Final Four: 2014-15 James Harden vs. 2018-19 James Harden

No. 1 seed: 2014-15 James Harden: 27.4 points (44.0% FG, 37.5% 3-pointers), 7.0 assists, 5.7 rebounds, 1.9 steals per game

Harden’s 2014-15 season is perhaps best remembered for how he picked up the slack for issues around him. Co-star Dwight Howard missed 41 games in the regular season, and starters Pat Beverley and Donatas Motiejunas each had their seasons end early due to injury. Veteran castoffs like Pablo Prigioni and Jason Terry were thrust into key roles.

Nonetheless, largely due to Harden’s leadership, the often shorthanded Rockets still went 56-26 in the regular season and earned the No. 2 seed in the West. They won Houston’s first division title in 21 years, and then advanced in the playoffs to the franchise’s first Western Conference Finals in 18 years. Harden posted 4.2 defensive win shares that year, which remains the most of his career, and his 61.8% true shooting percentage is the second-highest of Harden’s eight seasons in Houston.

After the 2014-15 season concluded, “The Beard” was voted by fellow NBA players as the league’s MVP.

No. 5 seed: 2018-19 James Harden: 36.1 points (44.2% FG, 36.8% 3-pointers), 7.5 assists, 6.6 rebounds, 2.0 steals per game

Fresh off the winningest season in franchise history and coming up just one game short of the NBA Finals, the 2018-19 Rockets entered the year with championship expectations. They then got off to a rocky 11-14 start and lost co-star Chris Paul to a Grade 2 hamstring pull, leaving some to wonder if they’d even make the playoffs at all.

Harden wasn’t interested in that talk. His 36.1 points per game scoring average was a personal career-best and the most by any NBA player in over 30 years. Harden registered a historic streak of 32 straight games scoring 30 or more points, which took place largely during Paul’s absence. That remains the second-longest such streak in NBA history, and 2018-19 is remembered as Harden’s peak scoring season — at least so far.

Harden’s 36.8% clip on 3-pointers was especially impressive, considering his NBA-record volume of 12.9 attempts per game from behind the arc. (That, of course, reflects Houston’s increasingly 3-point heavy attack endorsed by head coach Mike D’Antoni and GM Daryl Morey.)

Houston finished the season 42-15 over its final 57 regular-season games, helping lift them from the West’s No. 14 seed at their lowest point to the No. 4 seed (and almost the No. 2). They lost in six games in the second round of the playoffs to eventual West champion Golden State, and Harden finished second in MVP voting to Giannis Antetokounmpo.

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Final Four: ’15 Harden vs. ’19 Harden / ’18 Harden vs. ’94 Olajuwon