DD, I for one feel that you are a reasonable and level-headed poster. I respect your posts and insight on the game. While I agree it would be nice and helpful for Harden to play "harder" defense, we have to take into account the reasonable aspect of this expectation. Seriously, when I see Harden walking up the court (to the dismay of members on this board), I actually understand his need to conserve energy and pace himself...given the immense load he has to carry every game. I'm actually impressed how well he's able to handle it every game. Some defensive lapses such as being no where near his man (like Roberson on 3s) is inexcusable. He needs to at the very least show and give a hand in the face. But other than that.....I feel Harden does make good defensive plays when it matters...and that's really what counts. His conditioning appears to be incredible....for being able to play entire 1st and 3rd quarters. I don't care who you are, but to be expected to play entire quarters on a regular basis shouldering the load and facing schemes to counter Harden is simply not easy.
I agree that he could/should move off the ball. But I also understand that that might be his way to "catch a breath" during his time in the game. If a player can be efficient with their energy usage for the greater good, I'm all for it.
You are impressed far to easily or never played pickup ball. If you ever played, you would know that players exert the most energy on the defensive end when they have to react to movements. He walks everywhere on the court. The only time he exerts a burst of speed is when he goes into the paint. You are overrating the amount of energy he exerts. He has a well known history of having short stamina(childhood asthma has been thrown around as a reason in this board). It's plain and simple. Shadow Harden off the ball. Any team with a higher offensive ability than the OKC thunder will exploit that. If you shadow Harden off the ball, he refuses to make a worthwhile attempt at shaking free thus the team wastes half a possession just trying to dump the ball to him.
He's had no recent history and this next statement is going to trigger many on this message board. He could improve his cardio. He could improve his conditioning. It takes some serious off-season work. He should hang out with Beverly all off-season. He is the master at conditioning and cardio training.
I am not asking him to be a defensive wizard, just to stay attached to his man and get a hand up - he totally loafs on the defensive end. This is more a sign of "Want to" than conserving energy. The problem with this discussion is one of timing - some people just want to celebrate and not discuss - that is fine, then stay out of threads like this!!! DD
The achilles heel of the League Leader in minutes played for 2 of the last 3 seasons is lack of stamina and durability, just like the key to defeating JJ Fatt is his lack of strength training and general flabbiness - also he sux at box jumps.
Every single game of James Harden has been broken down and reviewed by every single team in the league. Teams are not not, after hundreds of games of tape, that Harden is a lazy ball guard. His tendencies are all obvious by the point and if they were easy to be exploited, they would be exploited all the time.
Maybe teams didn't bother in the regular season in constantly full court press in him and shadowing him off the ball and will do it more often in the playoffs? Seems like it to me.
That is not just Harden, but our entire team - notice how we are having to take more midrange, and drive more often? We will have to adapt as we go as teams can lock in on option A from us. DD
Amount if minutes played doesn't tell the whole story. If you can conserve energy with half the game with 'let me play zone while the rest of the tram plays man' and on top of that, you walk the ball up the court, you walk around and stand still without the ball, and the only time you raise your heart rate is driving to the bucket, I can see plenty of conservation of energy that makes his total minutes played deceiving.
I guess that is why he is leading the playoffs in drives per game with 18? And was #7 in the league for the season? So he plays most minutes, is never hurt (something that happens more when your body is tired), creates the most points in a season, was top 10 in drives per game (#1 in the playoffs) as point guard for the team with the 5th highest pace in the league...but has stamina issues? Seriously, maybe he could train himself fitter and faster and gain stamina and all that but people acting like he is lazy is ridiculous. I would rather he do as he does - and be elite MVP level - than demand something that may or may not be possible.
Wait so Harden is optimizing his energy output to get MVP level ROI despite carrying the heaviest load in the league for 3+ years? LAZY Pull the wool from over your eyes, sheeple. Efficiency is just laziness with numbers attached.
I've always had a theory that Harden never wants to give the appearance of caring. He's obviously in great shape endurance-wise. But when an opponent is really pressing him, he will refuse to run or react because that would put him at risk of appearing flustered. He always wants to appear to be the calmest player on the court. It has its downsides. The anti-Westbrook.
D'antoni moved Harden to pg precisely because he had issues off ball being denied. But really, until this game, where they were clearly throwing Roberson at his ankle, it hasn't been such an issue.
