The 76ers finally had James Harden on the lineup after the former NBA MVP missed 14 games due to an injury.
His return was marked with a double overtime loss against the Rockets (132-123). Harden played 38 minutes during which he scored 21 points, grabbed 4 rebounds and dished out 7 assists.
After the game he was confused with his minute restriction that Philadelphia’s head coach Doc Rivers implement, basically playing the 33-year-old shooting guard for the first time minutes of each quarter.
Via Sam DiGiovanni of ClutchPoints:
“The whole minute restriction thing was kinda weird to me,” James Harden said. “Play the first five minutes, then I come out. Then, the second quarter was kind of the same thing. Then the third quarter I come out [after] the first five minutes and don’t come back in the whole third quarter, and then I played the whole fourth quarter. I just didn’t know. I was all over the place. I’m not used to it. Not making any excuses. I gotta be better.”
This season Harden is averaging 21.9 points, 6.7 rebounds and 9.7 assists in 36.9 minutes per game.
