On an emotional night, Brooklyn star James Harden received a touching tribute video, cheers, and even some boos during his first return visit to Toyota Center since being traded from the Houston Rockets.
Naturally, of course, he also brought his new team a win. In Wednesday’s 132-114 victory (box score), the Nets (24-13) won for the 10th time in 11 games, while Houston (11-23) suffered a 13th straight loss to match Harden’s jersey number — which will one day be retired to the rafters.
The crew led by Harden (29 points, 14 assists, 10 rebounds) and Kyrie Irving (24 points) simply had too much for the Rockets, who were without star center Christian Wood and only had eight active players.
Nonetheless, Houston’s available players didn’t go down without a fight. Veteran guards John Wall (36) and Victor Oladipo (33) each scored season-high point totals as Houston largely stayed competitive. The relationship between Wall and Harden appeared to be strained, at times, on Harden’s way out of town, and Wall clearly wanted to give it everything he had in a nationally televised game against his former co-star.
When the Rockets return from the All-Star break on Thursday, March 11, in Sacramento, they expect to have reinforcements. In addition to potentially having injured players such as Wood, Eric Gordon, and Danuel House Jr. back, Houston also expects young prospects Kevin Porter Jr. and KJ Martin to have returned from their G League assignments.
That’s why players and coaches around the Rockets are choosing to stay optimistic, despite heading into the break with the NBA’s third-worst record and the second-worst mark in the Western Conference. See below for Wednesday’s postgame reaction from Toyota Center.
