
James Harden is feeling pretty good about his team right now.
His expectations are sky high.
"This is the year. For sure," Harden told Jovan Buha of ESPN.com.
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You can't really blame The Beard for feeling this way.
[WARRIORS OUTSIDERS PODCAST: Michael Wilbon says many players think Rockets better than Warriors]
The Rockets (47-13) lead the Warriors (47-14) for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
Houston also owns the tiebreaker because they took two of three from Golden State this season.
Then there's these facts:
Back in 2012, Harden played on the 2012 Thunder squad with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka that reached the NBA Finals.
Yet...
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"This is probably the best team I've ever been a part of, from top to bottom," Harden told ESPN. "The chemistry that we have, included with the coaching staff -- I mean, we're having a lot of fun."
In addition to the team success this year, Harden is the front-runner for MVP.
He's averaging 31.4 points, 8.9 assists, 5.2 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game, while shooting over 38 percent from deep.
And in case you missed it:
Drew Shiller is the co-host of Warriors Outsiders. Follow him on Twitter @DrewShiller