James Harden Is On Fire, Continues to Get Away With Wild Travels
By Kyle Koster
James Harden is riding an incredible hot streak. He scored 58 points in the Rockets’ loss to Brooklyn Wednesday night, two days after dropping 57 on the Memphis Grizzlies. None of his 33 field goals this week have been assisted. The Houston star is averaging over 41.2 points/game over his last 20 contests.
Harden, in a a word, is incredible. He also still gets away with comical travels, and it is very enjoyable.
This one isn’t as bad as the Harden standard-bearer.
When you’re a star, they let you do it. It’s as true in basketball as it is in politics.
At a certain point, allowing egregious travels blurs the line between athletic competition and pure entertainment. Here’s professional Seth Rollins getting extremely meta with the official SportsCenter account.
What’s a travel anymore?
— Seth Rollins (@WWERollins) January 17, 2019
Laugh if you want, but allowing some players to take six steps and others two while on offense is closer to WWE entertainment than pure sport. It’s fun to watch Harden work and walk. It’s even more interesting to see how the NBA handles juggling the letter of the law against the bottom line.