James Harden: ‘We Can Be the Last Team Standing’

With the regular season lurching towards its conclusion, Houston Rockets All-Star guard James Harden remains as confident as ever in his team’s Playoff chances.

Harden, a leading MVP candidate, says he’s a lot more focused this season, and despite the huge scoring numbers he thinks that he’s developed a much better all-around game.

The Rockets, according to their superstar guard, are good enough to win it all this year.

Per the AP:

A couple of months ago, James Harden was told by a reporter that he seemed different this season, a year in which he has gone from a great player to a front-runner for MVP, and was asked what prompted the change. […] “Focus,” Harden said simply. “Just more comfortable, knowing my teammates, being comfortable with myself on the court,” Harden said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Knowing how to get shots, knowing how to get my teammates shots, and once I feel comfortable I can worry about doing other things.”

 

This comfort level in his third season with the Rockets since a trade from Oklahoma City has helped him improve in just about every way. Harden’s averages in points (27.1 per game), rebounds (5.8), assists (7), steals (1.9) and even blocks (0.8) are all career-highs. […] “Now I’m able to go out there and dominate a game not just by scoring the basketball,” Harden said. “Whether it’s defensively, whether it’s rebounding the basketball, whether it’s getting 15 assists a night, just being able to dominate a game and figuring out a way to do it, how the flow of the game is going.”

 

Now that (Dwight) Howard is back, Harden is eager to see what Houston can do in the postseason and is confident the Rockets can go much further than last season when they were ousted by Portland in the first round. […] “The sky’s the limit for us,” Harden said. “We can be the last team standing.”