With 42 points in Tuesday’s win, Houston Rockets star James Harden is now just the fourth player in league history to score 40 or more points in three consecutive games against the Boston Celtics.

Harden joins NBA legends Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Wilt Chamberlain, who did it twice. The Celtics are arguably the league’s most storied franchise, with the most titles (17) of any team.

Led by current head coach Brad Stevens and wing defenders such as Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, and Jayson Tatum, Boston has had the NBA’s No. 3 defense (in net rating) this season and the No. 6 unit a year ago. That makes Harden’s numbers all the more impressive.

Harden scored his 42 points Tuesday on just 19 shots, headlined by a 7-of-16 showing (43.8%) on 3-pointers. The eight-time All-Star and 2018 MVP also got to the free-throw line 18 times, making 17 (94.4%).

Most importantly, Harden’s numbers came in a win by the Rockets (34-20), who now enter the All-Star break with considerable momentum, having won five of their last seven games. Tuesday’s victory at Toyota Center snapped a seven-game winning streak by the Celtics (37-16).

After going through a lengthy slump in January, Harden has now scored 40 or more points in three of his six games in February, and he’s exceeded 47% shooting from the field in four of them. He’s also averaging 8.3 assists per game this month, up from 6.5 in January.

For the 2019-20 season to date, Harden leads the league in scoring by a wide margin at 35.3 points per game.

Last year, Harden also led the NBA at a career-high 36.1 points per game, and he was even better versus Boston — with an average of 43.5 points (43.9% shooting) against the Celtics in their two meetings.

It’s been an impressive turnaround against the likes of Smart and Brown, especially when considering that in the 2017-18 season two years ago, Harden shot just 28.9% from the field versus Boston.

Harden’s numbers have consistently boosted his team, since the Rockets have now beaten the Celtics four straight times. They’ll look to extend that streak later this month, when Houston makes a return visit to Boston on Feb. 29. That Saturday night game is a national broadcast on ABC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-E_GevYZr8