Sports
James Harden currently ranks fourth on the all-time list for the most 50-point games, which is quite logical. He has been arguably the NBA’s most prolific one-on-one scorer for over a decade. With three scoring titles to his name, these are exactly the characteristics one would expect from a player who can score 50 points.
What’s somewhat more intriguing, however, is that all 23 of his 50-point games were achieved while playing for the Houston Rockets, until Wednesday night.
He earned Sixth Man of the Year honors with the Oklahoma City Thunder, but never managed to score 50 points in a game during his time ther. The Brooklyn Nets traded away seven years’ worth of first-round picks to acquire him but also did not see him reach a 50-point performance. Even under Daryl Morey, Harden’s former general manager in Houston with the Philadelphia 76ers, they could not extract a 50-point effort from him.
However, now it seems that the Los Angeles Clippers can claim they have accomplished this feat.On Wednesday night, those Clippers—who had lost six out of thier last seven games leading into this matchup—needed an offensive surge to overcome the challenge posed by the Detroit Pistons, especially with Kawhi Leonard unavailable.Harden delivered just that by scoring exactly 50 points, marking his return to this milestone since December of 2019 adn achieving it for the twenty-fourth time overall as he helped lead them to victory at a score of 123-115.
In typical Harden style, all his points came from free throws (16), inside shots (16), or three-pointers (18). This was an essential performance for the Clippers as they strive to regain their position among the top six teams in the Western Conference.
