On Tuesday night, the Houston Rockets beat the Denver Nuggets 130-104. Furthermore, James Harden had 35 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the floor.
While the Nuggets double-teamed Harden a majority of the game, it didn’t seem to accomplish much. Now, Harden realizes while frustrating at times; it’s a sign that he’s a dangerous player to leave guarded by just one man.
James Harden agreed that teams deciding that he needs to be double-teamed, often in areas of the floor that are virtually unprecedented for #NBA defenses, is a compliment of him. https://t.co/inomq049v7
— ESPN5 (@Sports5PH) January 1, 2020
Here’s what the Denver Nuggets’ head coach Mike Malone says of his team double-teaming Harden. Sometimes as far as 40-feet from the basket, two players would guard Harden.
“I know it’s probably frustrating for him,” Malone said before Tuesday night’s game at the Toyota Center. “But he should take it as a sign of huge respect because people are game planning to get the ball out of the [hands] of the best scorer in recent memory.”
Next, Harden says that it’s a sign of respect and his ability.
“Me and Coach [Mike] D’Antoni talk about it all the time. That means that I’m doing something right, [that] I’m pretty good.”
Perhaps all of this strategy stemmed from Houston’s 105-95 road loss to the Nuggets on November 20th. That game was their lowest-scoring of the season thus far.
Right now, the Rockets are 23-11 and one of the most feared teams in the league when they get it rolling like they did on Tuesday night.
