain separation from his defender, Harden is not even phased by the few feet he has to move back by conducting the step-back.
The scariest part of this historic scoring stretch is that it appears that Harden has only gotten better this offseason. Just the idea that the play in January is not even Harden at his best is absurd to think about.
Harden's highlights have most likely been prevalent on your Instagram and Twitter feeds. The Rockets guard has been lighting up accomplished NBA defenders, and it looks like Harden has added more moves to his arsenal, with the most fascinating a step-back that ends in one-legged jumper, a la recently-retired NBA legend Dirk Nowitzki.
The only player who looks like he could have a better scoring month than Harden's January 2019 is the man himself. With all the work he's put in this offseason, perhaps a 40-point consecutive game scoring streak is in order for the upcoming season.
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