INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — James Harden delivered another 50-point game Wednesday night, putting on a throwback performance in the Clippers’ new arena.
The All-Star guard reached that total for the first time with Los Angeles and the 24th time in his career, pulling within one of Kobe Bryant for third-most in NBA history.
Harden’s big night — with former President Barack Obama sitting next to Clippers owner Steve Ballmer behind the baseline — carried Los Angeles to a 123-115 victory over the Detroit Pistons.
Harden said he had met Obama before and they had a good relationship.
“So it was pretty cool to see him at the game,” Harden said. “Probably the reason why I played so well.”
Harden already had three 40-point games this season, but he hadn’t been able to reach the 50-point plateau that always seemed in sight back when he was leading the league in scoring three times with the Houston Rockets from 2017-20.
And it came at a perfect time for his desperate team, which blew a 23-point lead Tuesday against Phoenix and was without Kawhi Leonard and Norman Powell on the second night of back-to-back games.
Harden got the Clippers quickly back on track with 23 points in the first quarter and went on to finish 14 of 24 from the field, making six 3-pointers and going 16 for 20 at the free-throw line.
Harden played 38 minutes but said the heavy workload at age 35 didn’t take a lot out of him.
“I can do it. It’s not like it’s my first time,” he said.
Wilt Chamberlain has the NBA record with 118 games of 50 or more points, followed by Michael Jordan with 31 and Bryant with 25.
Bryant put on plenty of scoring shows in Los Angeles but Harden’s was the biggest yet in the Intuit Dome, the Clippers’ new arena that will host next season’s NBA All-Star Game.
Harden ended up with the eighth 50-point game in franchise history, the first since Lou Williams on Jan. 10, 2018, at Golden State. He joined Williams, Bob McAdoo and World B. Free as the only players in club history with at least four 40-point games in a season.
But he wasn’t able to get a picture after the game with Obama.
“He left,” Harden said. “I guess he wanted to beat the traffic.”
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