HOUSTON – As the charter flight carried James Harden and three players out of Oklahoma City, out of championship contention, there resonated no nostalgia within him. No hesitation. No regret. For all the insistence that Harden had been devastated over the deal to the Houston Rockets, Cole Aldrich witnessed something else on the private jet whisking them into a Texas sky: a stony, steely resolve.

Before that jet ever touched down in Houston, Harden made a vow to Aldrich: "We're going to change this city."

Harden's time with the Thunder conditioned him to say "we" in the presence of his teammates, but Aldrich and everyone else knows the truth: Harden, most of all, is going to transform the Rockets. His team, his time.

Out of the smoky introductions on Saturday night, out of general manager Daryl Morey's wildest star-chasing dreams, Harden marched into the Toyota Center with a compilation of credibility to proclaim ownership of the campaign season's most worn-out term: change.

From doubts over his worthiness of a five-year, $80 million maximum contract to his legitimacy as a franchise star, Harden delivered a sledgehammer of 37 and 45 points in consecutive Rockets' victories over Detroit and Atlanta.

"He's come in with a chip on his shoulder, and it's been incredible for us," one Rockets official said.

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The franchise and Harden knew this was no fairytale, that his and the Rockets' sloppy, disjointed performance in a 95-85 overtime loss to the Portland Trail Blazers was inevitable, and part of the painful process of rebooting a team into playoff contention. For all his shooting struggles, he still had the ball in his hands, the clock ticking down on regulation and a chance to deliver on the drama. When Harden tried to make his move, Wesley Matthews slapped the ball away and soon overtime belonged to the Blazers.

When his first loss as the face of the franchise was over, the routine had changed for Harden. No more Kevin Durant. No more Russell Westbrook. Everyone had come to his locker, wondering where the magic had gone in his game on this night, the explosion to the rim, the legs to make a jumper. After a torrid start to Saturday night, Harden jammed an ankle, hobbled on his way to missing 16 of 24 shots, turned the ball over five times, and yet: No one cares and no one wants to hear it.

The franchise star just stands there, and says what Harden did: "I don't make excuses. I had opportunities to make plays and make shots, and I just didn't."

To Harden, the Rockets looked "clueless" on offense, and the solution was simple: They need practice time together, need to learn each other. Left behind in Oklahoma City had been remarkable talent and chemistry. The process of bringing that culture to Houston started where Morey and coach Kevin McHale believed it would: behind the scenes, where no one else was watching Harden.

When Harden walked into practice for the first time a week earlier, he introduced himself to teammates with a strong dose of that daily Oklahoma City culture: Tuck in your shirts, fellas, and let's get to work. When Rockets assistant coach Kelvin Sampson went over the Portland scouting report before Saturday's game in the locker room, there suddenly rose a most patient arm into the air.

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