Two teams Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder have too much dependency on their star players. This may damage the team, as both James Harden and Russel Westbrook put on a one man show in every game.
A very dominant play from both Harden and Westbrook for their team have given Rockets and Thunder good records. The 8-6 for Thunder and 9-5 for Houston Rockets. However, their one man show performance may potentially damage the team as their team rely heavily on them.
Harden once commented on Westbrook as reported by CBS Sports. He said that after Kevin Durant’s departure to Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder become a one man show team.
"It's Russ. It's Russ, and it's a one-man show," Harden said.
However Harden is in the similar position in Houston Rockets. They both are the highest scoring players in the NBA which single-handedly lift their team. Westbrook with 32.0 points per game in an average 34.3 minutes, and Harden with 30.3 points per game in 37.3 minutes. Harden has a better contribution to team with more assists 12.6 per game than Westbrook 9.9 assists per game.
There is another player with similar characteristic like Westbrook and Harden according to Washington Post. That player is Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan. The three of them topped the NBA players for the most possession in isolation and ballhandler in the pick and roll this season.
In Westbrook case, during a 105-103 victory over Houston Rockets on Nov. 16, he took 41.2 percent of his team’s possessions to score 30 points. He surpassed Kobe Bryant 38.7 percent record in team’s possessions during the 2005-06 season. Harden in the opposite team posted 13 points, 13 assists and 7 rebounds.
Regardless of heavy reliance of their team to rely in the performance of the star players, it is entertaining for fans to watch Westbrook, Harden and DeRozan put on a Jordan-like high scoring game in today’s NBA game.
Watch how Harden scored 133 points and 57 assists in 4 games from NBA) channel below: