HOUSTON — James Harden has been scoring at a pace not seen since Wilt Chamberlain in the 1960s.

He doesn’t want to talk about it, of course. He never does, whether things are going well or not. But it is clear he is enjoying this because his scoring outburst has coincided with Houston climbing the standings, back among the top teams in the Western Conference after an early-season slump.

“I love to hoop,” he said. “I love to just be out there and the grind.”

He scored 40 points in Houston’s win over Orlando on Sunday night to extend his stretch of consecutive 30-point games to 23, the fourth-longest streak in NBA history behind three such streaks by Chamberlain. In 13 games this month, last season’s MVP is averaging 44.1 points. He has scored at least 40 points in eight games in January, including two 50-point games and a franchise-record 61 in a win over the Knicks.