James Harden: The world misses Steph Curry, Klay Thompson

Even after a tough loss on the holiday stage, Rockets star James Harden showed respect for his injured All-Star peers in Golden State.

In Wednesday’s loss on Christmas Day at Golden State, Rockets superstar James Harden had one of his lowest-scoring games of the 2019-20 NBA season to date with 24 points. Though he did have 11 assists, that point total was down more than 14 points from his league-leading average.

The Warriors routinely trapped and double teamed Harden near the halfcourt line, and his Houston teammates couldn’t take advantage of the resulting four-on-three scenarios. In all, the Rockets shot just 7-of-29 (24.1%) on three-pointers that were wide open. The team’s defensive effort was inconsistent throughout the game, as well.

Even with All-Star guards Steph Curry and Klay Thompson sidelined by long-term injuries, the shorthanded Warriors (8-24) still got the best of the Rockets (21-10) in the 116-104 win. Despite the frustrating loss to an old rival, though, Harden immediately showed respect to Golden State’s ailing stars in the postgame locker room.

Harden said:

The world and the game is missing Steph and Klay. Obviously the game is missing them, obviously their fans are missing them. It would have been a great, competitive game — they beat us without them, so for us we gotta regroup.

It was an impressive show of class and composure from Harden after what was undoubtedly one of Houston’s most frustrating losses of the season.

The Warriors have knocked the Rockets out of the NBA playoffs in four of the past five seasons, and on paper, it looked like an easy opportunity for revenge on the league’s holiday stage. Instead, it was a deflating loss to a shorthanded rival — with the so-called “Splash Brothers” on the bench in suits — that Houston will likely remember for its missed opportunities.

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The Rockets have two more games this season against the Warriors on Feb. 20 and April 2. With both games after the All-Star break, it’s not implausible that Curry (hand) and/or Thompson (knee) could return for at least the second of those contests.

In the grand scheme, though, the Christmas Day loss was only one game of 82 on the regular-season schedule. The Rockets finished a tough West Coast road trip at 3-1, including a statement win over Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and the Clippers in Los Angeles just a few days earlier, and are only a half-game back of Denver for the No. 2 seed in the West.

As a result, frustrating as Wednesday’s defeat may have been, there’s no need to excessively dwell on the loss in San Francisco. Harden’s postgame attitude would seem to suggest that they’re ready to move on quickly.

Houston has back-to-back games coming up on Saturday at home versus Brooklyn and then Sunday at New Orleans. Russell Westbrook is unlikely to play in the second for maintenance, though it’s possible the Rockets could have Eric Gordon back from injury to fill some of the minutes.

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