James Harden had struggled with consistency when facing his former team, the Oklahoma City Thunder. The star has not fared too well since joining the Houston Rockets back in 2012, but he is on a roll this season and looks to challenge Kevin Durant for the scoring title in the NBA. The Western Conference is getting interesting and this matchup could really heat things up.
Harden was the best Sixth Man while with the Thunder, but now with the Rockets, he is "the man" next to Dwight Howard. Since getting traded, Harden has beaten the Thunder once after scoring a chareer-best 46 points back in February of last season. The team was also eliminated in the playoffs by the Oklahoma City in six games. His first matchup against the team this season featured Harden shooting a season-low 24.6 points. However, he has had a solid bounce back, shooting 48.4 percent overall since the new year.
The Rockets have won three-straight road games coming in to face their Western Conference rivals. They recently put away New Orleans 103-100 after putting together a fourth-quarter rally. The Rockets only hit four 3-points, but the team did capitalize with 16 points off turnovers.
The player who is shooting better than Harden is Durant. With Russell Westbrook, Durant is putting up an average of 34.8 points in the team's last eight games. Durant has at least 30 points in the team's last five of six games. He scored 48 points twice during that stretch, making LeBron James very jealous. Oklahoma has lost five of their last eight games, but their defense remains one of the best units as they have only allowed 38.3 points per game coming from in the paint, much thanks to Howard.
Durant and the Thunder have gotten the best of Harden over the rest year. In their first meeting this season, Durant put up 33 points and 13 rebounds. He could do the same again on Thursday.
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