In a home game versus the in-state and division rival San Antonio Spurs, James Harden tied his personal career high and Houston Rockets franchise record with 61 points on March 22, 2019 (box score).
On that Friday one year ago, Harden scored 61 on 19-of-34 shooting (55.9%), including a staggering 9-of-13 on 3-pointers (69.2%). And his Rockets needed every bit of it to pull out the win at Toyota Center.
Harden saved his best for the biggest moments, scoring all of Houston’s points in a late 13-2 run to secure the 111-105 victory (recap).
“I was just in attack mode all night,” Harden said after the game. When legendary Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was asked postgame about strategies to slow down the NBA’s then-reigning MVP, he replied:
You think I know? If anybody knew, they would have already done it. Nobody can do it.
“I don’t know how you get any better than that,” Rockets head cach Mike D’Antoni said postgame to reporters. “Whoever was in the gym tonight got to see something they’ve never seen before.”
Harden, who also scored 61 on January 23, 2019 in New York, joined Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant, and Michael Jordan as the only players with multiple 60-point games in a single season in NBA history.
In his previous game, Harden scored 57 versus the Memphis Grizzlies, which made him just the second player in NBA history (after Chamberlain) to score at least 55 points in consecutive games.
Harden went on to finish the 2018-19 season averaging 36.1 points per game, which was the most by any NBA player in over 30 years.
