Top 5 drug testing performances of the NBA season

2. James Harden’s 53-16-17

Like Russell Westbrook, it would be fair to test James Harden after every game. But he really should have been tested after putting up 53 points, 16 rebounds, and 17 assists against the Knicks. We have to dock Harden a little bit considering that it came against New York, but that’s still an insane stat line.

Harden’s performance in this game is considered the most efficient performance of the season by ESPN’s Efficiency metric at 98.5. I don’t know how trustworthy this metric is, but 14-26 shooting, 9-16 on 3-pointers, and 16-18 from the line seems pretty efficient to me. And, really, if a guy posts a 53-16-17 line in victory, do people outside of Westbrook haters really care about the efficiency of the performance?

If I ask 100 girls to prom, and 20 say yes, 20 percent efficiency doesn’t sound very good. But I have 20 dates to prom. So what do I care about efficiency? I have 20 dates to the prom. Those efficient losers who only asked one girl, who said yes, only have one date. Twenty dates on 20 percent efficiency is greater than one date on 100 percent efficiency.

Not only would I have tested Harden after this game, I would have made him take a lie detector test. No real reason, I just think Harden is one of the more fascinating players in the game and would like to ask him a series of questions. Here are the things that I would have been most curious about following the game:

*Do you feel bad for New York fans?

*Who does your beard?

*Would you blame Dwight Howard or Khloe Kardashian more for last season?

*You had no steals or blocks. Did you even play defense?