Making history is not synonymous with being happy . At least in the case of James Harden . After scoring 60 points in just 31 minutes of play , he sat on the bench and did not appear on the court in the last quarter of his team's game, Houston, against Atlanta . Questioned later by journalists, the tone and content were surprising.

"I do not have to explain anything , not even of my individual brands, which are in second place, much less to offer the teammates who less play the opportunity to have more minutes," he said at the end of a game resolved in a resounding 158 111 for the Rockets.

What Harden made very clear with his contribution is that he is the undisputed leading scorer of the league, which closed a spectacular month of November and is the highest contender to take the prize at the Western Conference, in close fight with Luka Doncic and LeBron James Harden joined Klay Thompson and Kobe Bryant this morning as the only professionals who scored 60 points in just three quarters of a game in the last 25 seasons.

"It's not about reaching that mark, but the way it does, simply, something incredible," said Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni . Harden went to the bench when the Rockets concluded the third period with a partial 127-73 leaving the game sentenced. He did so after scoring 16 of 24 field shots, including 8 of 14 triples , and 20 of 23 in free throws. His 24 field shots are the lowest in a 60-point game in NBA history.

It was Harden's fourth 60-point game in his career, tying with Michael Jordan in third place in NBA history, only behind Kobe Bryant (six) and Wilt Chamberlain (32). Harden is the only active player who has scored 60 points more than once. But as usual, he was not interested in talking about reaching 60 points while spending an entire room on the bench, and he did admit that he tried to "have fun" with the fans in terms of the expression he put when he was shown on the video screen that they had missed two points to tie their best mark.

"Yes, I was playing a little with the fans, but I honestly didn't know," Harden said. "But we played great basketball in the first three quarters, which allowed us to offer the opportunity for other teammates to have more minutes ." Although there were some songs of "Harden! Harden!" In the middle of the last quarter by fans waiting to see him enter the game to make history, D'Antoni fulfilled the desire of the team superstar and kept him on the bench.

A whole respite for the Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce , who acknowledged that nothing they tried to control Harden worked. "We tried to do what we have to do against James (Harden), which is to place the greatest number of players to prevent him from throwing in the basket," Pierce explained. "We tried to put him under pressure. Simply, nothing we did affected him."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • sports
  • NBA

NBA41 Doncic points to close a week of MVP

NBA 2019 - 2020The unprecedented and worrying situation of Pau Gasol: "We had him, he is very disappointing"

NBA 2019 - 2020 Explosion, failure and exile: Carmelo Anthony's last train