During Wednesday night's final slate of NBA games, two NBA stars made history to finish their seasons. The Houston Rockets hosted the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Toyota Center with NBA MVP candidate James Harden under the spotlight. Also continuing to make a name for himself in the early stages of his career is big man Karl-Anthony Towns of the Timberwolves. Both players achieved a set of statistics for the 2016-17 NBA regular season that no other player had done so far. Here's a look at what each accomplished.
Harden propels Rockets to win
All season-long, James Harden had been putting in some major effort and it translated to success for this Rockets team.
On Wednesday night, he achieved a triple-double at home for the final game of the season. Harden racked up 27 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists to help his team win 123-118 over visiting Minnesota.
Not only did Harden get a triple-double and a win to close the season, he made history with the stats he put up for his individual season. Harden became the first player in NBA history to record at least 2,000 points, 900 assists, and 600 rebounds. Harden officially had 2,356 points, 907 assists, and 659 rebounds.
Houston finished the season with the No. 3 seed entering the 2017 NBA Playoffs and will host the Oklahoma City Thunder. In their first-round series, James Harden will look to show why he believes he's the "real MVP" when they take on Russell Westbrook and the Thunder.
Timberwolves' rising star
While he's yet to make the NBA All-Star team, Karl Anthony-Towns' time is coming. The young Minnesota Timberwolves star has been putting up impressive numbers night in and night out for his team. In Wednesday's game, he finished with a hefty double-double of 28 points and 21 rebounds. Towns made his own unique history as the first-ever NBA player to record at least 2,000 points along with 1,000 rebounds and 100 3-pointers in a season.
He officially ended this season with 2,061 points to go with 1,007 rebounds and 101 three-pointers made.
The skills and versatility of this former Kentucky star are certainly improving each and every time he steps out on the court. While Minnesota failed to make the NBA playoffs, they have a young and talented team that is right on the cusp.
Current NBA mock draft projections speculate that Minnesota could get the No. 6 pick in June's draft which could bring them another young Kentucky star -- guard Malik Monk. The future looks bright for this team based on its corps of young talent.