James Harden’s past two games demonstrate how erratic his 13th season has been. On Saturday night, Harden aimlessly wandered through a disappointing home loss against the Suns, generating the type of triple-double that shows how useless a triple-double can be: 12 points, 13 rebounds and 14 assists to go along with seven ugly turnovers, six missed threes and only two trips to the charity stripe off a drawn foul.
Afterward, as he sat with yet another performance that lacked all the poise and self-assurance Harden has accumulated throughout his first-ballot Hall of Fame career, the 32-year-old explained why he looked like a car spinning its wheels.