James Harden, Just What The Hell Are You Doing On This Play?

There are two critical facts that need to be laid out in order to establish the context of the above play: 1) When this happened, the Rockets were up two with less than three minutes left in the game, and the game had just resumed after a timeout; and 2) The Rockets have yet to mention anything about Harden ingesting an exotic neurotoxin or something, so we can assume he was in fact not incapacitated by nefarious means during this play, despite the lil’ nap he took on this play.

Anyway, the Rockets won in Toronto tonight thanks to Harden’s 40 points (on 20 shots) and 14 assists. You could argue that the Rockets would never have been up two with less than three minutes left in the game in the first place without James Harden scoring all those points. You’d surely point out that Harden played 40 minutes last night and scored 36 points on the road. You could make the case that a man who scores all those dang points gets tired occasionally and deserves to take a rest now and then. These are all fair and valid points.

However, LOOK AT THAT DEFENSE LOOK AT THAT SHIT HE JUST STANDS THERE MAN.

[Sportsnet]

Contact the author at patrick.redford@deadspin.com.