Practice ends with the customary gathering at midcourt for a few words and a group shout of “one, two, three Rockets.”

Now, it’s time to go to work.

The previous 90 minutes were not wasted, filled with drills and instructions sorely missed during the heavy demands of an NBA schedule. But the practice still was not enough.

James Harden lifted his season to record-book standards by working overtime. When asked what triggered the run unsurpassed in his career and in some ways in NBA history, Harden said he knew but would not say. But Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni revealed Harden took his conditioning “to another level.”

Harden comes in early to do extra lifting. He runs the arena stairs before video sessions. On game days, he has added a morning session of treatment and stretching. And when each practice ends, Harden joins teammates Gerald Green, Danuel House Jr. and P.J. Tucker for one-on-one battles, sparring sessions in which the sparring partners hit back.

“He’s bringing his ‘A’ game,” House said of those competitions. “Of course, there is no referee so everybody gets real physical.”

Harden was not out of shape before he cranked up the workouts. At the time, he led the NBA in scoring for a second consecutive season.

He has long been compulsive about never changing his training routines, never sitting out a game or practice. He was the last holdout when the Rockets all but eliminated morning walk-throughs. (They have held two shootaround this season.) His shooting drills remain largely unchanged from when he arrived from Oklahoma City in 2012.

Yet, he has increasingly added to his regimen, especially this season when the Rockets got off to a stumbling start.

“Every day, man,” Harden said. “I love doing it. I’m happy to be playing professional basketball and I would never take it for granted. So every day, I put the work in and I expect good results. And it’s happening.”

Road map to the greats

It’s happening beyond anything before, with 10 consecutive 30-point games, an NBA record eight straight with at least 35 points and five assists and a career-high four in a row with at least 40 points. He joined Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan as the only players in his lifetime to score at least 400 points in a span of 10 games.

The run, D’Antoni said, began when the workouts increased.

“Especially now, he sees that we can win the title,” D’Antoni said. “We could have won one last year. We’re as good as we were last year. This is a big moment for him to do that extra stuff he’s doing — eating right, getting in great shape — that’s what makes him so valuable. He does what he needs to do.”

Harden has never done more, starting long before he arrives at the arena, from cutting out most processed and fast foods to the extra workouts.

Much is just from his ambition, undiminished by last season’s MVP or scoring title, “to be mentioned with the greats.”

“That’s what I put my jersey on for,” Harden said, “what I lace my shoes up for — to be the best I can be. When it’s all said and done, be mentioned as one of the best players to ever touch a basketball.”

As with the Rockets’ championship aspirations, Harden adds that to reach those lofty goals he “has a long way to go.” He has settled on a road map to get there.

“At his level, he’s competing against himself and the game,” Rockets vice president and athletic trainer Keith Jones said. “I think he just competes to get better. It’s a whole other level physically and mentally. I mean, how do you get better than MVP? He’s out there working on it every day.

“He’s smarter about taking care of his body. There’s no pulling him out of games because he’ll fight you on that, but he’s gotten better at that. In practice, James practices harder than anybody. He comes in, won’t sit, always gets his extra shooting in. On the road, we have to wait for him to finish. At home, he’s the last one to finish. He comes in at night sometimes with his guys and gets more shots up. He’s not where he is by accident.

“His diet, he has a chef and eats a lot better, a lot cleaner to fuel himself. His massages and stretching, we don’t have shootaround so he comes in to get stretched and body work done and ice his knees. … Every year he evolves and it gets better and better for him.”

All of that has built a game unlike any others, filled with crossover dribbles that can only be mastered in drills, and step-back 3-pointers he has incorporated into those shooting drills. This is not uncommon for the league’s top players. Harden has cited the examples of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook when they were all together in Oklahoma City. Stephen Curry’s regimen is well-known. Jordan had his “breakfast club” workouts.

Rarely have the results of training done in private been as clear on the floor.

“With James getting so many double-teams and having to handle the ball and work to get his own stuff, having to work against Gerald, against P.J. against guys like that in a confined space, you learn even more how to get your shot off,” Rockets director of player development John Lucas said. ’“I told him I never thought anybody got three MVPs in a row. It turns out Larry Bird got ’84, '85 and ’86.

“Now, James should have had two in a row right now. He has got to be in the conversation of MVP now. He’s on another level right now. And I think there is another level in James. We talk about our turnaround. The biggest thing in our turnaround is him.”

Teammates benefit

D’Antoni said having the NBA’s reigning MVP running stairs is a good influence, but quickly added that he has a lot of that on the roster, citing the drive and leadership of Chris Paul and Tucker. Still, every day after practice, the player with the most on his shoulders piles on more.

“He kind of raised everybody’s level up and gets to the games in better shape,” Lucas said. “This is something he really wanted to do and it’s taken off from there for him. It’s helped Tuck. It’s helped Danuel House and Gerald Green. It’s really competitive. It really helps. A big part of our offense is iso, so it makes sense. They make him compete so hard, the games are easy.”

jonathan.feigen@chron.com

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