James Harden and Russell Westbrook are having a very good first season as teammates in the Houston Rockets. The Beard and Brodie have learned how to play together despite having very similar styles of play.
Right now the Rockets are 5th in the Western Conference with a 34-20 record, but they’ve earned some big wins in the past couple of weeks.
That’s mostly because of Harden and Westbrook, who have shared the leading role of the team. You can see the change of mentality of these two, as they’re focused on winning the championship regardless of the sacrifices they have to make.
During a recent interview with GQ, the duo discussed several topics, including what they believed was the last piece they needed to win the title. Harden’s response was very clear, demonstrating they only have one goal.
“We haven’t been healthy yet, but we’re confident that once we get healthy and we put it together, it’s going to be pretty tough to beat us. Individually we’ve accomplished so much, broken so many records that are going to last forever. We’re not worried about the individual accomplishments. We want to do whatever it takes to win games. You know what I’m saying? Not necessarily me throwing 40 up or him getting a triple-double. Like, shit, that don’t matter. But right now we got so many guys that are out that we gotta pick up the slack. And once we get a full roster, we don’t have to do as much.”
Even after they made the decision to not use a proper center, it doesn’t seem like the Rockets are really concerned about that. These two have shown they can be great together and that seems to be enough for Mike D’Antoni and company.
Harden is averaging 35.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 7.3 assists per outing while shooting 43.7% from the field and 35.8% from deep. Russ is also putting good numbers on the sheets with his 27.2 points, 8 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game. Westbrook shoots 46.3% from the field and 23.8% from beyond the arc.
