This just in: James Harden is ridiculous. The Houston Rockets’ guard scored 60 points in a 158-111 beatdown of the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night.
Harden scored the 60 points in insanely efficient fashion: 16-of-24 on field goals, 8-of-14 on three-pointers, 20-of-23 on free throws. He also had eight assists. He did this all in just 31 minutes over three quarters, and exited with the game well out of hand after three quarters.
James Harden's 24 FG attempts mark the lowest number of FG attempts in a 60-point performance in @NBAHistory (previous lowest was Karl Malone's 61 points on 26 FG attempts in January 1990). pic.twitter.com/TwovrSfHcd
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) December 1, 2019
After Harden left the game, he looked up at the videoboard to see that he was just two points away from a new career-high, and his reaction was terrific.
https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/1200974314033631232
But it seems like a very good bet that Harden will indeed get to 62 soon with how things are trending.
The ten highest-scoring games of 2019:
1. James Harden: 61
2. James Harden: 61
3. James Harden: 60
4. Damian Lillard: 60
5. Devin Booker: 59
6. James Harden: 59
7. James Harden: 58
8. James Harden: 58
9. James Harden: 57
10. James Harden: 57— Tommy Beer (@TommyBeer) December 1, 2019
Harden joins Wilt Chamberlain as just the second player in NBA history with double-digit games of at least 55 points…
Here's the all-time leaderboard:
1. Wilt Chamberlain: 72 games with 55+ points
2. James Harden: 10 games
3. Kobe Bryant: 9 games
4. Michael Jordan: 9 games— Tommy Beer (@TommyBeer) December 1, 2019
That’s absolutely incredible production.
