The Brooklyn Nets defeated the San Antonio Spurs Monday night 124-113 in overtime, and James Harden led the way while accomplishing something not done in the league in over four decades. Kyrie Irving unsurprisingly was left impressed with his Nets teammate’s remarkable night on the court.
Harden finished Monday’s victory over the Spurs with 30 points, 14 rebounds and 15 assists for yet another triple-double. What made the one-time MVP’s night that much more impressive — and made for a historic game — is how he did not register one turnover while putting up a triple-double.
“Honestly, I just try to find ways to impact the game and not just scoring the basketball. We have a number of guys that can put the ball in the basket. Just being a distributor of getting guys shots, getting guys easy buckets,” Harden said after the win, via ESPN. “I feel like it’s my job. Just playing the game right way, not forcing anything, trying to make the right play, trying to get guys shots. That’s kind of my mindset every single game and it’s been working.”
After the game, Irving bluntly made it clear that Harden’s heroics Monday night are merely a harbinger of things to come.
"When James is being James," Irving said, per ESPN, "it makes our job a lot easier. And so we got to get used to somebody special like that, things like that in terms of breaking records. So, I can't wait to be right alongside of him, my name in Nets history -- and all the guys on our team where we're just breaking records as a team, and then individually we're stacking up with some of the best to ever play."
Even with Kevin Durant sidelined until at least after the upcoming All-Star Break, the Nets (23-13) are rolling with with only two-thirds of their Big Three, winning nine of their past 10 games.
What’s more, the Nets managed to put an end to an ugly losing streak with Monday’s win in San Antonio.
When the Nets acquired Harden in a blockbuster deal with the Houston Rockets earlier this season, there was no shortage of speculation concerning who his ball-dominant style of play would mesh with the similarly styled offensive approaches of Durant and Irving.
However, Harden has not only settled into his new role with the Nets, he has wildly exceeded expectations.
As Harden, Durant and Irving continue to build chemistry on the court — when all three actually have had the opportunity to play with one another — the trio is beginning to understand how the Nets are capable of running roughshod over the competition and dominate the NBA landscape.
That will be all the more easy to accomplish if Harden keeps putting up outstanding performances like he did on Monday night.
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