James Harden put aside all the controversies that have surrounded him in recent weeks and made his debut this season in the NBA with a stellar but insufficient performance. His double-double, with 44 points and 17 assists, left him as the great figure of the day but could not prevent the defeat of the Houston Rockets in overtime against the Portland Trail Blazers (128-126), also led by a great CJ McCollum.
Harden shelved the debate of his overweight and momentarily put the rumors of his departure on hold, an express wish of the American guard since the preseason began even though this prevented him from being the first player to break the barrier of 50 million dollars in annual salary.
James Harden
Record score (44) and assists (17) in a first game of the season
His 44 points scored against the Rockets, including nine triples, and his 17 assists allowed him to make history. Never before has a player submitted such records in his first game of the season.
Across the court, McCollum, who played 44 minutes, averaged one goal per minute after scoring 17 of 30 shots from the field, including 9 of 16 3-pointers, and 1 of 2 from the personnel line, had three rebounds. and delivered eight assists. The starting guard of the Trail Blazers with 6.3 seconds left in overtime scored the triple that ensured the victory of the Portland team (1-1). While point guard Damian Lillard reached 32 points, in addition to distributing nine assists and capturing five rebounds.
Harden, who was also fined $ 50,000 for not complying with security protocols against the coronavirus, claimed that he wants to continue to be a candidate for the MVP award. Along with Harden, young center Christian Wood, one of the Rockets’ signings, shone in his debut for the Houston team with 31 points and 13 rebounds.
Ricky Rubio finds the lace
The Minnesota Timberwolves, led by Ricky Rubio, got their second victory against the Utah Jazz in a game in which the Catalan point guard showed a better harmony with his new teammates while rookie Anthony Edwards begins to show why he has been number 1 from this year’s draft.
In the Minnesota Timberwolves’ second game this season, Ricky Rubio returned to Salt Lake City to play the Utah Jazz, the team he played for two seasons between 2017 and 2019. Both the Timberwolves and the Jazz reached the second game of the season undefeated. The Utahns easily beat the Portland Trail Blazers in the opening game 100-120 while the Minnesotans took a little longer to get rid of the Detroit Pistons.
Edwards, Rubio’s teammate, begins to show why he has been No. 1 in the draft
It took Ricky’s team and the Madrid center Juancho Hernangómez 44 minutes to get ahead on the scoreboard and take the game 101-111 thanks to a great fourth period in which they scored 31 points while the Pistons had to be content with 16 Against the Detroit team, Ricky and Juancho’s performances were discreet, but against the Jazz, Ricky worked from the first moment he jumped onto the court and it showed in the team’s performance.
Timberwolves coach Ryan Saunders has so far assigned Rubio the sixth-man spot in his scheme, leaving the Catalan point guard on the bench until the middle of the first quarter. When Rubio jumped onto the court with 6.12 minutes to go in the first quarter, the giant Vivint Smart Home Arena scoreboard reflected a 12-point tie. When the fourth ended, the Timberwolves were ahead by four, 27-31.
With Ricky on the court, the ball moved faster in attack, which made it easier to throw off the Jazz defense and that men like him rookie Anthony Edwards, the Dominican-American Karl Anthony Towns or D’Angelo Russell were in the best position to score.
As Saunders pointed out after the game, the Timberwolves are beginning to benefit from Ricky’s ability to get the ball out of his field and into the paint. Proof of this are Rubio’s four assists during the second quarter.
In the end, Ricky and Juancho’s Timberwolves accumulated their second victory by closing the score with 111-116, thanks to the contributions of Russell (25 points), Edwards (18 points) and Malik Beasley (18 points). Rubio finished the game with 9 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal while Juancho was content with 1 rebound.
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