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James Harden played for exactly 21 minutes in his preseason debut with the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night and, despite missing the start of training camp while being pictured out in Atlanta and Las Vegas, the star guard says he was actually training.
In his first media availability of the new season, Harden was asked about his recent trips to Atlanta and Las Vegas, where he was seen out partying, leading to him missing his first individual workout and forced him to wait for six consecutive negative COVID-19 tests before being able to join the team.
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"I was just training," he said briefly.
He was asked to dive more into his answer.
"The start of the NBA season," he replied
Harden was pictured celebrating Lil Baby’s birthday in Atlanta, not socially distancing and without a mask, days before camp started. The eight-time NBA All-Star was then spotted partying in Las Vegas that same weekend -- again with no mask.
Reporters continued to press Harden about how being in Atlanta and Vegas could prepare him for the season and he answered: "Just, you know, my personal trainers."
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Harden scored 12 points in 21 minutes as the Rockets beat the San Antonio Spurs 112-98 on Tuesday. He checked out for the final time with 5:02 left in the third quarter, having missed his final four shots.
When asked about his performance, Harden said he "felt good" for his first time back.
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"I can only focus on right now, and for me, the best James Harden is making sure I'm in shape," he said, via ESPN. "Like I said, I hadn't even had an opportunity to play 5-on-5. Individual workouts, when you do individual basketball training, is great, but as every NBA player can agree, there's nothing like 5-on-5 training, the physicality, making reads and things like that. Yesterday for my first time being out there, I felt good, and that's exciting."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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