Author: Matt Eppers, USA TODAY

James Harden is still on a historic scoring tear, Chris Paul is back from injury and the Houston Rockets are rounding into top contender form.

Love or hate his style of play, James Harden is on a historic scoring streak the likes of which we haven’t seen in the NBA in over half a century.

Rather than the Lakers’ gold game shorts, Michael Beasley still had on black practice shorts when he tried to check in Thursday against the Thunder.

James Harden poured in a season-high 57 points for the short-handed Rockets, setting a modern-era record with his 17th straight game with at least 30.

The Lakers may be struggling without injured LeBron James, but Kobe Bryant believes they will be just fine once they get back to full strength.

Already stumbling without the injured LeBron James, the Lakers had their worst shooting game of the season and lost a 108-86 rout to the T’wolves.

Klay Thompson broke out of a scoring slump for the Warriors and had some words of encouragement for his shooting hand.

Thomas Bryant scored 31 points on 14-for-14 shooting, the seventh game in NBA history in which a player made at least 14 field goals without a miss.

Markelle Fultz’s status has been the biggest— and strangest— mystery of the season. 76ers GM Elton Brand did little to shed any light on things.