ROCKETS TOO MUCH FOR JAZZ IN GAME 2
Points, fans and critics come MVP’s way in abundance
Haters gonna hate. Harden gonna Harden. That red, black and white official Rockets T-shirt was yours for $35 on Wednesday night inside a roaring Toyota Center.
The conversation that never ends — James Harden: Love, hate or tolerate him? — was perfectly captured by those six words written with cartoon lettering inside The Beard’s super-thick beard. Haters gonna hate. Harden gonna Harden. Traffic backed up on the interstate, hours before Game 2 of a Western Con
ference first-round series against the Utah Jazz. I should have hit play on iTunes and paid tribute to a band from Seattle. Instead, I turned on the radio, wondering what the local chatter was: Rockets and the NBA playoffs or Texans’ schedule release?
The first call captured it all.
A man dug into the outside hate for pro basketball’s reigning MVP. He joked about Harden’s unique look: Santa Claus and a chef combined. He also eloquently described the Rockets’ leader shaking, baking and stirring up flailing defenders.
A few hours later, Harden’s team led Utah 27-11, The Beard already had 11 points, and the arena kept echoing, “MVP, MVP, MVP.” Then it was 118-98 Rockets in another easy blowout, with a 32-point night and triple-double for Harden and a 2-0 series lead for his soaring team.
“Just like Santa, he will deliver,” the caller said. “When you least expect it, he’ll make you a believer.”
Section 107 was almost empty, and Toyota Center was just beginning to buzz while Iman Shumpert put up pregame practice shots. Brandon Burris, 38, was already in his seat. Red Rockets hat, red Rockets shirt. Waiting and staring out at the hardwood.
Harden’s name, in general, was mentioned.
A season-long MVP debate started again.
“I think he deserves the MVP for one,” said Burris, a Northeast Houston-area resident. “It’s been a little bit of an adjustment for him, going from having to put up 60 a game and then having everybody come back that was injured. … He kept us alive while everybody was hurt.”
Burris has seen what Rockets fans have witnessed since 2012: the annual evolution of a 29year-old guard who’s become the most dangerous scorer in the sport.
What about all the outside criticism that doesn’t go away?
“They don’t appreciate what he does,” Burris said. “And to me, that’s crazy.”
Gray, black and red No. 13 T-shirts in the concourses were outnumbered only by “Run As One” giveaways. With 53 minutes until tipoff showing on the shot clock, Harden smoothly shot free throws, hung on the rim, then headed to the right corner to sink 3-pointers.
Susan Arscott’s Harden shirt was simple and direct. Harden’s face and “MVP” underneath. Enough said.
Arscott has been a Rockets fan “forever.” It began with Hakeem Olajuwon, and it’s been loyalty ever since. Seeing a playoff game in person was special for the Seabrook resident. Her thoughts on Harden? “He’s incredible,” Arscott said. “But I’m especially liking how he’s encouraging others to join in. He’s assisting. You know, a few years ago when he played, I got so angry because he held the ball. And I’d say, ‘Throw it, throw it.’ But now his play is much better.”
Arscott also captured the state of the endless Harden question.
“The other teams … are hoping he’s going to lose steam, because he has in the playoffs before,” she said. “But I have never seen him in such amazing condition. I’m hopeful.”
Red and mustard-yellow Harden T-shirts decorated lines for food, drinks and Rockets merchandise. I looked down for a second, looked back up, and watched a man in a black No. 13 jersey walk over a red-and-white circle with Clyde Drexler’s old No. 22 displayed inside.
Six minutes left in the first half. Rockets 55-33. Harden hits 23 points with a ridiculous banked 3 that had Toyota Center shouting “MVP, MVP, MVP” with loyal, local pride.
Coach Mike D’Antoni described Harden’s first quarter as “ridiculous,” then complimented his superstar by referring to him as a machine.
“There’s nothing anybody can say to get me going. I’m already going. I’ve been going like this for the last five years,” Harden said after the Rockets had outscored the Jazz by a combined 52 points in two games. “Those chants are just pretty normal. I’m focused on in-game and what I need to do and worried about being the best player on the court every night.”
Phillip Gardner, 26, was wearing a Yao Ming throwback jersey.
As soon as Harden’s name was mentioned, Gardner smiled wide.
“All the records he’s been breaking this season and him taking the team this far. He’s a phenomenal player,” said Gardner, a Cypress resident who started following the Rockets in the sixth grade.
There was pure praise from the longtime fan. There was also honesty.
“People are going to talk bad about you; people are going to talk good about you,” Gardner said. “That don’t change his game at all. Honestly, it just makes him a better person, doing what he’s doing, dropping almost 50, 40 points a night.”
It hasn’t always been this great. There have been brutal playoff letdowns, troubling no-shows and random heartbreak. Even those who love Harden say things like this.
“I really wanted (the Rockets) to trade him … at one point,” said Gardner, who watched Game 2 from Section 408. “He was kind of not really doing his thing. And then he stepped his game up.”
Section 121, directly behind the Jazz’s bench. Walker Low immediately stood out, wearing a darkblue No. 45 jersey that featured Donovan Mitchell’s last name.
Low also smiled as soon as Harden’s name was mentioned.
“I don’t like him,” said the 25-year-old resident of Bountiful, Utah. “He travels way too much, and he’s a flopper.”
Any respect for Harden’s game, or does The Beard just drive the Jazz fan crazy?
“He just drives me crazy,” said Low, whose team trailed Harden’s Rockets 70-44 at halftime after Harden recorded 25 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in just two quarters.
Is the criticism of Harden deserved?
“I think he gets away with too much, for being an All-Star and all that,” Low said. The Jazz fan’s MVP vote? “Greek Freak,” Low said. I walked away laughing and smiling, then walked through a tunnel. A man stood in an open space with crossed arms. His T-shirt immediately stood out.
Vote For … was visible in classic “Napoleon Dynamite” lettering. Pedro? The man uncrossed his arms. Six famous red letters appeared, forming one name.
Harden. Of course: Vote For Harden.
Haters gonna hate. Harden gonna Harden.