Houston Rockets star James Harden is making a solid case for a second consecutive NBA MVP award.

In Houston's 111-105 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday, the 29-year-old dropped a career-high 61 points, including nine-of-13 shooting from beyond the arc.

Harden now holds all five of the Rockets' best single-game scoring performances.

His 61 points match the Rockets' record he set on January 23 against the New York Knicks.

He also sits third, fourth and fifth on the list with games of 60, 58 and 58 points, all played since the start of the 2017-18 season.

For good measure, Harden has seven of Houston's top eight scoring performances of all time.

Calvin Murphy is the only player in the top eight not named Harden as he scored 57 points during the 1977-78 season.

Harden is now averaging 36.1 points this season, which leads the league.

If he were to stay above 36 points per game for the season, he would be the first player to do so since Michael Jordan averaged 37.1 in 1986-87.