WARNING: THE TAKES ARE HOT
The Rockets lost to the Spurs by 39 points at home in an elimination game. It was bad. Like, really bad. James Harden scored only 10 points and didn’t even make a field goal in the first half. The Spurs didn’t even have Kawhi Leonard and still wreaked that kind of havoc.
We all were a bit confused at how the Rockets could be that bad but Stephen A. Smith took it to another level after the game, making all sorts of wild accusations.
“I don’t know what happened. I don’t know how to explain it. There needs to be an investigation. Somebody might have slipped something into his drink, somebody might have done something to him. I have no clue, but it is not James Harden. That was not James Harden that showed up for the Houston Rockets tonight. Somebody with his jersey showed up, it wasn’t him. I cannot believe what I saw.”
This is potentially one of the hottest hot takes I’ve ever heard. There is no way he can even believe what he’s saying here, and he probably hasn’t for years. He literally accused someone of slipping something into Harden’s drink or that maybe a James Harden clone was out there. This whole thing was not okay on a lot of levels, but mostly, just take it easy, Stephen A. Harden played a horrible game, but it was him, through and through.