James Harden went out with some friends after Thursday night’s obliteration. Somebody’s birthday party here:

The old school/stereotypical Philly fan reaction would be something like, “look at him out partying after a loss, he doesn’t care.” Your uncle is dialing up Angelo Cataldi to complain, because Harden should be working on his game, or sulking at home, or whatever. It was always an optics thing, i.e. giving the impression that wins and losses don’t mean anything to you.*

Alas, I don’t think people care about this stuff as much as they used to. Athletes play tons of games every year. They’re not gonna go home and brood after every loss. In Harden’s case, he’s a noted club guy, so if anything, this is normal routine for him. Get him into a familiar environment and blow off some steam. Order a $1,000 steak or do a birthday party for some auto tune mumble rapper. You do you. Then we’ll get it back to basketball on Saturday and watch the film and figure out what went wrong against Brooklyn.

*Optics do matter, but only to an extent. We’re talking about the formulation of public perception here, regardless of whether going to the club has any legitimate impact on your on-court performance. It’s more of a peripheral thing.

EDIT – good take here from Mullin: