While the Houston Rockets are reportedly opening up the search for James Harden trade partners beyond Philadelphia and Brooklyn, the former MVP is still in the Rockets’ preseason lineup and is unsurprisingly putting up numbers in limited minutes.
In a 128-106 win over the San Antonio Spurs at the Toyota Center on Thursday night, Harden scored 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting, including 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, with 9 assists, 7 rebounds and 5 turnovers in 20 minutes.
New Rockets big man Christian Wood led the team in both scoring and rebounding with 27 points and 10 boards. And Eric Gordon added 23. The Rockets’ starting 5 was tremendously effective overall, with each player recording a plus-minus of +22 or higher.
Wood was so impressive, in fact, that play-by-play Bill Worrell openly asked “who needs James Harden” early in the first quarter.
"Who needs James Harden?"
Rockets announcer really said this 😳 pic.twitter.com/QDhDHpRtwE
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 18, 2020
