Jim Mone/Associated Press
James Harden reportedly won’t have to carry as much of the scoring load for the Houston Rockets in the near future.
According to Kelly Iko of The Athletic, “All signs [are] pointing” toward a return for point guard Chris Paul from his left hamstring injury for either Sunday’s game against the Orlando Magic or Tuesday’s contest against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Paul hasn’t played since a Dec. 20 loss to the Miami Heat.
Houston won its first six games after he suffered the setback and appeared fine in the short term without the nine-time All-Star, but it has been much more inconsistent of late. The Rockets are 5-5 in their last 10 and have alternated wins and losses in that span while Harden has been forced to enter Superman mode just to keep the team afloat with Paul and Clint Capela (thumb) sidelined.
Harden has scored 30 or more points in 21 straight games, setting a post-NBA-ABA merger (1976) record in the process. He scored 61 in Wednesday’s narrow four-point win over the New York Knicks and has scored more than 40 in seven of his team’s 11 January games.
Still, the Rockets need Paul and Capela—who was ruled out for four to six weeks last Thursday—to return if they are going to challenge in the playoffs in the daunting Western Conference.
They are 27-20 after losing just 17 games during the 2017-18 regular season and occupy the No. 5 seed. They are just 2.5 games ahead of the ninth-seeded Los Angeles Lakers, so Paul’s return comes when the season is hanging in the balance.
Ideally for the Rockets, Paul will take some of the pressure off Harden’s shoulders and return them to consistency.
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