How teams are guarding James Harden

IMO?

Tightly contest the stepback and make sure you contest and jump to his left, or his right from the defenders POV, as to not foul.

While keeping a big sagged in a fashion that restricts him from driving, but not so sagged that it entices the lob.

Hope he is having an off night.

Try to force him to take 15-20 3s, be sure not to foul on his jump shots, and hope he only goes 5-15 with single digit freethrows

 

we've seen guys do well on him on occasion such as Josh Okogie. Guys that also get into his head and frustrate him also impacts him. See Corey Brewer. You have to be discipline enough at all times but that's actually easier said than done for alot of guys.

 

Lakers:

 

How teams are guarding Harden: short answer is they can't!!

 

Harder than it looks, to contest his stepback. If the big sags off, Harden can go for a floater. If the big plays too tight, Harden drives past.

I think the only think you can do is hope Harden has the mindset of taking 3s all night and/or have an off night. Point is, I don't think there's anyone that can stop him.

Only Harden can stop Harden.

 

what I've seen work on occasions:

- scrappy defenders (get in his head by gluing themselves to him and defensive full court)
- versatile big with the length that can defend Harden on the perimeter.
- Referees getting Harden in foul trouble and slowing him down (when Harden is in foul trouble, he is less likely to drive and attempt deflections thus making refs jobs easy)

 

Major props for not posting the article while grabbing the audiences attention, @topfive

 

Major props for not posting the article while grabbing the audiences attention, @topfive

 

Foul him a lot acting mad every time after foul swearing you didnt and hope/ pray the refs will swallow the whistle

 

6. voodoo pinning/noosing a james harden player plush doll in their locker
7. offering a sacrificial GOAT to their local pagan church
8. calling up silver and begging to send foster/brothers/mauer/callahan/goble/davis/malloy

 

Harden can NOT be stopped in the regular season.

 

This kind of thing shouldn't be commended, especially if the article is actually good. If the site / author earns some part of their paycheck via clicks, then hopefully you guys at least click on the article link.

 

I usually don't read a bunch of the articles and the delivery of this post encouraged me to click it and read.

I agree with you that we should click on the good articles while ignoring some of the bad content (ex: Skip)

 

Seriously ...

Excellent post/snag, topfive.

 

Wow... beautiful article and worth reading every word if you can make time for it.

My takeaway is that Harden's ability to counter defensive coverage is rivaling an MVP level Hakeem. Both had/have an answer for everything you throw at them. Two smart players who work hard for our Houston Rockets. Gotta love it!

 

I would argue that Harden is more offensively versatile than Dream because of his passing and the fact that he could bring up the ball so he's harder to deny. Even during the championship years, our offense with Dream was slightly below average at 15th out of 27 teams. During the second championship year, our offense got better because of the Clyde trade and Cassell maturing.

 

I guess what I mean is that no matter what defense you threw at Hakeem, it was still a safe bet to make him the focal point. I'd say the same about James Harden.

There's no comparison to the offensive firepower that we have now to then just like there's no comparing the defenses from then to now.

 

This where I draw the comparison of Harden to Brady. I think the most impressive aspect of Hardens game is his ability to process information so quickly.
He can manipulate the defense and pick you apart based on what you’re conceding.
Of course it’s dependent on our guys making shots but even then Harden can single handendly carry the offense. I’ll keep saying it, in my 30 years of playing, coaching, watching basketball I have never seen anything like him.