James Harden
James Harden scored 44 points and 15 assists as the Rockets beat the Warriors in overtime. In this picture, Harden #13 of the Houston Rockets plays the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado, Nov. 13, 2018. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

James Harden is going to be the talk of the NBA for a long time to come after he almost singlehandedly destroyed the Golden State Warriors at the Oracle Arena on Thursday night by leading the Houston Rockets to a 135-134 win in overtime (OT).

The reigning NBA regular season MVP is, without doubt, going to be a contender again this season after he finished the night with 44 points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists. It was the fifth straight game in which the point guard has shot over 40 points.

The game was a replay of last year’s Western Conference Finals, which the Warriors won over seven games and it looked like they were going to triumph once again as they led by 20 points at one stage. But it was not to be as Harden stepped up his game and hit a game-tying three-pointer in the final seconds to send the game into overtime.

The lead changed hands five times in OT and with just over 10 seconds remaining the game was tied at 132-132 when a horrendous call from the officials allowed the Warriors to take a two-point lead and make 132-134 with 5.5 seconds left.

Kevin Durant was clearly out of bounds when he retrieved the ball that was headed out of play and it resulted in Stephen Curry getting a bucket to give his team the lead. Harden seemed to have words with the officials about the how they could miss such a blatant decision during the ensuing time-out but did not allow it to faze him.

The 2017-18 regular season MVP stepped up when it mattered and with 5.5 seconds to go he got the ball and despite having two Warriors players – Draymond Green and Klay Thompson – in his face, he hit the three-pointer to give his team a 135-134 lead with one second remaining. Durant missed his buzzer beater after the game re-started to give the Rockets the win.

Mike D'Antoni’s team had a difficult start to the campaign and were in the bottom half of the Western Conference at the start of the campaign, but Harden has since led them on an impressive run which has seen them win 11 of their last 12 games to move into fourth place in the New Year.

Harden’s performance against the Warriors received high praise from his fellow NBA colleagues and experts with many already predicting that he will go on to win the MVP award again this season. The Rockets guard is averaging 41.1 points in his last 12 games.

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