And? It is a team sport. Offenses and defenses have roles. When a person is not there to do their role, the offense is going to look bad. When 2 are gone, worse. When 3 are gone, it is going to be a ****ing struggle. We are missing open 3s, turning the ball over.
It's never okay to be upset. It's just a game. Not life or death. Get a grip. Who the hell am I kidding? Be upset as you please. Your right as a fan to be/get upset!
It's a team effort. I'm sure if Lin or Parsons were out there and they're being double-teamed, they would also find life difficult.
Harden's the star player, but when he's dominating the ball he's playing like a Point Guard, so teams are defending him like a Point Guard. They're basically playing him tight, double/triple teaming, and forcing the ball out of his hand and daring the rest of the team to beat them. The same as a smart defense would do if it was just Lin on the floor, or Rubio, or anyone else. As good as Harden is, he can't do it alone. He's not strong enough as a facilitator to play the pure PG role, and he's too good a scorer that you don't want him in that position anyway. This is where Parsons and Lin come in. They can take some of the facilitation load off Harden, thus giving him the opportunity to exploit mismatches and single coverage more often. Just some thoughts.
Harden is a ball stopper. Period. All he does is stand around and ask for the ball these days. There is very little off the ball movement. Even on some breaks when we are pushing the pace he will stop and call for the ball. Dive to the rim. Draw defenders in. Cut. Move. Set the ****ing tone.
Problem is without Parsons or Lin while Harden is struggling, we have little offense -- unless AB can get hot. Besides, I don't really consider going iso-mode and taking ill-advised 3s "playing hard". Not to mention, he's been blown by several times on D, not because he can't keep in front of his man, but because he does that damn let-the-man-go-then-try-to-poke-the-ball-away-from-behind defense.
I think torocan nailed it on the head. With Casspi, Garcia, and Bev all not making shots Harden has no space to work. AB0 is an option...but Harden + AB is a terrible backcourt defensively.
Don't throw around words like "coward" with McHale. It's inappropriate and it makes you look like a moron.
And lose. The TEAM has issues. Harden isn't the only guy who plays bad defense, just like Lin isn't the only guy who turns the ball over. I am just sick of everyone finding one guy to blame. It just so happens with Lin sitting, Harden has become the scapegoat. It is easier to look at one player and blame that guy rather than accept that the team, as a collective has certain flaws they need to address. Harden isn't the only guy who can't keep someone in front of him...our teams perimeter defense is horrid. I have posted about this same issues over and over, yet all people see is I am not sticking the knife to Harden so I'm just a HOF. Same thing happens with Lin. If someone defends him they are LOF, if they say something bad, you are a LOH. What needs to happen to turn it around 1. Getting back in transition. Over and over again we have 2 or 3 guys trailing the play. Not good enough. 2. Recognize when the player with the ball needs help. In the 1st, Garcia gets a defensive rebound. The Suns players have two guys trapping him but there is no help because everyone turned and just ran down the other end. 3. I'd like to see us run HORNS a bit more often to try and open up the paint and driving lanes. 4. Make the Suns shot tough shots and control the boards. That starts with our guards boxing out their men on the perimeter. This issues are not the fault of one person, there are flaws this team has that they need to work through and improve on. It is not as simple as benching one player.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Took 5 Dwight post-ups in first 6:00 tonight to get one basket. One PNR with Harden, he gets an And-One. This isn't complicated.</p>— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/statuses/408419840433471488">December 5, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
