http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/201...den-houston-rockets-rout-los-angeles-clippers Harden had the flu that week. "James Harden sat in a chair with ice on his knees and insisted that he was just fine while he coughed and coughed after Houston’s shoot-around Thursday on the campus of UCLA."
"Harden touched the ball 81.6 percent of the time in the postseason, finishing eighth among players who played a minimum of 10 games. His 1,387 total touches were second in the postseason. His turnover ratio of 13.3 percent was beaten by only Tony Allen (14.4) and Matthew Dellavedova (13.4) among players who participated in 10 or more playoff games." This is from your own links. Harden was used heavy minutes heavy ISO since He has been with Mchale. Last year it was James that begged for another ball handler not Mchale.
I responded to your post, in which you talked about Game 6 vs LAC. Nowhere in the links I provided mention Harden being/feeling sick that game. He scored 17pts in the 2nd quarter, and said that he could have checked back into that game in the 4th, but the guys had it rolling on both ends of the floor. Don't sound like someone who is sick to me.
Sometimes you just have to work with the personnel you have at the time and play to their strengths. Doesn't mean the coach didn't know any better. We'll have to agree to disagree.
Harden had the flu you don't just get rid of the flu in a day, lol. The quote I provided was from thursday before game 6 and I provided a link with definete proof that he had the flu. Be in denial all you want Harden was sick and trying to toughen it out. It became clear that it was effecting his game and Mchale then took him out late. I know this because I watched the game the announcers alluded to him being sick.
Yeah. That's exactly what I thought when I saw that news. Accountabillity. Lebron seems to get it, so even with their coaches they start to face that problem. They are trying to change the culture. What about us? Where's the accountabillity? It's the responsibillity of the coaching staff first and foremost. Derozan is a much better defender than Harden and it's not even comparable. His defence has regressed but it's still above average. So is Reddick and Wade. And Rose. And Teague of course. I don't care what that crap stat DRPM says, it often puts completely awful defenders as great defenders. Kanter comes off the bench as he should for not 30+ minutes, and that's what the role of bigs who ca't defend, to abuse the other bench , you can't play them for long vs other starters. Now Irving and Lillard..who says they don't hurt their teams? If they played good defence their teams would have been much better. But Lillard had two elite wing defenders next to him, and Irving had Shumpert and Lebron. And still right now Irving is attacked and is a major weak point of his team. And Lillard now that he has CJ next to him, they have the weakest defensive backcourt in the league and are already some questions if that backcourt is viable for the future. But if you notice the Portland coach puts Lillard on bigs, to throw them off. It's a very strange strategy. So to answer your question if Harden had next to him Matthews and Batum or Shumpert and Lebron then yes he would have been able to be hidden (if he at least put a minimal effort that is). Now go and find me two elite defensive wings to play next ot Harden. Ariza is much worse than Matthews and he is only one and has often to play small ball pf. And let's look at another example. "All Star" Isaiah Thomas who is a comparable defender to Harden. Why you think that Boston is elite defensively? Because of their premier defensive wings. Bradley and Crowder, or when they go small Smart, Bradley and Crowder.
Also, I do not trust any be-all individual defensive stat. There is simply no one metric you can point to and say, "This guy is a worse defender than that guy." Well, I can say the same thing about offense too. But at least we have a lot more offensive statistical categories to look at. Individual defense is just too difficult to measure in a linear way.
Russell Westbrook isn't too far behind and probably would be identical or worse if not for playing next to KD to create a few more assists. We simply need a better secondary playmaker.
Plain and simple Harden turns it over quite a bit, but among guys who have played significant minutes Mudiay, Westbrook and Wall turn it over more per minute than Harden. Being the 4th worst isn't anything to be too proud of, but as you can see it's not uncommon for high usage guys to turn it over.
wb and jw may appear a bit more athletic. but overall, they're in the same class of harden. individually, they're not better players than harden, imo.
I don't know, Westbrook's defense is certainly much better but his athleticism will be the first thing to fade. Hard to imagine he is already 27, but I think Harden will be great for longer.
harden doesnt fly high. what was the last time you remember he even dunked the ball? hehe.but he also takes a lot of contacts in the lane. and that will take a toll in the long run, for sure. at this point, to say harden will likely last longer than wb is a reasonable guess.
