Houston Rockets star guard James Harden had a tough night on Saturday against the Boston Celtics.

Harden shot just 7-of-24 from the field and committed five turnovers, though the Rockets were able to escape with a win thanks in part to the heroics of Russell Westbrook.

In fact, Harden may have provided an early omen for just how prolific Westbrook would be on Saturday, as he mistakenly passed him the ball when Westbrook was on the bench in the first quarter:

Of course, this is a rather understandable mistake from Harden, especially considering Westbrook is practically standing on the court. Russ even mouths ā€œmy badā€ after the timeout was called.

Westbrook may have bewildered Harden on this play, but there was no confusing who the best player on the floor was throughout this marquee matchup. Westbrook went nuclear on the Celtics, scoring 41 points to go along with eight rebounds, five assists and three steals. He also had a massive tip-dunk late in the fourth quarter.

ā€œThe Brodieā€ has now scored 30-plus points in each of the last three games and six of the last seven, and he seems to be thriving in the ā€œsmall ballā€ system. So do the Rockets, who have now won six straight.

ā€“

Follow ClutchPoints onĀ TwitterĀ &Ā Instagram, and like us onĀ Facebook. We can also be found on Flipboard where you can subscribe and follow us.

All of our NBA content can be found on the NBA section of the ClutchPoints home pageĀ here. For all of our college basketball content, clickĀ here.

Follow NBA games live by downloading theĀ ClutchPoints App and heading to the scores tab under the NBA section.

You can listen and subscribe to the Battle for LA podcast onĀ Apple Podcasts,Ā Spotify, andĀ Soundcloud. You can also find new episodes of Battle for LA, the ClutchPoints NBA Podcast, and Establish the Pass under theĀ Podcast tabĀ on the ClutchPoints home page.

Ā