James Harden pleasantly surprised the Houston Rockets coaching staff by showing no signs of rust as a full participant in Thursday’s practice, his first time since arriving at the NBA’s Walt Disney World Resort campus five days after the team flew to Orlando, Florida.
“It looked good,” said Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni. “It was probably rusty for about 30 seconds, and then it came back.”
Harden, who cited “some family problems” as the reason for his late arrival, said it was the first time he had played 5v5 in more than a month. Teammate Ben McLemore said Harden looked like the “same old James” during the team’s scrimmage.
“I think the world knows it, no matter what is happening, James Harden loves to play,” said Harden, who averages 34.4 points per game and is a virtual padlock to claim his third consecutive NBA title. “He is a competitor, so today in practice we look for him. We played a couple of quarters and we tried hard, and I am talking a lot about trash as always, just to motivate the guys and keep pushing.”
D’Antoni anticipated facilitating Harden’s practice after a layoff of more than four months. But Harden told D’Antoni that he believed he was ready to fully participate immediately.
“I thought we would have to increase it a little bit, but he’s been working hard before we got here,” said D’Antoni. “I didn’t see any difference at all. Now, we’ll see [Friday]. If he’s sore or something else, then maybe we’ll push him away, but right now he’s completely bowed. It looks like it’s ready to go. “
The Rockets are still awaiting the arrival of Russell Westbrook, their other perennial All-Star guard, and the recent addition of Luc Mbah to Moute. Westbrook announced this week that he tested positive for COVID-19 before the Rockets left for Orlando.
“Once we get Russ back and have our full roster healthy and get in the shape we need to be in, we can compete with anyone,” said Harden.
Harden plans to participate in the Rockets’ scrimmages in preparation for the eight-game sowing schedule. However, he acknowledged that his goal for the Rockets is to catch up when the playoffs begin next month.
Houston is tied with the Oklahoma City Thunder for fifth place in the Western Conference standings with a 40-24 record, one game behind the Utah Jazz. Harden indicated that the Rockets would treat the planting schedule as something of an adjustment period, noting that there was no such thing as a home court advantage in the bubble atmosphere.
“We have no fans, so it’s you against us and we will have to figure it out,” Harden said. “If you’re a fourth seed, fifth seed, sixth seed, it doesn’t really matter. For us, it’s about staying in shape and making sure our offense and defense are crisp and we’re all on the same line.” We will play with anyone. “
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