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James Harden sends Ricky Rubio to the floor for a stepback 3

As the NBA's leading scorer, Houston Rockets star James Harden has made defenders look silly with some regularity this season. But few have looked quite as awkward as Ricky Rubio on one possession in the third quarter of Monday night's game between the Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves at the Toyota Center.

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With the clock running down at the end of the period, Harden isolated Rubio and dropped him to one knee with a succession of dribbles moves. He then calmly stepped back and drained a three-pointer to add insult to injury. Take a look:

The amazing thing here is that Harden doesn't even seem to be exerting himself especially strongly on the play. He's like one of those martial arts masters whose skill manifests itself in his economy of motion. There are no wasted movements on this play, and Rubio seems to be working so much harder than the guy he's guarding. Harden is in control throughout — he does only as much as necessary.

This play was only one of Harden's highlights on the night. He finished with 29 points, 11 boards, and 10 assists for his second triple-double of 2014-15 (and fourth of his career) in Houston's 113-102 victory over Minnesota. It looks increasingly likely that Harden will be among the top two or three MVP candidates in the NBA straight through the end of the regular season.

Meanwhile, likely Rookie of the Year Andrew Wiggins rang in his 20th birthday in style with 30 points on 12-of-24 shooting. No player has ever scored that many points while celebrating his 20th. Unfortunately for the Wolves, his strong performance could not make up for their 33.3 percent shooting from the field.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!