James Harden’s woeful 13-turnover, 14-point (off of 2-for-11 shooting) performance in Houston’s 104–90 Game 5 loss to Golden State—that eliminated the Rockets—was a line he (along with his teammates, fans, and coach) would just as soon forget. Unfortunately, Harden will have all summer to try to get this bad taste out of his mouth—now that his season is done.
It was actually the second regrettable performance in the last three games for the two-time All-NBA first-team performer, who scored 17 off of 3-for-16 shooting in the Game 3 blowout loss.
The 25-year-old Harden, who finished runner-up in the MVP race and finished second in points per game (27.4), sandwiched the two poor performances around a 45-point masterpiece in Houston’s Game 4 win, but still may have trouble escaping the bad rap that comes with a poor end-of-season performance.
