Harden's streak of 30-point games ends at 32 while Lakers' struggles continue

James Harden scored 28 points, ending his 32-game streak with at least 30, and the Houston Rockets beat the Atlanta Hawks 119-111 on Monday night. Houston overcame a career-high eight three-pointers from Hawks rookie Trae Young, who put up 36 points.

Harden returned after missing Saturday’s win over Golden State with a neck injury. His run of games with 30 or more points was the second-longest in NBA history behind a 65-game streak by Wilt Chamberlain. Harden, who said he was still bothered by the neck problem Monday morning, missed all 10 three-pointers he attempted. He got to 28 points with 23.3 seconds left and had the ball on Houston’s last possession but did not attempt a shot from half court with the game in hand.

Harden last came up short of 30 points in a 11 December win over Portland, when he had 29. During the streak, he scored 50 or more points four times, including a career-high 61 in a win at the Knicks in late January.

“I don’t care. We won,” Harden said after the game. “Made shots, missed shots, we won the game. That streak was great, but I was just doing it because that’s what we had to do in order to keep our heads above water. Now, we get our full roster back. You look at the stat line, and we had multiple guys in double figures, which is great to see. Hopefully, we can keep that up.”

Elsewhere, Mike Conley had 30 points, including key free throws in the final minute, Jonas Valanciunas finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds, and Memphis put another dent in Los Angeles’ playoff hopes. LeBron James had 24 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists but made only eight of 23 shots. Brandon Ingram led the Lakers with 32 points, and Kyle Kuzma finished with 22 as Los Angeles lost their fourth game out of the last five. The Lakers are now three games outside the playoffs and James said his teammates should not be put off by the pressure of making the playoffs.

“Like, seriously, if you’re distracted by playoff pushes out of all the stuff that’s been talked about this year, nah,” James said after the game. “Just come and do your job. We do our job at a high level and that’s not a distraction. That’s what you want. That’s what you want every game. You want to feel like you’re fighting for something.”

Meanwhile, Karl-Anthony Towns had 34 points and 21 rebounds in his return from a car crash he said he was lucky to survive. Towns’s contribution helped Minnesota hold off Sacramento.

source: theguardian.com