Houston Rockets: James Harden must produce in the playoffs

As insane of a performance James Harden has been putting on, the time has come for him to do it with the most on the line.

To suggest that James Harden has been a one-man wrecking ball so far this season may actually be an understatement.

Over his last 11 outings, the reigning MVP is averaging 41.1 points and 9.5 assists per game, having vaulted the Houston Rockets from the cellar of the Western Conference to the fourth overall seed just 3.5 games out of first place.

Harden’s backcourt mate Chris Paul has missed the last six games, and yet here are the Rockets, undefeated in those games, capped off by an incredible 20-point comeback against the Golden State Warriors Thursday night in Oracle Arena. Led by the bearded one himself, Harden dropped a 44-point triple-double and the game-winning 3-pointer with one second left in overtime.

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For all the hatred regarding the way in which Harden manufacturers his points — drawing fouls in a less than ethical way — it’s getting pretty difficult to deny what this man can do with a ball in his hands.

The endless combination of dribble moves mixed with his point guard instincts and off-the-bounce shooting is something the league has never seen in a single player before, and it’s led to the rewriting of the record book at least once a week.

Unfortunately, we’ve seen this type of story in past seasons, and it’s never ended well for Harden. Mike D’Antoni‘s system is predicated on Harden’s offensive talents having the life squeezed out of them every night, and it’s taken the Rockets to incredible heights during the regular season, but come postseason time, the accumulated wear and tear makes a clear impact on the efficiency of his scoring output.

Since the arrival of D’Antoni, Harden’s field goal shooting has dipped an average of 3.3 percentage points in the playoffs, while his outside shot has seen a similar decline as well, going from 35.7 percent to 29.4.

We all remember the infamous 39-point beatdown Houston received at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs sans Kawhi Leonard in Game 6 of the 2017 conference semifinals, where Harden mustered just 10 points on 2-of-9 shooting.

Just last season, with a berth to the NBA Finals on the line in a Game 7 at home, Harden did score 32 points but shot only 12-of-29 from the field and 2-of-13 from distance, squandering a double-digit halftime lead in the loss to Golden State (though, it’s worth noting, this was against one of the greatest teams of all time, sans Chris Paul).

Herein lies the problem with the play of James Harden.

What he does over the course of the 82-game regular season puts him among the game’s elite, but as guys like LeBron James and Kevin Durant can attest, such greatness can only push one’s legacy so far. It’s in the playoffs where you have to elevate your level of play to cement yourself among the all-time greats, something Harden has failed to do time and time again.

The narrative is played on a loop what seems like every year. Harden wows the world with his regular season output, but his underwhelming postseason play invites a wave of criticism and a rethinking of his greatness both contemporarily and historically.

His individual talent is unquestionable. While still relatively early, he’s making a pretty good case to win his second consecutive MVP, but none of it should matter until he replicates it when the games really matter. It’s what we did with LeBron, Kobe Bryant post-Shaquille O’Neal and even Michael Jordan. Like it or not, the Beard will be no exception.