HOUSTON -- James Harden was at midcourt of the Toyota Center, holding the ball on his hip as the final buzzer sounded Wednesday night. He hugged rapper and Houston native Travis Scott as the final score read Houston 110, Denver 104.

Harden put on another strong performance, scoring 31 points with 10 assists and seven rebounds, and the Houston Rockets clinched the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.

While Russell Westbrook was scoring 45 points and falling one rebound shy of what would have been his NBA record 42nd triple-double of the season Wednesday night in Memphis, Harden was just doing what he has been doing all year.

James Harden insists that he'll have the strength to shine in the playoffs despite enduring another grueling regular season workload. Troy Taormina/USA TODAY Sports

“The greatest player of all time, the MVP, Most Valuable Player of the league,” Scott told ESPN. “He’s one of the more hardest working players I know in life. I’ve been trying to get him to go out, but all he wants to do is go out and play f---ing basketball all day. He’s amazing.”

When Scott, who, of course, has a dog in this fight, was asked if the MVP race was close, he said, “Are you kidding me? What race are we talking about?”

Harden recorded his 61st double-double of the season. He added three blocks, making him the second player since the 1983-84 season to have three games with at least 30 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and three blocks shots. LeBron James, who did it five times, is the only other player to do that in that span.

It appears Harden’s game and numbers have made a substantial impact, arguably as much as Westbrook has in his historic season.

“The numbers are very close,” Rockets guard Eric Gordon said. “Westbrook might average two points more or two rebounds more. That’s not really much. Both having fantastic years. No way, I don’t believe, there’s no way [Harden] would straight up lose it.”

Some believed Harden was leading the MVP race as the season entered the final few weeks. But a March 18 wrist injury sapped him of his ability to shoot well on a consistent basis. Still, Harden has performed well in the final stretch of the season, though Westbrook has made the race interesting.

In his past nine games before Wednesday, Westbrook averaged 30.9 points, 11.7 rebounds and 11.1 assists while shooting 46 percent from the floor.

Harden played in seven games in that span -- he missed Sunday’s contest at Phoenix with the flu -- and averaged 30 points, seven rebounds and 10.7 assists with a 40 percent shooting percentage despite nursing a sore wrist.

Are the numbers the same?

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The shooting percentage favors Westbrook, but Harden played hurt. Westbrook’s team went 5-4 since the night Harden was hurt. The Rockets went 4-3 since March 18.

Is the race close? The Rockets believe it isn’t. Is this fun for Harden, going up against a childhood friend in Westbrook?

“Yeah, of course it’s fun to be in the MVP race, period,” he said. “I just focus on winning games and playing and making sure we’re in the right mindset and we’re in the right vibe and right energy going into these next four games and going into what really counts.”

What really counts is the playoffs, and the Thunder and Rockets appear headed for a first-round matchup. By that time, the MVP voting will be over, though the results won’t be known until late June. Has Harden done enough?

“There’s no way he can’t get it,” Gordon said of Harden. “It’s just absolutely no way. You look at history, when you have a guy almost averaging a triple-double and winning games, you can’t take that away from him. Yeah, Westbrook is averaging a triple-double -- that is a crazy stat. [But] there is definitely no way [Harden] won’t be on that MVP.”