Harden had 18 free throw attempts en route to 36 points.
New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony has revealed his frustration with calls from the officials during the loss to the Houston Rockets on Thursday night.
While Melo had 11 free throw attempts at Madison Square Garden during the 109-106 defeat, Harden was able to get to the line on a consistent basis with 18 attempts of his own.
The Rockets guard led the NBA in that category last season, and is currently third this year while he went 16-of-18 from the line on Thursday.
Anthony was undoubtedly irked by some of the calls being made as the Knicks slipped to their fourth home defeat of the season, and while part of it is down to Harden’s aggressive nature in getting to the basket, critics suggest he gets the majority of calls in his favour.
“You look at that and you see the way that some guys get their calls; me, I got to get cut, you’ve got to see blood for me to get a call down there,” Anthony said, as quoted by ESPN.
“That’s where the frustration comes from.”
The Knicks forward was also denied a four-point play near the conclusion of the game which would have given his team the lead heading into the final few seconds.
However, Harden was adjudged to have fouled him before continuation of the shot and Anthony was sent to the line where he hit two free throws with time remaining for Houston to widen the gap.
The 29-year-old scored a season-high 45 points in the defeat, and will hope to dismiss the disappointment of Thursday as soon as possible and re-focus on helping the Knicks climb the Eastern Conference.
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