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Life after Harden's trade: Houston is flourishing, Simmons is happy, and even LeBron is smiling
The Rockets won with a lackluster and relieved squad ("What Happened is a Blessing"), Simmons finished with a triple-double after the trade talks ended, and the creators of the parody of LeBron became network stars
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James Harden
Houston Rockets
LeBron James
Walla!
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Friday, 15 January 2021, 09:52
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Happy, united.
Houston (Photo: AP, Eric Gay)
With only nine players, without the newcomers, after the star of the team left and caused a big storm - Houston managed to win tonight (Thursday to Friday) and proved that they insist on embarking on a new path without James Harden.
Just a few days ago the Rockets were defeated by the Lakers and at the end of the game Harden said "the team is not good enough" and that "this is something that can't be fixed", but tonight Houston defeated San Antonio 105-109 away to show its fans and itself that it has no intention of giving up.
"The whole team was united," said Christian Wood, who led the Rockets with 27 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks, "you can see what happened as a blessing. We all played together. Everyone played hard."
There is no doubt that the Rockets players feel relief after getting rid of the burden and tension created by the presence of the unsatisfied Arden, who in the background is the cloud around his departure and his bitterness.
Demarcus Cousins complained about his attitude, yesterday Eric Gordon said that "it frees us up and allows us to move forward, now we have a real direction", John Wall has already said that "it is difficult to succeed when there are players in the team who constantly say I am me", and if this season Houston is on a 6: 2 balance with Harden, tonight has already gone up to 0: 2 without him.
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Determined, focused.
The Rockets (Photo: Reuters)
Tonight they played without John Wall (knee pain), Eric Gordon (stretch) and Victor Oladipo who has yet to join.
Meaning: The nine winning roster players together earn $ 34.9 million - 6 less than Harden's annual salary.
"We believe in team spirit, it's something we talk about a lot," said Stephen Silas, who must have been relieved after getting rid of Harden who expressed distrust in him, "tonight the players fought for each other. We were determined."
But Harden's departure, it turns out, affected not only Houston but also Ben Simmons, who reportedly swung in Philadelphia in the U.S. and could have left in a trade with Houston. Simmons admitted he had read quite a few rumors about his possible departure as part of the C.J. Sixers general manager Daryl Murray teamed up with Harden, with whom he teamed up in Houston.But Philadelphia preferred to keep Simmons, and tonight the team defeated Miami 108-112, with Simmons finishing with a triple-double - 10 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists. Asked if the rumors about him and Arden were already behind him, Simmons replied: "I know, it's the business.
Such things happen.
The only thing I can control is my attitude in training, the games, the things I do routinely.
Azani tries to stay a professional and help my team. "
Simmons makes it clear that what he went through is not so dramatic." Overall I am lucky, I get to play the game I love, every day I am at the highest level there is ... there are worse things Happening in the world.
It is a blessing for me to be in this situation.
If you had told me I could never play again, that would have been a different story. "
new way.
Simmons (Photo: AP, Frank Franklin II)
A man after taking advantage of Harden's departure and making it a success is Mark Phillips, a logger who uploads videos to the web, who after the trade created a video in which he imitates LeBron James reacting angrily to the deal.
In a video uploaded by Phillips to Baron he goes on to discover that Harden has moved on to play with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, starts throwing balls in training, yells at his friends and shouts, "Is this James with Durant and Kyrie ?! I'm 36! I'm 36! Why is everyone against me? I'm not? "Thanos! Stop throwing bullets at me! I just defeated the Warriors!"
Thanos is the villain in the Marvel movies, and in fact his name also became a trend on Twitter for a few hours.
The video was a huge success, but has already become a hit after LeBron James himself re-tweeted it, amused by the matter.
Within a day, the video gained 12 million views on a Philips account, and another 5 million on YouTube and Instagram.
"I was in the market," Phillips said, "when I saw he tweeted it I roared with joy, I did it."
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