Rockets at Hawks
James Harden is adamant that recent reports claiming he disliked Dwight Howard are inaccurate and the two players will be on the same court for the time since Howard departed Houston when the Rockets visit the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday. Harden and Howard were teammates for three years and the Rockets reached the Western Conference finals in the second campaign before the team was racked with dissension when it finished 41-41 in 2015-16.
Harden said the perception that he and Howard were always at odds isn’t true but he does allow that the partnership couldn’t continue. "It didn't bother me,” Harden told reporters of the overriding belief the two didn’t get along. “I know what the truth is, it's no beef. We never got into a heated argument. It just didn't work out.” Howard admitted last month that he requested a bigger offensive role and often was disinterested during games once it was turned down. After Houston hired Mike D’Antoni as coach – a guy Howard didn’t like playing for with the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2012-13 season – Howard declined his player option to become a free agent and signed a three-year, $70.5 million deal with the Hawks.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, ROOT (Houston), FSN Southeast (Atlanta)
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (3-2): New shooting guard Eric Gordon has meshed with Harden (31.8 points, 12.4 assists) in the early going and is showing signs of regaining the form that made one of the league’s more promising young players before injuries sidetracked him. The 27-year-old Gordon scored a season-best 21 points in Wednesday’s 118-99 road victory over the New York Knicks and is averaging 17.6 per game. Gordon averaged 22.3 points in 2010-11 for the Los Angeles Clippers before his five seasons in New Orleans were riddled with injuries as he was limited to 45 or fewer games three times.
ABOUT THE HAWKS (3-2): Howard is off to a strong start with his hometown team with four double-doubles and he is averaging 16.4 points and 12 rebounds. He had 20 points and 12 rebounds in Friday’s 95-92 loss to the Washington Wizards – a game that marked the first time Atlanta failed to reach 100 points this season. Starting small forward Kent Bazemore has yet to find his shooting stroke as he missed all seven field-goal attempts while going scoreless against the Wizards to drop his season percentage to 27.7.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Hawks have won the past five meetings by an average of 7.2.
2. Atlanta SG Kyle Korver is 2-for-15 shooting over the past two games and the Hawks dropped both contests.
3. Harden already has three games of at least 30 points and 15 assists.