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James Harden hits seven 3-pointers en route to career-high 56 points
HOUSTON -- James Harden set a career high with 56 points with a historically efficient shooting performance Sunday night in the Houston Rockets' 137-110 win over the Utah Jazz.
Harden was 19-of-25 shooting, including 7-of-8 from 3-point range, to become the first NBA player to score that many points on 25 or fewer shots since Michael Jordan's 58-point performance against the New Jersey Nets on Feb. 26, 1987. Karl Malone was the last NBA player to score that many points with a field goal percentage as high as Harden's .760, when "The Mailman" scored 61 points on 21-of-26 shooting against the Milwaukee Bucks on Jan. 27, 1990.
Harden, who also recorded 13 assists to account for a total of 91 points in the victory, shrugged off his phenomenal shooting display.
Harden's 56 points were one shy of the Rockets record set by Calvin Murphy, who poured in 57 against the Nets on March 18, 1978. Harden missed his final three shots before checking out to a standing ovation from the Toyota Center crowd with 7:32 remaining in the game, but he indicated that he didn't care about chasing the franchise scoring record.
It was the sixth 50-plus-point performance by Harden, all in the past four seasons. It was his third performance with at least 50 points and 10 assists, all coming since the start of last season, tying him with Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook for the most such outings over the past 30 seasons, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Harden, last season's MVP runner-up, had 22 points on 8-of-8 shooting in the first quarter. He hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final nine seconds of the frame and crouched for several seconds after hitting a pull-up 3 over Jazz point guard Ricky Rubio to beat the end-of-quarter buzzer.
Harden was 19-of-25 shooting, including 7-of-8 from 3-point range, to become the first NBA player to score that many points on 25 or fewer shots since Michael Jordan's 58-point performance against the New Jersey Nets on Feb. 26, 1987. Karl Malone was the last NBA player to score that many points with a field goal percentage as high as Harden's .760, when "The Mailman" scored 61 points on 21-of-26 shooting against the Milwaukee Bucks on Jan. 27, 1990.
Harden, who also recorded 13 assists to account for a total of 91 points in the victory, shrugged off his phenomenal shooting display.
Harden's 56 points were one shy of the Rockets record set by Calvin Murphy, who poured in 57 against the Nets on March 18, 1978. Harden missed his final three shots before checking out to a standing ovation from the Toyota Center crowd with 7:32 remaining in the game, but he indicated that he didn't care about chasing the franchise scoring record.
It was the sixth 50-plus-point performance by Harden, all in the past four seasons. It was his third performance with at least 50 points and 10 assists, all coming since the start of last season, tying him with Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook for the most such outings over the past 30 seasons, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Harden, last season's MVP runner-up, had 22 points on 8-of-8 shooting in the first quarter. He hit a pair of 3-pointers in the final nine seconds of the frame and crouched for several seconds after hitting a pull-up 3 over Jazz point guard Ricky Rubio to beat the end-of-quarter buzzer.