Kobe is Harden's idol. Harden was selected by the Thunder as a flower scout in 29. Before entering the league, Kobe has won four championship trophies, and this year is also the year when Kobe pursues the fifth championship in his career. It is naturally Harden's dream to play against idols.
Harden's first encounter with Kobe Bryant took place on November 3, 29, local time in the United States. In that game, the Thunder played an overtime at home against the defending champion Lakers, and finally the Thunder lost to the Lakers 98-13.
The Lakers scored 2+, Bynum scored 22 points, Artest scored 2 points and 6 assists, and Kobe got 31 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. The data is actually quite good, but judging from the performance on the court, Kobe's efficiency is very average. He only made 9 of 22 shots, made 12 of 14 free throws, shot 4.9% and made 7 mistakes.
At that time, Harden played as a substitute, and got 17 minutes of playing time (seventh person). He made 3 of 9 shots, hitting only 33.3%, and got the data of 9 points, 1 rebound and 3 assists. This is the data that Harden got when he faced his idol Kobe for the first time. In that season, Harden averaged 9.9 points, 3.2 assists and 1.8 rebounds, ranking fourth in the team in scoring, second only to Durant, Wei Shaohe.
If only from the performance, Harden's performance in this game is very general, but in view of Harden's playing time and rookie year, it is actually very good. In the next two years, Harden won the Best Sixth Man Award as a substitute, and then he was traded by the Thunder to the Houston Rockets. Harden became the core of the team. Today, Harden is well-deserved in the first place in active service. Although there is still a certain gap compared with idol Kobe, for him,