And this is why players need accountability. Props to Harden for making an effort on both defense and offense this game. He was still probably around average in terms of defensive impact but that is a good place to start. Reminds me of Old Artest's style because he gets lost on screens, is much better on post defense than chasing guys off picks, and likes to let guys fly by and reach around to poke the ball from behind. Too bad he doesn't have Ron's hands though.
Harden, if he puts his mind to it, is a good defender. My problem with him is sometimes he acts like he doesnt care.
He's played like an average to good defender out there for a little bit now. Hopefully he doesn't forget about it and go back to his normal ways.
I'm hoping that the buy-in for him is this: If he wants everyone to stop comparing him to Steph Curry he's gotta play defense.
Howard calling him out might have something to do with his much improved defense. 4 straight games he has been on point defensively.
It's apparent that Harden picked up his defense when Howard said something. So obviously what Howard says holds more weight with Harden than what McHale says. And if McHale tries some mess like that _ all he's subject to do is pis off Harden and we'll have a young pis'd off star player all season long which could jeopardise the season and McHale would be on his way out the door because Harden is not Kyle Lowry...
Harden has been great on both sides of the ball the last 5 games he's playing more under control and is taking over when the rockets need him too. He didn't shoot well or get to the line last night but still had two huge runs by himself to weather the storm. Once in the 2nd quarter he reeled off 8 in a row then the big one in the 4th were he reeled off another 8 points in about 1 min. The game was tilting towards the warriors with Howard on the bench with 5 fouls and harden absolutely delivered and did what great players do.
No, since his feet were just fine last year. He's played with good defensive effort for 4 games in a row. That's very good. However, we've played 24 games this year and 82 games last year. Not to mention Sampson and Morey have mentioned that Harden has played inconsistent defense, and consistent effort is something that they're trying to work on. If the coaches and Morey aren't making excuses for Harden's inconsistent defensive effort, then we shouldn't either. However, it's all irrelevant if Harden keeps doing what he's done for the last 4 games. Just exert reasonable effort when you're on the court and I have no complaints.
Once he heard all the dogging from the fans & also the national media he has stepped up & shown he has the ability (if he wants) to be a great defender.
