James Harden’s epic night guides Rockets past Magic

On a night where the Houston Rockets were shorthanded, James Harden would find a way to have himself a game for the ages against the Orlando Magic.

In an outing where the Houston Rockets were without the services of Trevor Ariza, Eric Gordon and Chris Paul due to injury, James Harden managed to put together one of the finest performances of his career, as the six-time All-Star guard posted one of the most remarkable stat lines in the history of basketball.

The Beard became the first player in NBA history to record 60 points as part of a triple-double, en route to guiding the shorthanded Rockets to a 114-107 victory against the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night.

"“I just gave it all I had tonight,” Harden told the media after the game. “We all did. We all fought hard for 48 minutes, we got key stops when we needed to and we made big shots.”"

Harden — who played a season-high 46 minutes, scored 18 of his career-high 60 points in the fourth quarter to surpass Calvin Murphy in the Rockets franchise record books for most points scored in a single game. Murphy, whose record had stood for 40 years, was on hand at the Toyota Center to look on and give Harden a standing ovation.

"“I’ve played with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, and those guys had some pretty good performances,” Magic center Marreese Speights told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel. “But tonight I ain’t going to lie. It was crazy to be out there and [seeing him] hitting all those crazy shots.”“I was shocked to see that. He didn’t really get subbed out. It shows the growth in his game and the maturity in his game. He’s doing the right things.”"

While Speights might have been stunned to witness Harden’s 19-of-30 shooting night from the field, scoring was not the only thing that No. 13 managed to do throughout the entire night, as the league’s leading scorer showed the rest of the league exactly what he can do when head coach Mike D’Antoni provides him with the keys to run the offense.

Harden was accountable for 86 out of Houston’s 114 points, dishing out a game-high 11 assists and 10 rebounds — all while outscoring Orlando’s entire starting five by himself. The ninth-year veteran found a way to terrorize Magic defenders Mario Hezonja and Wesley Iwundu, nailing several stepback jumpers in isolation sets late, to put together yet another offensive performance for the ages and help Clutch City close out the month of January in grand fashion.

Through 42 games, Harden is currently averaging a career-high 31.6 points and 9.1 assists per game for the Rockets. He became the first player since Kobe Bryant (over a decade ago) to score at least 50 points or more in consecutive games this past December. As the man who currently has as many 50-point outings as the rest of the league this season, Harden appears to be the consensus frontrunner to take home the MVP award.

"“I have never seen a performance like that,” said Rockets forward Gerald Green to ESPN. “I caught myself just being a true fan throughout the whole game … what he did today was remarkable.”"

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Harden and the Rockets will now look to vie for their seventh win in the last eight games, as they head out on the road to face LaMarcus Aldridge and the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night.