Raptors at Rockets
James Harden looks to continue his lava-hot stretch of stellar performances when the Houston Rockets host the Toronto Raptors on Friday. Harden poured in a career-high 61 points in Wednesday's 114-110 victory over the host New York Knicks and is averaging a spectacular 52.2 points over the past five contests.
Harden has recorded 21 consecutive 30-point outings - fourth best in NBA history - while putting together a scoring streak for the ages. He is just the fifth player in NBA history with multiple 60-point efforts in his career and his league-best scoring average has risen to 36.1. "The guy is just good," Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni told reporters after Harden topped 40 points for the 11th time in the past 15 games. Toronto, which won both of last season's meetings with Houston, hopes to have star forward Kawhi Leonard (rest) back after a four-game absence.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN, TSN (Toronto), AT&T SportsNet Southwest (Houston)
ABOUT THE RAPTORS (36-14): Leonard hasn't played since Jan. 16, when he scored 33 points against the Boston Celtics to conclude a four-game stretch in which he averaged 31.3 points. The club hasn't indicated why Leonard needed such a long break - with the All-Star break not far off - but certainly the franchise is mindful that Leonard played just nine games for San Antonio last season due to a quadriceps injury. Forward OG Anunoby (personal reasons) missed the past five games and is expected to return on Friday.
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (27-20): Harden has been a long-range bomber by making at least five 3-pointers in 17 of the past 18 games and he also has been getting to the line frequently as his 22 made free throws against the Knicks marked his third time with 20 or more in the last 12 games. He also has three 40-point triple-doubles over the past dozen outings while singlehandedly carrying the Rockets. Despite all of Harden's points, Houston is just 5-5 over the past 10 contests and hasn't won consecutive games yet this month.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Raptors have prevailed in their last two visits to Houston after losing 18 of the previous 21 matchups.
2. Legendary Wilt Chamberlain - 65, 31 and 25 games - is the only player with longer 30-point streaks than Harden.
3. Toronto PF Serge Ibaka had 23 points and 11 rebounds in Wednesday's 110-106 loss to the Indiana Pacers for his third double-double in a five-game span.