Houston Rockets superstar James Harden has had an unbelievable start scoring the basketball in the 2019-20 NBA regular season that a 28-point outing seems rather pedestrian by his standards.
The San Antonio Spurs made sure Harden worked hard for each of those 28 points in their match on Monday night, limiting the bearded guard to just 10-of-29 shooting from the field and just 4-for-13 from distance.
Harden, who had to deal with multiple defensive coverages all night long against the Spurs' defensive-minded guards, said his confidence never wavered despite his poor start.
“My confidence is never gone. No matter if I go 0-for-20 or whatever. Like I'm going to always shoot the basketball and be aggressive,” Harden said, per Salman Ali.
Down as much as 25 points in the first two quarters, Houston pulled out all the stops in the end game to come up with a come-from-behind 109-107 win and record their biggest comeback in franchise history. Harden and fellow superstar Russell Westbrook conspired in the final 24 minutes, while the team's defense only allowed the Spurs to score 35 points in the second half after giving up 72 in the first.
Harden also credited the rest of the team for their collective effort on defense in the final two periods.
“Our intensity defensively. They were just getting a lot of easy baskets from the beginning of the game. Defensively in that 2nd half, we were a complete opposite team,” Harden added.
Apart from Westbrook's team-high 31 points, the Rockets also received solid contribution from Clint Capela, who had 15 points and 15 boards. Meanwhile, Ben McLemore continues his career resurgence this year by pitching in 17 markers built around four makes from downtown.
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