Houston Rockets: James Harden off to a great start in February

The two-time reigning Player of the Month has started off February with a bang for the Houston Rockets. His play on both ends of the court was incredible in a win last night.

The Beard is off to an incredible start. James Harden started his February strong with one of his best games of the year for the Houston Rockets. He continued a string of great games against the Utah Jazz and led the way as the Houston won 125-98.

Harden went off last night on both ends of the court. He dropped a casual 43 points on 12/22 shooting to go along with 12 rebounds and 5 assists. Oh yeah, and he also had 6 steals and 4 blocks. He showed off his defensive ability against the Jazz, something the internet doesn’t want to see.

When Harden is locked in on defense as well as offense like he was last night, the Rockets are nearly unstoppable. They held the Jazz to 98 points at home and Harden led the way with his defending. He was one block away from the highest scoring 5×5 (5 points/rebounds/assists/blocks/steals) in NBA history.

Harden on falling one blocked shot short of the top-scoring 5×5 game in NBA history: "Any taller and I could have got another block. I was just trying to be active and create some opportunities with our defense. Everybody was on the same page tonight. It felt pretty good."

— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) February 3, 2019

James Harden also got to add a few more highlights on one of his favorite players to go to work against: Ricky Rubio.

Continued dominance against Ricky Rubio

James Harden has always been able to get the best of Ricky Rubio since he was playing for Minnesota. Generally a pretty solid defender, Rubio has more trouble than most against the Beard, and last night was no exception.

Harden had quite a nice highlight against him early in the first quarter last night, making Rubio stumble:

https://twitter.com/houstonrockets/status/1091883409062785025?s=21

The continued dominance over Ricky Rubio over the years has been interesting to see. He missed the playoff series against the Rockets last year, so you have to wonder if even more highlights would have occured.

For more highlights, check out the thread below this tweet:

How James Harden feels when he sees Ricky Rubio on him. pic.twitter.com/RP8jllU9f0

— Space City Scoop (@SpaceCity_Scoop) February 3, 2019

It was a fantastic win for the Rockets last night, one they desperately needed. Can they continue to get victories and climb in the standings?