Flashback: The best James Harden vs. LeBron James game in Houston

With NBA legends LeBron James and James Harden facing off Saturday in Houston, we look back at their long history of head-to-head battles.

This Saturday night’s game in Houston will be the 20th career meeting between Rockets guard James Harden and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, and the first of the 2019-20 NBA season.

Both men are former league MVPs and future Hall of Famers, and widely considered among the greatest to ever play the sport.

In those 19 career matchups, the statistical averages of each player are markedly similar. James is averaging 27.4 points, 6.8 assists, and 6.8 rebounds per game, while Harden has tallied 24.2 points, 6.6 assists, and 6.1 rebounds, according to Basketball-Reference. James’ team has won 10 of those games, while Harden’s squad has taken nine.

However, the battle has tilted Harden’s way since the October 2012 trade that sent him to Houston, where he’s been a permanent starter since. In those 13 games, Harden has gone 7-6 against James’ teams.

Since James joined the Lakers in 2018, the Rockets have won two of the three matchups in which both stars have played, with Harden averaging an astounding 38.6 points, 7.3 assists, and 7.6 rebounds per game. James has countered with 27.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 5.0 assists.

From a Houston perspective, the most memorable game between the rival stars took place nearly five years ago on March 1, 2015. It was the first season of James’ second stint with his hometown Cavaliers, with Cleveland (37-23) visiting Houston (40-18) for a Sunday matinee on ABC.

In what became an overtime classic, Harden finished with 33 points (8-of-18 shooting), eight rebounds, five assists, three steals, and two blocks in 42 minutes, while James had 37 points (15-of-35 shooting), eight rebounds, four assists, three steals, and three blocks.

But that March 2015 game would be remembered most for the extracurricular activity that surrounded it, both during and after.

Late in the third quarter, with James attempting to force a jump ball and perhaps shoving at Harden on his way to the floor, Harden was whistled for a flagrant foul for then kicking James below the belt. He was later suspended for Houston’s next game.

Harden said postgame that the kick was not intentional, but Cavaliers players (including James) came to a different conclusion.

Later in the game, there was a bizarre no-call when the arms of both stars were tangled for several seconds. In postgame comments, then-Houston coach Kevin McHale said it “looked like square dancing.”

In the postgame officiating report, the league acknowledged that fouls on both players should have been called.

Both stars traded haymakers down the stretch of the fourth quarter and overtime, and it briefly appeared the Cavaliers would get the last laugh when James was fouled with just over four seconds left in overtime and his team trailing by just one point.

But James missed both free throws, and Houston finished with a 105-103 statement win over the eventual Eastern Conference champions. Both teams met the same fate in the 2015 playoffs by losing in the Western Conference Finals and NBA Finals, respectively, to Golden State.

For Harden and the Rockets, the fun didn’t stop when the clock ran out. Later that night, the team’s official Twitter account poked fun at James’ usual “King James” nickname by tweeting out a custom graphic with that title applied to Harden, instead.

On the other side, given the two missed free throws late in overtime, James didn’t take well to the loss. A few hours later, he posted what became known as the “sad mirror selfie” to his Instagram account.

Nearly five years later, Saturday’s game — also on that same Toyota Center court — probably won’t have all those layers of drama. But since it’s the first nationally televised Saturday night game of the 2019-20 season, the league and ABC surely wouldn’t mind a repeat performance.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Houston.

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