Harden will go off on both ends of the court in the Playoffs

I tend to think he will also. Even though he does need to give some consistent effort in the reg season. The only thing that worries me is that his offensive burden is much greater than it was in OKC so that detracts a bit from his defense.

 

Harden will step it up and have a great playoff.

 

He will secksy time explosion in the playoffs on both ends!

 

If we bring him off the bench.

 

I think his good defense was due to the postups from Kobe. We all know Harden defends well in the post. Kobe uses that a lot on guards, as it usually works against small guys.

 

If you took out "of the court" it would be a good Carl Herrera thread title.

 

postup defense actually is one thing we have faith in Harden, you can't draft on postup, are you?

 

Harden won`t be a "good" defender in the playoffs. But I believe he will be vastly improved to the way he played in the regular season. Actually he had a couple of weeks in between when he played decent defense.

His defensive deficiencies are for a large part because he lacks effort. In the playoffs, his effort will be there, for at least as long as he has energy. He will still get caught in screens and he will still go for the steal with his arms instead of moving his feet to stay infront of his opponent. But he will try and he will be decent.

And don´t forget: he doesn`t have to defend a Kobe. Lillard will be defendes by Beverly, Harden will probably get Matthews. He should do fine. I am much more worried about our defense against LMA...

 

did i just watch harden in his okc days check kobe?

 

This was when he was a Sixth man though. He has more energy to put on defense since he's not the only one running the show (KD, Westbrook)

 

Harden is a very good post defender. He showed that this year too when McHale had Harden guard the 4 position in our small ball lineups.

 

Harden still has a swollen ankle and Dwight don't seem even close to 100 percent. Not looking good

 

Immovable or refusing to move?

 

We have rested our starters PLENTY when it appeared that further wear and tear might have worse longer term implications. If we did not rest them in the last two weeks the way we did Beverley and Howard, then it must not have been too serious. I trust the Rockets medical staff. On top of that, we will not allow injuries to serve as an excuse this year.

 

That's what I was thinking as well. None of those plays really showed Harden using lateral movement to guard Kobe.

 

He stepped up his D in the playoffs last year too. He most deff will this year

 

If Harden and Parsons play good D, then it will be an easy series!

 

I'm not on the "we can't win until Harden plays great D" train but this thread is weak. A few plays from several years ago as your evidence? Wow.

 

No big deal.
Kobe is too old.
Lin and Parsons both had great post defense moment on Kobe.

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