James Harden on the Thunder without Kevin Durant: 'It's a one-man show'
Russell Westbrook and James Harden are in pretty similar positions
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1 min read
A few days after Serge Ibaka returned to Chesapeake Energy Arena, where he had a career night and hit the winner, the 6-5 Oklahoma City Thunder will host another old friend Wednesday. With the Houston Rockets coming to town, James Harden will face his former team for the first time since Kevin Durant left in free agency. When Harden looks at Oklahoma City now, he sees what the rest of us do: Russell Westbrook on a rampage.
"It's Russ," Harden said, via Erik Horne of the Oklahoman. "It's Russ, and it's a one-man show."
For those who loved watching the Thunder when Durant, Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka were together, this description is a bit of a bummer. It's not exactly inaccurate, though. While Oklahoma City has other productive players, like Steven Adams, Victor Oladipo and Andre Roberson, its offense is dependent on Westbrook. The Thunder have been 20.2 points per 100 possessions worse on offense when he's on the bench.
Harden, by the way, should know a one-man show when he sees one. His situation in Houston isn't all that different from Westbrook's in OKC -- the Rockets have been an almost unfathomable 30.1 points per 100 possessions worse on offense when he's on the bench. More comparison here:
| PPG | APG | RPG | MPG | Usage rate | True shooting percentage | |
| James Harden | 30.3 | 12.6 | 7.9 | 37.3 | 35.5 | 65.0 |
| Russell Westbrook | 32.0 | 9.9 | 9.7 | 34.3 | 41.7 | 56.0 |
These are the two players who have to do more heavy lifting on a nightly basis than any other team in the NBA. Their teams rely on them to make something happen on pretty much every possession, and they have the ultimate green light when it comes to creating for themselves. Harden has done it more efficiently, but Westbrook is almost averaging a triple-double. Both shows are well worth watching.
