James Harden sounds pumped up about playing with Russell Westbrook again and thinks they can do some big things.
The Houston Rockets were being left behind this summer as many teams around the league improved. But then they got in on the mix in July by trading Chris Paul to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Westbrook.
Playing with Westbrook reunites the two; they were also teammates on the Thunder before Harden was traded to Houston in 2012. They also know each other from youth basketball in the Los Angeles area.
Harden knows what kind of style Westbrook brings to the table and thinks the 2016-17 NBA MVP is a “killer.”
“But I’m more excited to go into war, postseason, with somebody that is, like, a dog,” Harden told Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck. “Somebody that’s a killer, for real.”
As much as that’s Harden talking up Westbrook, it also can be interpreted as Harden pointing out qualities his previous running mate — Chris Paul — may have lacked. After all, it was CP3 who was supposed to help the Rockets cash in on a title, but Paul kept getting hurt and missing time, leaving much of the load to Harden.
Maybe Westbrook’s “dog” mentality is what Houston needs to take the next step. Harden seems to think so.
