James Harden now holds the record for most playoff games without an NBA title
In the 186th playoff game of his NBA career, Al Horford won his first NBA championship. The Celtics capturing the 2024 title took Horford off an ignominious list, as Boston coming up short this year would have almost certainly (eventually) vaulted him past Karl Malone (193) for most career playoff games without a championship. After the game, Horford was understandably excited to finally get his first ring, 17 years into his NBA career: But with Horford winning a championship, James Harden ended up taking a crown no player wants: His 166 career playoff games without a ring is now not just fourth all-time in NBA history, but the most of any active NBA player. Per StatMuse, the next closest is… his former Rockets teammate Chris Paul, with 149.
Source: SB Nation
Source: SB Nation
What’s the buzz on Twitter?
CBS NBA @CBSSportsNBA
Celtics’ Al Horford finally wins first NBA title, removes name from list featuring Karl Malone, James Harden
cbssports.com/nba/news/celti… – 1:23 AM
Celtics’ Al Horford finally wins first NBA title, removes name from list featuring Karl Malone, James Harden
cbssports.com/nba/news/celti… – 1:23 AM
Jorge Sierra @hoopshype
MOST PLAYOFF WINS WITHOUT A TITLE
Karl Malone: 98
John Stockton: 89
Sam Perkins: 88
JAMES HARDEN: 87
One Finals loss away from No. 1 all-time. – 1:11 AM
MOST PLAYOFF WINS WITHOUT A TITLE
Karl Malone: 98
John Stockton: 89
Sam Perkins: 88
JAMES HARDEN: 87
One Finals loss away from No. 1 all-time. – 1:11 AM
More on this storyline
Law Murray: Now that Al Horford got his championship in his 186th playoff game The player *still playing* with the most postseason games without the ring is James Harden at 166 -via Twitter @LawMurrayTheNU / June 17, 2024
ClutchPoints: “James Harden, not even close… With [him], you never had to fix the laces… The only thing you had to do was just shoot it… But with Paul George, he throws that motherf*cker like you don’t know how fast it is.” — Patrick Beverley 😅 pic.twitter.com/YRsfjSD53S -via Twitter @ClutchPointsApp / June 12, 2024
Trevor Ariza on the best scorer he played with: “James Harden, for sure. He figured out how to score the basketball. He got it. He had it. The shithe was doing was just… it was crazy. Just being on the court, sometimes you kind of fall asleep just watching, bro, like damn, yeah, he really did that (…) It’s kind of like Luka right now.” -via YouTube / June 12, 2024