And the award for the most vicious and disrespectful crossover of the 2017-18 NBA season goes to: James Harden.
Late in the first quarter of Wednesday night’s game, with Harden’s Houston Rockets up 28-7 on the Los Angeles Clippers, the MVP front-runner did this:
The crossover itself isn’t what makes this incredible. It’s the way that Harden looks at Wesley Johnson, waits a good three seconds, and then drains the three-pointer.
The shot also gave him 17 points for the quarter — 10 more than the Clippers had scored as a team up to that point.
After the game, which the Rockets won, 105-92, for their 14th in a row, Harden said he meant no disrespect by the staredown.
“I was just trying to figure out what he was doing,” Harden said. “I don’t know. I was looking at him and he was looking at me. … I was going to shoot it, but I was waiting to figure out what was going on. I was confused. And then I shot it.”
