James Harden ended the calendar year of 2016 in spectacular fashion, achieving a statistical feat no one in NBA history had ever attained.
We all knew James Harden was bound to put up some ridiculous numbers this season when the Houston Rockets announced the hiring of Mike D’Antoni as head coach this summer.
But I am not sure even the most optimistic of Harden believers thought he could deliver something that no one — not even Wilt Chamberlain, the holder of all mind-blowing volume-induced stats — has ever achieved.
The night was New Year’s Eve 2016 and the surging Rockets hosted the injury-riddled New York Knicks at the comfy confines of the Toyota Center.
Like a shark smelling blood in the water, the Beard pounced on the undersized backcourt of Derrick Rose and Brandon Jennings — nailing flat-footed 3s after flat-footed 3s over his diminutive counterparts.
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When Knicks head coach Jeff Hornacek decided to go with the lankier, more athletic Justin Holiday, the league’s leader in assists dissected him by attacking the rim repeatedly as the 6’7″ swingman unwisely pressured up on him.
To its credit, New York remained scrappy throughout the contest and put up a valiant effort despite being short-handed. What they did in the grand scheme of things, though, was help keep the game just close enough for Harden to make history.
By the end of the night, just hours before the clock turned midnight and the calendar year turned over, the former Sixth Man of the Year had dropped an unfathomable 53-point, 16-rebound and 17-assist masterpiece — en route to becoming the first person ever to score 50-plus points while grabbing more than 15 rebounds and dishing out at least 15 assists in a single game.
James Harden (@Rockets) is the first player in NBA history with 50 points, 15 rebounds, 15 assists in a game (via @EliasSports)
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 1, 2017
(Note: Chamberlain fell one assist shy of achieving said mark on March 18, 1968, when he poured in 53 points, grabbed 32 rebounds, but dished out just 14 assists).
Overall, the performance ranks as the 24th-most impressive single game outing since the 1983-84 season, according to Basketball-Reference’s game score measure.
However, Harden’s historic night was probably somewhat underrated by the stat due his eight turnovers, while failing to accumulate a steal or a block.
For reference, Michael Jordan achieved the top game score mark of all-time by pouring in 69 points, grabbing 18 rebounds and dishing out six assists, while still finding time to swipe away four steals and a block. He also only committed two turnovers.
Nonetheless, when you’re going for 50-15-15, I don’t care if Harden is a turnstile on D (which he hasn’t been thus far this season) or if he happens to turnover the ball a handful of times, as it just comes with the territory of being a ball-dominant high pick-and-roll operator.
What is even more mind-boggling, is that when taking into account the eight assists which led to 3s, Harden had a hand in 95 — yes, 95 — points last night!
James Harden accounted for 95 points last night (points + assist pts). The only time a player tallied more? Wilt's 100-pt game, per Elias.
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) January 1, 2017
From the ridiculous step-back 3s to his shimmy-shake celebration afterwards, we might just have experienced the James Harden’s signature performance — the contest we look back 15 years from now and say, “Man, the Beard was a bad man.”
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What’s most telling from this game is, in every other year, if a superstar averaging more than 28 points, eight rebounds and 12 assists per game experiences an out-of-body epiphany such as Harden did last night, most would immediately hand him the MVP award.
This year, however, with his former teammate averaging an Oscar Robertson carbon copy 30-10-10 triple-double, and recording the third-fastest triple double in NBA history on the same night no less, I find myself switching my MVP vote nearly every other day.
New Year’s Eve 2017 encapsulated what a truly special season it has been thus far.
With Harden going off and Westbrook doing his thing, Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s ridiculous performance, where he became only the second player in NBA history (Julius Erving being the other) to drop 35 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, seven blocks (!!!), and two steals, was swept under the rug.
And, oh by the way, point-LeBron James also led a Kyrie Irving-less Cavs team to an impressive wire-to-wire road win against the Hornets.
Next: Kyrie Irving: The Spectacularly Overrated
This season is shaping up to be the most impressive statistical year, on an individual basis, since perhaps 2005-06, and rivaling the signature seasons of 1989-90 and 1961-62 in eras past.