Los Angeles Clippers star James Harden hit another milestone in his career on Thursday night when he reached 25,000 career points during Los Angeles’ 121-113 win over the Golden State Warriors. Harden is the third active player to join the 25K club and the 24th player all-time. He remains 24th on the all-time scoring list.
“A win [is what matters],” Harden said. “Winning is the key. The stats and everything, I’ve done a lot of different things, accomplished a lot of different individual stats. For me it’s about winning, building chemistry, and continuing to get better as a unit. I think tonight was another step forward for us.”
In the middle of the third quarter, Harden was controlling at the top of the key and waited for a screen from Ivica Zubac. Though not exactly the most effective pick of all time, it gave Harden just enough of a step to get downhill and into the paint, where he side-stepped around Dario Saric for a bucket.
Harden finished the night with 28 points, seven rebounds and 15 assists in another impressive showing since joining the Clippers. After a slow start to the Harden era, the new-look Clippers have won six in a row and 11 of their last 14 to climb into seventh place in the Western Conference.
Entering Thursday, Harden was already alone in 24th on the all-time scoring list, but he won’t be there long. He’s now 184 points behind Jerry West in 23rd and 271 points back of Reggie Miller in 22nd. His scoring has been a bit inconsistent in this Clippers set-up, but even so, he should surpass both of those players in the next 15 to 20 games. Looking further up the list, Kevin Garnett in 19th is probably as high as he could get this season; he needs another 1,063 points to get there.
In addition to his scoring accolades, Harden is one of the best playmakers of his generation, and he has now joined LeBron James and Oscar Robertson as the only players with at least 25,000 points, 5,000 rebounds and 7,000 assists.
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