In the Orlando scrimmages, it was expected that most stars would not play long, but James Harden preferred to play 35 minutes last night. Harden saw it as an opportunity to get some live action reps before the eight seeding games.
The Rockets have a great chance to move up in the stands to become a three seed at the most. The seeding games will mean a lot to them. The Rockets have made the playoffs seven years straight. It will take them to work extremely hard to finally make it to the Finals.
Here’s what Harden said, according to Alykhan Bijani of The Athletic:
“I just don’t want to play 20 minutes, in reality when the 8 games come, I’ll be playing 35-36 minutes, it’s gonna be a huge shock. I wanna prepare myself so when next week comes, I’m ready and it’s not a big shock on my legs or body.”
Harden had a big stat line in the game. He had 31 points with nine assists and eight rebounds. it appears he is serious about leading this team in the playoffs. In the offseason, the Rockets added Russell Westbrook to have an MVP backcourt. With their ability to speed up the game, they look to be a cinderella team in the restart.
