Talk about mental mistakes. We should be up now after the put back on the free throw and both fast breaks. Horrible.
Defenses keying in on Harden certainly is a factor, but Harden isn't being put in a position to succeed. He's forcing it too much, instead of playing within the flow of the offense. What offense? Exactly.
Is Harden really struggling? Or is this who he is when he's got the #1 defender and the entire defense locked in on him?
I think Denver is a really match up against him though. That was a great point by the ESPN guys that the Nuggets can practically switch every thing and that would shut down such a simple kindergarten level PNR offense (which is what McHale runs...) and Harden is likely never going to be a guy that can just blow past every one, 1v1. That's just not his game so I don't know why they isolate him as much as they do.
Those Nuggets players had been smoking the good stuff all night long once mar1juana was legalized in Colorado. No wonder they played so well. That's perhaps the only way Mcgee can get going anyways.
You obviously weren't watching him play shutdown defense, racking up 6 steals, and forcing some clutch turnovers and pulling some clutch fouls. If you've been following the last few days of practice - they were working with a new offensive scheme where the Ball was being run through Harden - with a small offensive package built around Harden.
Harden has to pass out of the double team quicker to avoid the TO. Fuking McHale has to trust Lin with the ball.
What happened to Harden tonight is a bit like what happened to Lin a couple of games last season. Get hit and not getting calls, and having the defence really focus on him. The only difference between Lin's Miami game last season was that Lin's team mates hung him out to dry (Melo especially) while in this instance it was the coaching staff that insisted on Harden doing it all on his own. There's a reason there are 5 players on the court... McHale needs to figure it out.
