James Harden is on course to do something not even the great Michael Jordan achieved in his illustrious NBA career.
The Houston Rockets shooting guard has been the top scorer in the league for the past two seasons and has started this one in sensational form.
Harden is averaging an astonishing 38.3 points per game. The last time anyone came close to those kinds of numbers was when Jordan led the league with 37.1 in 1986-87.
And you have to go all the way back to 1962-63 to find anyone better when the great Wilt Chamberlain averaged 44.8 a year after he averaged 50.4.
Harden’s scoring this season becomes all the more remarkable when you consider teams are putting two defenders on him most of the time.
He said: “It’s been like that the whole season. They’ve been running double teams on me. I’ve never seen anything like that.”
The Rockets have won 11 and lost five this season and host the Dallas Mavericks (10-5) tonight, with Harden saying squad depth is helping them through an injury crisis.
“This first 16 games, we’ve had six guys out. But we have a very good team – one guy goes down and the next guy steps up, and we’re ready to go again on Sunday.”
Lu: My Kind Of Town
Great Britain star Luol Deng was honoured by the Bulls last week when they paid a video tribute to him during their game against Detroit.
Deng, who spent 10 of his 15 seasons in Chicago and retired this year, said: “Chicago means a lot to me, coming here as a young man of 19.
"I lived in Chicago longer than anywhere else in the world. When you go somewhere else, you start to realise not every city is like Chicago.”
Watch out for: Marvin Bagley
The second overall pick in the 2018 draft, Bagley released his latest hip-hop album in August, but it is his team-leading 10 rebounds per game plus 14 points per game that the Kings are excited about.
Coming up on UK primetime
Dallas @ Houston, Sky Sports Arena, Sunday 24th November, 8:30pm
Denver @ Sacramento, Sky Sports Arena, Saturday 30th November, 10pm
