James Harden: HOH's Week 10 Silver Booster Award Winner

The Houston Rockets have hobbled through this week in one of their not-so-impressive campaigns of the season.

They were only able to manage one win out of a possible four that were available for the taking.

It’s extremely apparent that this team is experiencing some growing pains with the new additions to our roster.

What was working when the team was shorthanded has been their demise as they brought in the help that they needed.

With new additions in Josh Smith, Corey Brewer and Alexey Shved, us Rockets fans expected to see some continuity as far as continuing their winning ways.

But the total opposite has happened — particularly after Smoove’s first appearance as a starter, it seems as if there’s not enough shots to go around for the guys that need it.

There are many people on this team that thrive with the ball in their hands to operate.

Kevin McHale has to fix this and fast.

I propose that we go back to the original starting lineup of Patrick Beverley, James Harden, Trevor Ariza, Donatas Motiejunas and Dwight Howard.

Dec 28, 2014; San Antonio, TX, USA; Houston Rockets shooting guard

James Harden

(13) shoots the ball as San Antonio Spurs power forward

Tim Duncan

(21) defends during the second half at AT&T Center. The Spurs won 110-106. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports

The effectiveness of this lineup has been second to none and is the most productive lineup to date in some instances being a +20 as far as efficiency.

Despite all of this, there has been one man who has remained constant throughout doing everything he can to help the Rockets win.

Because of this, excellence deserves to be recognized — starting with this week and on that type of basis continuously, we will honor an individual player that made the most impact in helping the team, despite whether it resulted in a win or a loss.

We’ve dubbed it House of Houston Silver Booster Award…

And this week’s Silver Booster Award goes to…

James Harden!

His stats were what you’d usually expect from him per game this past week — 27 points, 4.5 dimes, 4.25 boards, 1.75 steals in 32 minutes of action.

Dec 29, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) drives to the basket during the first quarter as Washington Wizards center

Marcin Gortat

(4) defends at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

But his 4.25 turnovers per game is hard to ignore but he always seems to make up for his high count by making plays on the court.

He won’t be winning any assist-to-turnover ratio titles for the foreseeable future.

In fact, he’s ranked 63rd in the league with his holding at 1.70.

J.J. Berea continues to lead the league at 4.63.

But every player has their weakness and that’s certainly his at the moment.

Anyway, he also shot 53 percent from the field and 45 percent from the three-point line, including a career-high eight three-pointers made against the Charlotte Hornets Dec. 31st.

He continues to be extremely accurate from the free-throw line — only missing two — going 15-for-17 this week for about 88 percent.

This was a good week for Harden and I think it will only continue to get better for him as the season rolls along.

James Harden: HOH’s Week 10 Silver Booster Award Winner

By Brian K. Patterson | Jan 3, 2015