Over the years, many have acknowledged that during his time with the Houston Rockets , James Harden was arguably the most dominant scorer in the modern-day NBA, routinely putting opponents in their place. This wasn’t just limited to fellow players but even to courtside fans who tried to trash-talk the 10-time All-Star. One such victim was Kevin Hart, who, perhaps after too many drinks, tried to downplay the credentials of The Beard.
In a surprising turn of events, James single-handedly wreaked havoc and swiftly placed the blame on the Hollywood actor for provoking him to bash his beloved team in such a ruthless manner.
Hart on trash-talking Harden
During the 2016-17 NBA season, Harden officially began stamping his authority as one of the league’s best pure scorers. That year, he averaged 29.1 points and led the league in assists with a tally of 11.2 per game, finishing only behind Russell Westbrook in the MVP race. Given his dominance, when the Rockets visited Philly to take on the Sixers, Hart had his own plan of ticking off The Beard and getting inside his head.
During his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the 45-year-old recounted making personal remarks at the 6’5” point guard throughout the opening 12 minutes as the latter struggled with three turnovers and logged eight points.
"It gets so bad because they can tell when I’ve had too many drinks because I'm slurring, going, 'You ain't gonna make that shot,' " the comedian recalled . "I pissed James Harden off. So, I'm in Philadelphia... I had a day off, so I decided to go to the Sixers game. James Harden is playing in the game, and the whole first quarter, he's off. I was like, 'You know why you off? Because you're in my city. Your beard stinks. I hate you.'"
After seeing Harden add merely seven points against his name in the second quarter, and with the Philadelphia 76ers leveling the score before halftime, Hart believed he was going to have a great tale to tell about humbling one of the best players in the NBA. However, the former 6MOTY had different plans when he came out of the tunnel for the second half.
Harden scored 19 points and dished out five assists in the third quarter before registering 17 points in the final 12 minutes. By the end of the contest, Harden had a game-winning 51 points, 13 rebounds, and 13 assists tally against his name. Moreover, his triple-double led Houston to register their sweep over the Sixers in the regular-season series.
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Harden let Hart know about his wrongdoing
Eventually, James clapped back at Kevin, reminding him that the 76ers’ fate was sealed solely because he had set off him in the most annoying manner.
"With like a minute left, he was dribbling the ball standing at half-court, and he was just staring at me," Hart added. "He goes, 'Tell your team what you did to them.' I said, 'You keep your mouth shut. That's our business.' He scorched us."
While the exchange was light-hearted, given the solid and playful friendship between Hart and Harden, it served as a reminder of how unstoppable the 2018 MVP was during that era. Once he set his mind to it, Jimbo was virtually impossible to contain.
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