I shamelessly took this from Reddit. Credit to u/mlbjj and u/TroyAtWork. I know we all know it's untrue because we witness his greatness on a regular basis, but it's nice to see the data back us up. Updated Numbers: Spoiler Stephen Curry: 24.74 (↑1 compared to overall PPG leaderboard) James Harden: 22.56 (↓1) LeBron James: 22.47 (↑2) Kevin Durant: 21.93 (↓1) Anthony Davis: 21.00 (↓1) Klay Thompson: 20.57 (↑12) Kawhi Leonard: 20.46 (↑2) Damian Lillard: 20.38 (↓1) Paul George: 20.36 (↑2) Giannis Antetokounmpo: 20.23 (↓2) Kyrie Irving: 19.93 (↑6) Kemba Walker: 19.72 (no change) Blake Griffin: 19.58 (↓3) Devin Booker: 19.50 (↓1) Bradley Beal: 19.47 (↑1) CJ McCollum: 19.18 (↑3) Joel Embiid: 18.77 (↓11) Zach LaVine: 18.54 (↓4) Nikola Vucevic: 18.21 (↑8) DeMar DeRozan: 18.07 (↓5)
he does live at the line, but that’s because no one can guard him and defenders can’t stop fouling him...I’ve never seen a player get hit on the arm during a jump shot or drive as much as Harden, and these dumb defenders won’t give him space to land when he’s taking jumpers idiot casual fans and the media think Harden is flopping to 10+ freethrows a night and is getting whistled for contact that isn’t there...they really believe he’s tricking the refs lmao this is dispelling the belief fools have that Harden can’t score or wouldn’t be that good without free throws
That is basically it They cannot play him without fouling him It seems everyone wants to be able to mug him all the time Rocket River
Harden's the craftiest player in NBA history. The media hasn't accepted this. How do u guard him closely when you dont know if he'll throw his body into you, or get you moving forward then stepback on you. You literally don't know what he's gonna do
James Harden is a dynamic player. To say he lives at the free throw line isn't fair. If you've ever played any RPG's he's like a player that knows a decent set of attacks and each one has the ability to poison. It's the constant pain of the poisoning that eats away hit point by hit point, all the while he still carries on his attack. His ability to get fouled and score also helps the rockets get other teams in the penalty earlier, thereby making his teammates attacks stronger too. Harden can drive, he can shoot, he can pass, and he can at times lock down and play some pretty awesome defense. People hate this. Juxtapose that to Curry. Curry knows one attack, it almost always is a crit hit if it connects too. But that's all he knows. He is the purest shooter we have seen in the game and could give the globetrotters a run for their money. The issue is, that's all he is. Don't get me wrong, his attack is otherworldly, but that's the only one he really knows. Fans love that because at the end of the day it's more entertaining to see. I don't blame them. Watching a team fall to a thousand scratches isn't nearly as entertaining as watching a team fall to their heads being cut off. But hey, a win is a win.
What's lost on the media and casual fans who only look at 2 second clips of Harden to judge his game is that Harden actually probably doesn't go to the line enough. He attacks the rim more than just about any player in the league. The amount of no-calls he gets is something you'll never hear anybody talk about.
even a cursory glance at statistics (or common sense) would correct that sentiment. which is why it's so obnoxious that 95% of non-Rockets homers believe it's true. people will focus on the step back move rather than that off-hand slam, the draining of 3s, the complete dominance over whoever thinks they can actually check him, the kalima/templeofdoom/heart ripping he did at the end, that he's a good teammate and leader, etc. why is it that the commonly held beliefs of James Harden are almost entirely 100% inaccurate? He doesn't shoot a lot of free throws because he flops around. He shoots a lot of free throws because he has better handles and body control than anyone can stay in front of defensively. People still think they can block his step back, so they're right under him when he lands and IT IS A FOUL EVERY TIME. Is this really a secret? Hands up, don't jump, hope he misses his shots. That's how you defend prime-time Harden. Hope. The desperation of casual commentary is reaching new heights, where obvious foul calls are drawing this much ire.
One of the things the national media never talks about with Harden is his WILLINGNESS to put his body in harms way. He attacks the basket more than any other player. And goes out of his way to extend his arms to BAIT defenders. That is not trickery. That is exposing your body to harm and he accepts the damage. He accepts the damage on his body on a nightly basis for his team so the team can win games. Harden ENJOYS playing in tight spaces. Most players are uncomfortable with this. Harden ENJOYS shooting 3's with a player RIGHT UP IN HIM. Harden is willing to shoot 3's, knowing (and perhaps expecting) that a player will CROWD HARDEN'S SPACE and get into Harden's landing zone. Basically Harden puts himself in danger every night of a Kawhi/ZaZa situation. NO ONE TALKS ABOUT THIS. But he is doing it. Harden is a F-ing bull. It is a shame people don't laud him for putting his body on the line every night. Instead, he gets branded a cheater. All the while there are TONS of players deciding to take jump shots later in games to avoid bodily harm.
If Curry did the things James does to get to the line, BSPN would fall all over itself posting daily articles that painstakingly break down movement, angles, statistics and anything else to prove his brilliant guile. Then we would get a Riley Curry cuteness-update. James, though?: "Shouldn't that be traveling?!!"
Bottom line is, I don't care. I don't care if he actually flops. I don't care if he tricks defenders. I don't care if he draws fouls through technicalities. I don't care if it's actually a foul or not. I don't care if your friends or message boards or the media are attacking him and you're too insecure to deal with that. I don't care at all. All I care about is that - in exchange for poor defense and $35m - we are getting historic offensive output through him. Which we are. The moment he starts taking low efficiency shots or focusing more on how things look than how things are, then we - the Rockets - have a problem. Everything else is irrelevant. If I'm the GM/Coach of another team and they have a player who can do what Harden does and they don't do it out of their alleged respect for the game, I would berate that guy. James Harden is averaging 30ppg and 8-9 assists over 4 seasons on 20 shots and has played in over 90% of games. If anyone acts like that's easy or that they choose not to do it, you can tell them to go f*ck themselves.
https://stats.nba.com/players/drives/?sort=DRIVE_FGA&dir=1 Harden is also #1 is drives per game #1 in FGA off drives #1 in 3P FGA (often shoots with defender smothering him) Additionally he shoots technicals, violations, and late game intentional fouls, those can add up. He's at almost 19 drives per game. Compared to... Curry 9 Durant 9 Kyrie 10 Lebron 12 Kawhi 13 Giannis 14 Derozan 19
Not exactly. He is averaging more points per game on average than only 4 other seasons by players in the last 30 years. And two of those seasons are within 6 one hundreds of a point and 4 one hundreds of a point. So he does live at the line. He also just scores a crap ton of points in other ways as well. Another side note is two of those seasons in where in where it is higher than Harden are on a point per game basis are from Harden’s Thunder teammates Durant and Westbrook.
Wish this was spread all over espn and youtube since all basic fans always trashing Harden saying he gets all his points from free throws. Haterssss
This is true. He could be at the line a lot more if they called everything. Then people say he won’t get those calls in the playoffs, that’s true but a foul is a foul no matter what time of the season it is.
