James Harden is 'the greatest scorer in the NBA' - Stephen A. | First Take 

Stephen "this brother is something special" A. Smith

I hate Harden but the guy was hitting jumpers over KD, Klay, and Draymond. The last shot he made had Draymond and Klay draped all over him. Haters gonna hate. 🤣

JAMES HARDEN IS THE REAL MVP💪💪

This man is almost at 34 points a game that is just insane

Harden’s performance last night is the performance i wish he had game 7 last year

I was rooting for golden state that game, but the fact the refs didn’t call KD being out of bounds was complete BS. Glad for Harden and the Rockets

Stephen a bout to risk it all🤣

I hate when these people say the rockets can’t compete with the warriors, they always say the Raptors or Celtics or the Nuggets or whatever team LeBron is on. it’s really pissing me off when they say that because the rockets played the warriors twice this season and beat them twice, one of them being a blowout

45 pts, 15 assists, 10 rebounds, a clutch shot for a win over the best team in the league with all its players, when you got no Chris Paul & no Eric Gordon, in a streak of ten 35+ PPG games, 40+ PPG in last 5 games, and 11 wins over 12 last games... Of course Harden is the 2019 MVP.

I don't understand how guys can hate on Jordan, Kobe, LeBron, Harden, Russ, Kawhi, KD, Steph etc.. enjoy what you're watching because its PURE greatness

Harden 2019 MVP like if you agree

How harden didn’t win 19 mvp will always blow my mind 😭😭

Wow just a week ago i heard them say the same thing about kyrie when he was on fire 🤣😂

Harden is the slickest player ever, besides Jamal Crawford and Tim Hardaway.

I wonder what he told Draymond after he hit that 3! 😂💀

First take is way better when it's just in the studio. They try to hard to troll and play up to the crowd when they're on the road

Max is so damn inconsistent. He says regular season doesn't matter here, then he uses regular season stats and analytics to say that the Warriors won't win the championship this year. So is the regular season relevant or not Max?

James harden is the most complete offense I’ve player in the league right now. From scoring to playmaking no one does more

How are you going to put manning in the same sentence as harden manning is a 2 time suoerbowl champion and is 3 and 1 against Brady in the afc title game

Harden's stepback is literally unguardable

Kevin Durant is a more talented scorer. LeBron himself is a offensive set. The NBA is just amazing right now

Hes not scoring in the playoffs where they let the players play a little more freely. A huge part of his game comes from leaning into defenders. The advantage he gets from this isn't just going to the free throw line. His defenders don't even want to play D within his flopping AOE. That was the most awkward shot contest on a game winner I've ever seen. Klay was scared even though he was behind Harden LMAO

Do not forget Harden’s 15 assists ! He was in the zone and literally unstoppable no matter who guarded him. A great effort for the whole Rockets players !

Indeed. 👌 including the cowboy hat.

Max throwing shade! Harden not top 5?! Get out of here!!!

LeBron hasn't averaged less than 25 ppg since 2004

To the *0.01%* of nba fans who see this comment... Hope you have an amazing 2019. Much love from a mini u tubr❤️

See you guys may not like Molly but I personally think she’s not bad and you can see that Steven A and Max are both happy she’s back. Nothing like your original partner at work.

My guy, Harden has averaged 27.3/6.8/5.5 a game in the playoffs since he's in houston. Wtf is Max talking about when he says he fell off consistently in the playoffs

hasn't had a game with less than 25point since 2012? that's amazing! 6 years ago!

Did Kd die?

Max’s anger and disrespect at the MVP and Harden is comical. Stephen A is singing praises of Harden. Molly is rocking the cowboy hat and stunning shirt. Just another day in the field for First Take... And James Harden deserves more respect.

I watched that game start to finish. He really wasn’t flopping last night. The refs let both teams play. His shot was off in the first half. But he was rebounding and assisting his ass off. Then in the second half and over time he cooked. The man hit 10 3’s most of them with hands in his face and some including the game winner over two defenders. I’m not a James Harden fan but he balled last night and had been on a tear. The only thing left for him to do is prove it in the playoffs. He can’t have another Meltdown in the playoffs. Great regular season game. But chips aren’t won in January. They are won in June. Hopefully he plays like that come April, May and possibly June. Jury still out.

Goods to see these two back. Please don't ever go again the show sucks without ya'll

“You can get Called for a technical foul for having bad breath “😭😭😭

So Max just said that regular season MVPs are meaningless beacuse they're talking about Harden, but praise Lebron for having 4 MVPs in any debate for him being the "GOAT"

Comparing melo to harden? When did melo lead the league in assist? And last time i checked, houston was better than Cleveland last year and everybody else besides the warriors. Who has three of the greatest shooters ever.

3:30 that casual thumbs up

These guys live in the moment more than anybody else on TV! Harden always catches fire around this time. But when the playoffs come around we will see if he can keep it up.

Watch him get tired in the end of the season , and go for 3-22 shooting in a elimination game

Please promise me you will never allow Ryan Hollins on the set again.

If KD and Steph weren't on the same team, both would have averaged 30+ a game and shot higher percentage than Harden. If Irving were playing for the Rockets, he would have averaged over 30, too.

We have reached an era in life to where people are quick to pass judgment and conclusion, Basing things like this off of one season that they are “Greatest of All time” etc this is not only the bad side to this but to other issues as well not involving basketball.

Finally back together

Stephan A, its 2019 get a new joke "U can get called for a foul for havin bad breath" Wasnt that funny the 1st time, DEF not funny the 500th time

When nothing is on the line yes but just wait until crunch time I'm out!

LeBron Steph kawhi KD AD , my top 5, I can see why you may have harden and giannis in there and they're my 6 and 7. Personally I think top 4 a lock but 5,6,7 debatable

Everything with Molly is working 😋😜🤪

Max, stop crying. You only make these whining statements about the MVP award when LeBron isn’t winning it. Funny how this dude worships AD and Giannis when they haven’t done shit in the Playoffs. Harden has played better and more consistent defense than LeBron. Stop sucking off LeBron. He has definitely not been the best player this year.

He's ruinations are distorted against harden. In a agrupation of men leadership is primary and essential Harden inspires, admired by his colleague and teammates. They would die for him. add his playmaking, ball handling, shooting, awareness and passing skills that makes harden the best NBA player of all time. The LeBron and curry he mentions are just talented players. It takes a lot more than that and that is what harden brings to the game.

Loyal GSW fan since 2012, but that Harden shot was insane..

Mvp race standings rn imo Harden-1 Antetokounmpo-2 James-3 Leonard-4 Davis-5 Honourable mention is Kemba Walker if there was a 6th spot he’d be there

Yall some haters... harden is the best offensive player in the leauge

4:11 I agree with Max where was he in Game 6 and 7

" You can get a technical foul for having bad breath"-SAS😂😂

Smh Mollys back

The difference between KD Curry and Harden is that Harden never had an all star teammate with the Rockets.. having to be 90% of the offense and still can’t be stopped.. KD and Curry have the luxury of multiple all stars to keep the defense at home.. Harden gets doubled off the PNR and just calls for it back.. Neither KD nor Curry could do what Harden is doing with no all star help and having to carry the offense.. they’re on a dominant team.. once the Warriors dismantle and Curry is in Oakland alone and KD goes wherever to try and save his legacy you’ll see what I mean they’ll look like shells of themselves facts only

I think I lose a chunk of my brain whenever I watch this show

he's always got the ball in is hands thats why he is getting to the free throw line so much and making so many 3 point shots if one of the best scorers ever has the majority of the ball then he's going to have those amazing stats

I get that Harden is a genius at scoring and getting to the the line, but all the elite 50 40 90 threats like Steph and Durant are actually better scorers when you realize Harden shoots 22 shots a game for 44%. Then you have LeBron, who scores 27 on at least 51% every year now and a guy like Giannis who scores 27 on 60% shooting, 16% better than Harden while winning. It’s easy for any of these elite players to put up monster numbers at that volume of shooting.

My takeaways from last night.... 1. it's officially become a 3-man race for the MVP between Giannis, Kawhi, and Harden. (Note: could be 4, depending on what the Lakers do when LeBron returns) 2. For those wondering how Jordan would've been offensively in today's NBA, look at the numbers Harden's putting up. Difference is Jordan would do that in the playoffs as well. (hopefully Harden does the same this time around) 3. Whether you love them, hate them, despise them, later down the line, the Casual NBA fans will appreciate the Golden State Warriors cause win or lose, they just gave you the two best games of this season. ( vs Toronto when Kawhi score 37, KD got 51. And last night)

Wow 6 years ago.. Mr Smith said this same thing about Durant... Are you saying now that James Harden.. Is better offensive player than Kevin Durant? I remember when you said that Durant would go down as the greatest scorer of all time so what has change.. Cause he playing team ball and has more help.. Sigh

On the thumbnail he looks like a scary Santa!

He just proved that he's a top candidate

I mean like it's easy for Steph to depend on his team more and run more team oriented offensive plays with them, when your whole starting lineup are all stars. AND James Harden is playing without Chris Caul and P.J. tucker, but still one of the top players in assists. #HardenMVP

Stephen A 😭😭💀💀 I jus need harden to keep that same energy in the playoffs and we good

Ima sip my tea and wait for playoffs before i judge anything

I thought it was Curry, I mean't Durant, oh now it's Harden? Make up your minds.

That's great. Wake me up when he wins a ring.

I guess when they let you commit offensive fouls to draw contact and take 4 steps after he picks up his dribble. I guess he can be all that and an unstoppable scoring machine.

This was the same game we hoped for game 7 last WCF

Harden is the best player in the league if he had kawhi Leonards defense

Prisoners of the moment smh

Molly need to loan Stephen A that cowboy hat......and not ask for it back 😂😂😂

And y’all was doubting us cmon now wait till Eric and Chris get healthy we went from 14th to 4th James winning mvp idc🤷🏽‍♂️🚀🔥

stephen A. just about ready to risk it all, somebody call Jalen

Why did they bring her back..... (sigh)

I just want both teams to have fun out there.

Harden is not unstoppable, Max is right weve seen that Harden struggles when people actually play defense.

do people take anything this guy says seriously? A week from now if KD drops 50, he'll be saying KD is the best scorer in the nba

Imagine if Harden added a back to the basket...Kobe Bryant like fade away to his game...it's over.

That’s fax harden put on an amazing show, best game I’ve ever watched

I wonder what Harden said to Green after that gm winner? Which shouldve been an And One.

James Harden is a SOUTH PAW Kobe "BEAN" Bryant.

Jordan average 30ppg in reg season 33ppg in playoffs. James Harden falls off from his reg season avg cone playoff time

Max just completely underminded Hardens playmaking ability and focused completly on his iso scoring. Harden has had 10+ assists this month and helped bring a team from 14th seed to 4th seed despite all the injuries to key players. And if he actually watched the games he'd see that Hardens defense improved. Didn't even acknowledge the game winner. Seriously don't understand how some of these reporters have jobs.

Yes

Durant is still the best scorer in the nba and come playoff time this will be proven once again

Molly out here🤘🏾😍😍

Best offensive player of all time is Magic Johnson because he was a team player. He could score at will, and set people up for their strengths.

I wanna go back to when it was iverson, McGrady, Kobe and vince Carter 😫

Dude is a choker, he puts up these stats every season, gets a top 3 mvp vote, chokes in the playoffs by playing horribly while having a lead. Ex Spurs x2 and Warriors last year

What does that person yell at 0:22

Stephen A. Smith is a really good friend of mine, he’s been supporting me throughout the whole media and breaking people’s doubts about me not becoming a superstar in the early days. He even went on by saying I’m the best player in the world in 2015 and in 2016. All my ears of listening to this man I thought I would never have to say this but Stephen A. smith, PLEASE stop smoking crack. Did I hear you saying James Harden is a BETTER PLAYER than me? Including offence? We have a lot of guys on my team, we’re pretty stacked so I don’t hold the ball so often, and I barely play the 4th quarter where as harden is the superstar in his team so he holds the ball more often than the other guys. Listen to this, who would win? A Superstar Vs Another superstar+other 4 guys. IM THE ONLY ONE DOING WORK IN MY TEAM. Kd ain’t doing anything. Kd helped my team on a losing streak. I took my team 73-9 with a championship. No ones doing anything BUT me. I’m LeBron and my teams the Cavs. So for you to say that I’m not good is just disrespectful Stephen A.

Why are we not talking about a ref not calling an OBVIOUS call? The NBA doesn’t want to hear it but they have fix it!!!

I'm keeping the harden haters receipts, and i don't wanna hear, " I'M rOoTiNg fOr tHe rOcKeTs tO BeAt tHe wArRiOrS" when they play against the dubs in the WCF's.

Harden just do it in the playoffs.

Max Kellerman changes his perspective on Harden more than I change my underroos... about every other day...

We will see in the playoffs This is the year he has no excuses

lebron got swept but Harden sucks for taking the game to a 7 game and losing yes he missed a lot but where was lebron when they got swept