Harden's 56 points leads Rockets' Rout of Utah Jazz

Posted: November 5, 2017 -- 10:31 pm CST.

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- James Harden was sensational Sunday night. Even by his superstar standards. Harden scored a career-high 56 points on 76 percent field goal shooting (19 for 25). Harden's 56 points fell one point shy of equaling  Calvin Murphy's franchise-high 57 points. Harden's spectacular performance helped the Rockets obliterate the Utah Jazz 137-110 Sunday night in front of an announced crowd of 16,914 fans.

Calvin Murphy: "Bill, you know as well as I do, they did me a favor tonight. Don't tell me (Harden) couldn't get 2 more pts in 8 minutes."

— ClutchFans (@clutchfans) November 6, 2017

“I was? I was just shooting, I don’t know. I don’t pay too much attention to it,” Harden said. “I just try to shoot, take a couple of shots, and like I said pretty much make the right decision. Obviously, I’m going to make mistakes, but as long as I have that mindset I’ll be good.”

It's the sixth time Harden has scored 50 plus points in his career, all coming as a Rocket. No other player has more than two 50-point games in franchise history. The last time a player had at least 56 points while shooting 76.0% or better was Karl Malone with 61 points on 80.8% shooting (21-26 FGs) for Utah vs. Milwaukee on 1/27/90.  The last time a player scored at least 56 points on 25 or fewer shot attempts was Michael Jordan with 58 points on 16-of-25 shooting vs. New Jersey on 2/26/87.  Harden also had 13 assists tonight, marking his third career game with 50+ points and 10+ assists.  According to ESPN Stats & Info, that is tied with Russell Westbrook for the most by any player over the past 30 seasons.

“Well, I think you can tell just the bounce in the step and his (Harden) threes,” Mike D'Antoni said. “The last two games he’s been just going straight up and down; he’s pure. So, even when he’s taking the shot, you can say this is probably in. He’s not drifting or anything. It just means he’s strong up and down and his balance getting around people was ridiculous tonight. So he had an extra spring in his step, and maybe he’s just getting into game shape and getting going.”

Harden began the game white-hot with 22 points in the first quarter on perfect 8 for 8 shooting from the floor (4 for 4 from three-point land). Harden's 22 points guided the Rockets to a 39-28 lead after the first quarter.

“In the first quarter, it was like, ‘It’s going to be a crazy night for him.’ But that’s one of the best performances I’ve ever seen,” Eric Gordon said in the locker room after the game. “He really got it going, and everybody just followed after that.”

The Rockets made 9 three-pointers in the first quarter out of 13 attempts.

Harden cooled off (slightly) in the second quarter with just eight points; but, Eric Gordon heated up with 14 of the Rockets' 28 points in the second quarter. Gordon made 4 of his 5 three-point shot attempts.

The Rockets led the Jazz 67-49 at halftime.

Harden's third quarter was magical. Harden played the entire 12 minutes in the quarter; and, scored 2 points for each minute he played. Twenty-four points on 8 for 9 field goal shooting (2 for 2 threes and 6 for 7 free throws). Harden even made time to dish out six assists in the period, too.

24 points and 6 assists in one quarter. James Harden is a bad, bad man.

Add up the points for Harden. Fifty-four points in 30 minutes and 47 seconds of game action.

The Rockets led the Jazz 115-85 at the end of the third quarter.

The fourth quarter was a mere formality. The only drama that remained was whether or not would set the franchise's scoring record. After scoring the first two points in the fourth quarter, Harden missed his next three shot attempts before checking out of the game with 56 points.

“You have to give Houston credit. James Harden took over the game and he’s a great player and he showed why,” said Jazz head coach Quin Snyder after the game. “I was disappointed with our group and our performance. We just didn’t play tough enough. As much as anything, we made so many mental mistakes. Just breakdowns and there wasn’t the collective resolve that we need to play with. We weren’t able to stop him (Harden) with a kind of game he was having. We didn’t respond as a group.”

The Rockets improve to 8-3 this season after going 6-5 through the first 11 games last season. Utah has lost two straight games after winning three games in a row.

The Rockets' next game is Thursday night versus the Cleveland Cavaliers. Tip is set for 7 p.m.

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