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James Harden has missed the Houston Rockets' last two contests.
However, The Beard should be ready to go in their upcoming game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night:
Rockets optimistic James Harden will be ready to play in Portland on Wednesday, source said.
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) January 28, 2020
Harden sat out Houston's last couple of games due to a thigh injury. The Rockets split the two contests that the 2017-18 MVP missed.
They lost against the Denver Nuggets on the first game of a back-to-back, but bounced back on Tuesday night in a gutsy 126-117 win over the streaking Utah Jazz. What makes Houston's win over Utah more impressive is that they were also without Russell Westbrook, who was scheduled for a rest day on the tail end of the back-to-back.
With Harden, Westbrook, and also Clint Capela sitting on the sidelines, Eric Gordon took over by exploding for a career-high 50 points. He shot 16-of-22 from the field, made six 3-pointers and went 15-of-20 from the foul line. Danuel House and Austin Rivers also made solid contributions with 21 points apiece.
Prior to his injury, Harden had been struggling mightily with his shot. He had his worst game of the season last Friday, scoring a season-low 12 points while missing all his six attempts from 3-land.
Over his last nine games, the two-time scoring champion averaged “just” 27.3 points while shooting a sour 33.3 percent from the field. Over that stretch, the Rockets star went a combined 23-103 from 3-point distance (22.3 percent).
With Harden set to make his return on Wednesday, will his shooting woes continue or will he finally snap out of his funk?
