Houston Rockets: James Harden Should Rest; Prioritize Team Needs

The Houston Rockets took on the Golden State Warriors last night in one of the peculiar match ups this season.

Why do I say peculiar?

Let me tell you — this team is good and they know that they have the talent to succeed.

However, in the first half, the Warriors made this team look quite foolish out there as they purely dominated not only the scoreboard but just about every category that mattered.

The Houston Rockets shooting touch was tepid, the defense lackadaisical and the timing was far from perfect.

Was this the same team that has won 51 games to date?

They certainly didn’t look like it out there.

Fortunately, after the half, the Houston Rockets were able to get it together and conjure up a run to get themselves back into the game.

They fought hard toward the end but just couldn’t match up to the Warriors superior shooting as a team, ultimately falling 113-106.

But here’s something I noticed as well.

James Harden wasn’t himself out there.

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As you probably know by now, Harden injured his left wrist against the Denver Nuggets March 20 and has been playing through the pain since.

One can tell that his shooting touch is beginning to suffer and he was racking turnover after turnover bringing up the ball as a result in last night’s game.

Please don’t misconstrue what I’m about to say.

I love Harden and I’m glad he’s a Houston Rocket — I hope he retires as one and never leaves H-Town.

But there comes a time where he should be team needs over individual accolades.

We all know how badly he wants to win the NBA’s Most Valuable Player Award as it’s a close race between he, Russell Westbrook and some experts even have the Boston Celtics Isaiah Thomas in the mix as well.

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He’s not a selfish player but I think his own quest to seek validation of how great he is clouding the big picture of the ultimate goal of this team contending for a championship.

As I mentioned previously, this injury is started to affect his level of play and when that happens, he could be hurting the team more than helping them.

We’ve gotta to think about the future and that certainly entails this team making a deep run in the playoffs.

That requires a healthy Harden in order for that to happen and that’s not the case right now.

Although Harden has continued to reiterate that he’ll continue to play through the pain, I propose that he and Rockets come to an agreement to where they can build some rest into the remaining eight games of the season so that’s he’s ready to go for the playoffs.

The Rockets have clinched a playoff berth weeks ago and the No. 3 playoff seed is secure as well so why not have him rest a few games?

The schedule does have a few bumps in the road with them taking on the Portland Trail Blazers Thursday and the Warriors Friday in a back-to-back but beyond that, they’ll be facing a majority of teams that destined for the draft lottery.

A healthy Harden is a boon for this team as he can take us places that we’d only dream of going.

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That’s why my proposition is so important — I’m not sure if it’ll happen because it’s not easy telling your best player that he needs to sit but it needs to be done.

I’m imploring you Beard — please REST as we won’t think you’re shirking the team but looking toward the future rather than the now.

We’ll be a better team if you do.

Let’s hope things pan out that way as we it the final stretch of games.

Go Rockets.

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