Houston, TX – Houston Rockets guard James Harden was named today by the NBA as Western Conference Player of the Week for games played Monday, Mar. 30 through Sunday, Apr. 5. It marks the third time this season he has won the award and the eighth such honor of his career (Player of the Week for weeks ending: 11/4/12, 1/6/13, 3/24/13, 3/2/14, 3/9/14, 12/14/14, and 12/28/14). With eight Player of the Week Honors, Harden has now captured the second most such honors in franchise history (Olajuwon, 12). This is the second time Harden has won three Western Conference Player of the Week Honors in a single season, and the fourth time a Rockets player has won three or more such honors in a season: Olajuwon in 1992-93, McGrady in 2004-05 and Harden in 2012-13.
Harden (6-5, 220, Arizona State) averaged 36.8 points (.512, 43-84 FG; .558, 19-34 3FG; .840, 42-50 FT), 5.8 assists, 5.8 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game in leading Houston to a 3-1 week with a home win over the Sacramento Kings and road wins over the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder. The 36.8 points per game led all NBA scorers in the week. Harden opened the week with 31 points against the Toronto Raptors on Mar. 30. The Rockets guard then recorded his career-high for points with 51 in a 115-111 win over the Sacramento Kings on Apr. 1. His 51 points came on a career-high 16 field goals (including a career-high tying 8 three-point field goals). On Apr. 5 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Harden scored 41 points and led the Rockets to a 115-112 victory. At the conclusion of the week, Harden led the NBA with 34 games of 30 or more points, 10 games of 40 or more points and is tied for the NBA lead with two games scoring 50 or more points. In each contest during the week, Harden recorded 10 or more free throws made and he leads the NBA with 32 such games.