James Harden’s 43-point triple-double against the Grizzlies last night was amazing in many ways.
My favorite: He made just eight shots.
Nobody had ever scored more than 40 points with so few makes.
Of course Harden was the one to accomplish this feat. He has scored 44, 43, 41 and 41 points on 10 made shots. He has scored 45, 45, 45, 43, 41 and 41 points on 11 made shots. Scoring 43 on eight made shots wasn’t a huge leap.
In all, Harden has scored more than 40 points on fewer than a dozen made shots 11 times. That’s more than twice as often as anyone else in NBA history. Here’s everyone to do it multiple times:
How does Harden do it?
He’s an excellent 3-point shooter. He made 6-of-12 from beyond the arc last night.
And he’s even better at drawing fouls. He shot 21-of-27 on free throws last night.
It’s not always pretty, but it’s darn impressive in its own way.
