3. How long can James Harden keep up this level of play?
Averaging 36.7 points per game on 44 percent shooting, James Harden is having an historic year that started when the Rockets dipped below .500 earlier in the season. He’s confirmed that he’s going for his second straight MVP award and recently capped off a 32-game streak of 30 points or more.
But the obvious question is whether or not the Rockets are exhausting him with this usage. While his numbers are ridiculously efficient, he’s averaging 37.5 minutes per game. Harden has acknowledged that his team needs his production for every minute he’s out there, and it shows, given that his points per game and minutes per game numbers are nearly identical.
There have been noticeable improvements in Harden’s endurance and head coach Mike D’Antoni speaks often about how he hates coming out of the game for rest, but one has to wonder whether or not Harden’s productivity will decrease after a regular season like this.
Harden on winning the MVP again: “I need it. I need it for sure. And I’m getting it”
— Will Gottlieb (@Will_Gottlieb) January 2, 2019
It’s tough to imagine that Harden will score less than 25 points in a game for the remainder of the year given the volume of free throws he shoots. But as we saw in last year’s playoffs, droughts came for Houston at very inopportune times, so the demand for him to maintain this level of productivity is arguably even higher than before.