James Harden Vows He’ll Shave Beard if Houston Rockets Miss Playoffs

James Harden has been the only constant in an inconsistent Houston Rockets season and now he’s making a bold vow.

The past four games for the Houston Rockets are the perfect microcosm of the Rockets season, two wins versus the Eastern Conference’s best sandwiching two losses versus teams who’ve been sputtering.

The 20 point come back effort versus the Cavaliers on the road showed how much resilience the Rockets have and how versatile they are. The win over the Raptors showcased James Harden posting a triple-double to register the win.

Then the team follows those two winning efforts with losses to Indy (with the Rockets being their sole win in the past 4 games) and the Bulls who’ve ironically only beaten the Pacers and Rockets in their last 6 games.

What makes this last lost particularly deflating is the Rockets and Harden once again failed to capitalize on an opportunity to move up the playoff ladder and worse the loss to the Bulls sends them plummeting off the ladder altogether. Now they rank 9th and face an uphill battle with only 6 games remaining.

James Harden however is determined that Houston will get into the post season and his Rockets will play spoiler once there. He’s so committed he’s even vowed he’ll shave his famous beard if the team fails to meet his claim.

Beardless James Harden! Do you think the result woulld be like when Delilah shaved Samson's locks? #BeardlessHarden pic.twitter.com/3338a5PVfD

— Tamberlyn's Tip-Off (@TTOTambz) April 1, 2015

Just like many have doubted the Rockets will make the playoffs Harden suggesting he’ll cut off his beard has many looking at the biblical story of Samson and Delilah. In that case Delilah cut off the brawny Samson’s locks rendering him weak.

Asked about this vow, Clutch City fans had different takes on the situation. Some were worried if the team fails to make the post season Harden cutting off his beard could work exactly like what happened in the above bible passage. Those freaked out Rockets fans are worried he could lose his scoring prowess and were seen wandering the streets not knowing what to do with the fake beards they sport for home games at the Toyota Center. It’s hard to blame those fans given this season began with fans, analysts and experts alike all predicting the Rockets would improve upon last season.

Rockets are giving away James Harden "Weird Beards" to the first 15,000 fans tonight, via @Trolli_USA. pic.twitter.com/Ew153wPcWP

— ClutchFans (@clutchfans) March 16, 2016

Others felt this was exactly the type of bold claim as a leader that Harden should make in order to show how far he’s willing to go to lead his team. With Dwight Howard holding back his disenchantment over not getting enough touches or playing time during clutch situations in game this type of vow was exactly what the team needed.

NBA TV analyst Steve Smith was at a loss pondering if he now needs to change Harden’s nickname “The Barber” in his wildly popular Smitty’s Top 5 Under the Rim segment.

Again with just 6 games remaining on the outside of the playoff picture looking in the Rockets backs are against the wall. Next up are the Thunder followed by five easier contests (which is a bit of an oxymoron given how the Rockets have played easier teams this year).

One thing is certain unless the Rockets can string together a run of victories versus lower seeded teams they won’t be in the post season and that will mean we’ll finally see what a grown up James Harden looks like clean shaven.

Who knows what new hair style or facial hair the top Rockets player will sport should he be forced into this scenario?

One thing I do know: This entire story is phony. We just thought we’d share a little fun with you.

Happy April Fools day from all of us at Space City Scoop!

Here’s to “the Beard” finding a way to encourage his teammates and get the team into the post season.

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