Yeah i mean they dare Giannis to shoot long ball but he still is able to force it inside... when JH is played to his weaknesses all he can do is jack up more and hope it will fall
Exactly. It's not flattering for Giannis when defenses sag off Giannis because he's an incompetent jump shooter.
uhh its definitely flattering. The Jazz showed that James Harden has caused teams to create a new defense, yet again. That's far from some insult. That's just goes to how great James is
If “A” is playing better than I expected him to, “B” is meeting my expectations, and “C” or lower is playing below expectations — then I don’t see how he gets better than a C in round 1.
He isn't the Ben Simmons of the mid range though. He has a better chance of making mid range shots than Ben Simmons shooting the 3pointer. Its the mid range shot as a whole that is terrible. If he's taking more 5-15 foot jump shots than at the rim, we're not winning against the Jazz.
Harden PLAYS like he is the Ben Simmons of the mid range. That's the point. Obviously Harden is an excellent shooter which makes this even more baffling.
Is it flattering when defenders sag off Giannis because he sucks at shooting jumpers? Giving him wide open spaces in the mid range isn't flattering.
How's it predictable? Tell me another player who can score when guarded like that? No other player gets the same defensive treatment as Harden does. Besides, he's still averaging 27.8 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 1.4 blocks per game in the playoffs... against probably the best defensive team in the NBA. The only thing that Harden could improve on his is overall FG%, but we'll give him the benefit of the doubt on that one because Gobert was there blocking the lane for the most part. No other team is going to have a great defensive center like Gobert blocking the lane.
It's Giannis fault teams dare him to shoot a jumper. Its smart for the defense. Its on Giannis to make them pay for that. Its that simple. that's not some new defense. if you cant shoot of course the smart thing to do is live with his jumpshoots. thats forcing teams to do something they dont want to.
He has the most predictable offensive game of any superstar guard in NBA history. And yes Harden will put up 25+ pts with his usage rate being tops in the league. He refuses to have an offensive game outside step back threes and driving to the rim.
Can you expand a bit on this, because I'm not sure what you mean by "keep them honest." Are you suggesting that they would start guarding him differently if he started taking midrange shots? You don't think think they would be happy with that? Because I strongly disagree.
What can't you get about efficiency? Harden can make midrange shots, he has. He chooses not to shot them because he could hit 50% on them and they still wouldn't be as efficient as someone shooting 33% from 3. That's just math. This isn't hard.
Absolutely they would. They wouldn't give up so much open space for Harden in the mid range if he took the occasionally.
most predictable game, yet is considered the best scorer in this moment right now. Yeah that makes a ton of sense
I think that Daryl Morey already takes that into account. I certainly believe that D'Antoni, Gunning and Brase take that into consideration. Whenever the Rockets struggle offensively, or Harden struggles.... the answer on these boards is to take mid range shots. I don't think that is the solution the vast majority of the time. Against Utah the Rockets averaged 107 points scored and 97 points allowed. That is against one of the 2-3 best defenses in the NBA. A lot of the Rockets offensive issues later in the series are connected to turnovers, as the Rockets were turning the ball over 4-5 more times a game. The Rockets just beat a team that was 31-10 in the second half the season, and finished going 7-1 against them the last 8 times the Rockets played them. I don't see the offense in a vacuum, everything is connected and the Rockets didn't have any serious issues with the Jazz. The Warriors are giving up 116 points a game against the Clippers. So should Warrior fans be overly concerned about their defense? Not when you consider that the Warriors are scoring 124 points a game. My point being, nothing is in a vacuum. If you are concerned about keeping the defense honest and the psychological aspect of the game, the best thing the Rockets can do on offense is cut down their turnovers 3-4 a game from what they were in games 2-5 in the series.
I really cannot express how strongly I disagree with this. They would LOVE if he would sit there and pull up from 12-18 feet and take jumpers all game. They wouldn't change their defense one bit and they would watch him take these shots and be grateful.
Again........ the Rockets are 6-1 in the last 7 games that they have played the Jazz, and the Rockets have won by an average of 10 points a game. If the Jazz want to develop an entire defense to limit James Harden, then go right ahead. Also he is not any more predictable than Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant.
