One night after James Harden struggled to get anything going in a loss to his old team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, ‘The Beard’ came out and snapped against a Western Conference rival.
Harden exploded for his third triple-double of the season against the Portland Trail Blazers in a 126-109 home victory. In 32 minutes of action, Harden scored 26 points on the night on 7-17 shooting including going 9-11 from the free throw line. Harden also handed out 14 assists and grabbed 12 rebounds on the night. For the second game in a row, the entire Blazers starting five scored in double figures and they even got 16 points from Eric Gordon off the bench.
For the Blazers, C.J. McCollum led the way with 26 points. Moe Harkless scored 19 points and Damian Lillard put up 18 points of his own.
Check out the higlights from Harden below.
James continues to rip up the NBA this season. As one of the leading MVP candidates, Harden is averaging 28.7 points per game, 12.6 assists per game and 7.8 rebounds per game with a 30.30 PER. Harden ranks at the top in the NBA in assists per game and he also ranks in the top five in points per game behind on DeMar DeRozan, Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard.
