Anyone noticed this:

LOL. At OKC he was basically a 6th man so he was able to expend more energy when on the floor.
But, when you are asked to be the PRIMARY offense, take the ball downcourt while being pressed fullcourt,
try and drive around defenders, take contact at the rim, grab rebounds AND play the most minutes of
everyone else on the court, WHO has time or energy for defense?

You guys are surely aware that he's human and not a video game, correct?

 

Wait, wait, wait. What was the middle thing?

 

I haven’t. Who that?

And not every player has the same physical capabilities, just like Harden is a freak for his ability to stay healthy, this Westbrook fellow is a freak as well.

And even Westbrook is slowing down his game now, because fatigue will affect your game, whether it’s immediately noticeable or not.

And plus, Harden has been a better defender than Westbrook for the last two years (according to me).

Edit: I wish there was a way, to look at Harden and Westbrook's defense in a vacuum, without factoring team defense. I'm actually quite curious to see how they stack up

 

Westbrick??????? HARGOD has lifted his team further than any team that fool has fronted..
.... guess you’ve never witnessed westbrick go 0/10 or whatever in the 4th qtr??? Causing his team the W..
I agree though if Harden could be HARGOD on defense as well , he’d be the GOAT.. but he can’t.. so we live with his offense cause his surrounding cast sometimes disappears..

 

Agreed. When James Harden shows up on defense, the team follows suit.

He's the leader of the team and whatever he does, the rest of the team follows. It's just another example of how James Harden is the most valuable player on any team in the NBA or any other sport. If Leonel Messi is off, Barcelona will probably still win.

 

Right... MOST of the time, Harden chooses not to play ANY defense.

Btw, 2016 called and wants to know what you think of Adele's new album.

 

He was a great one on one defender in OKC. I specifically remember Harden locking up Kobe in the post and I thought "damn, this guy is all over Kobe."

 

ummm news alert.. Harden is new the issue.... the supporting cast always lets us down or gets hurt.... soo thats that.

 

Its a tactical advantage that we have because if you notice that in past games teams have been forcing switches with harden with their primary scorer only for harden to kick up the intensity for a seemingly improbable stop.

 

Only three active players in the NBA have ever gotten 6 steals and 4 blocks in the same game:

1. Draymond Green
2. Anthony Davis
3. some dude who chooses NOT TO PLAY ANY DEFENSE

 

It takes A LOT of energy to play defense. And I mean A LOT. Athletes like Jordan, Kobe, and LeBron who can consistently go all out on both ends of the court are extremely rare.

I'm in decent shape (lift 5-6 times and run 2-3 times every week), and when I played an intramural basketball for the first time in a long time, I was absolutely GASSED after a few defensive positions, and I mean GASSED.

Yeah, Harden's a professional athlete and in WAY better shape than me, but seeing as he provides 96.9% of our offense (which too requires a tremendous amount of energy), he deserves to not have to go as hard on the defensive end.

 

Lol Lin fans are priceless.

 

If the worst new thread starter nominates you, does that make you the new worst?

 

I mean he is leading the team in defensive win shares... just sucks this is literally the worst defense in Rockets history.

 

Harden plays good switch D.

 

To be fair to OP, Harden did reserve energy on the defensive end most of the time because he has to do so much offensively. But with similar offensive load Harden takes, nobody can be great defensively. Even Kawhi Leonard, who lots of people thinks to be the greatest perimeter defender of all time, declines considerably defensively this year because he has to score more points.

Also, this season is the first season IMO that Harden can occasionally be dominant on the defensive end, he can literally shut down some good offensive players(like last night, nobody can score on him in the 2nd and 3rd quarter), and once he does that without sacrificing too much offense(unfortunately that is not the case most of the time), we're unbeatable.

 

mmm donuts

 

If money doesn’t grow on trees, why do banks have branches??
.......
.......
.......

 

well op is roasted because harden is allegedly too tired to play d

explain then how come he wasnt tired in the jazz game?
or do you now predict the next game he will be gassed and wont be able to play?

 

Considering you started this thread with an alternate account.