[SI] Rockets Unable to Hide Harden's Defense Faults

Harden's defense is beyond lazy. I know that he is trying to conserve energy so he doesn't move much. What I don't understand is when he starts watching the ball his eyes are glued to it so much so he completely loses track of his man.

 

It would look like Rush Hour.

 

His defense was solid all preseason and the first few games, the downward spiral started when he first got injured.

 

Honestly, this is on Harden and the coach. I think it's clear that Harden isn't motivated to play consistent defense, and I'm fairly certain his fundamentals are terrible. This is the problem when you are a superstar High School player.

It reminds me of when Amare Stoudemire explaining his poor defense by saying that nobody ever taught him how to play defense.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if coach after coach gave him a pass on defense due to his scoring ability. This creates a sense of entitlement where players think they are "above" defending because they are offensively good.

If Harden doesn't have the energy to play both sides of the ball, then the Coach either has to improve his conditioning or reduce his minutes or give more of the offensive load to someone else (Like the Point Guard), or all of the above.

At this point I think it's going to be up to McHale and company to not only make him work on his defense in practice, but more importantly to enforce defensive fundamentals through minute reduction and benching.

Do we think for a minute that Pops would put up with this kind of weak defensive effort? Let alone fundamental defensive errors?

Either McHale and Co. need to step up, or they need to get a coach that will.

 

Are we playing TT and Bev in starting lineup just to patch this problem?

 

Some players don't see defense as being that important, so they don't try hard on that end of the floor. Their main focus is scoring.

Since defense is played as a team, you don't try that hard because you figure "well, even if I mess up there are 4 other guys there".

I used to be one of those guys until I wised up.

 

i would also add the distinction between being physically capable of playing better, and being mentally capable of playing better.

i think he's physically able, but not mentally, yet. just don't think he's ever had to learn how to play defense properly in a team setting, and whatever the coaches have been telling the team, it doesn't seem like he's getting it. one on one, with kobe backing him down, he's fine. 5 on 5 where he needs to keep track of him man and know where the ball is at the same time? not so much.

so add bad defense habits on top of that, it gets more complicated then just "play harder" and "give more effort". he doesn't seem to know where the effort should be given and how to play harder and smarter.

 

Bingo. This is what I would do. Our top two players are liabilities.

 

I am not sure I agree with McHale's decision to let harden guard less offensive players. it is kinda admitted: harden, ok, you don't need to work on your defense.

 

Nope. He has worse fundamentals than a high school baller. These are things I learned when I was 8 yrs old at basketball camps. Harden literally does not even defend on the same level as a mediocre high school baller. It is ridiculous. It is 100% effort/not caring

 

Here's a good article on Houston's defense (particularly it's perimeter defenders). There's hope that our success on the Defensive end can come via better execution and focus by everyone.

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2013/11/11/5068216/houston-rockets-defense-james-harden-chandler-parsons

 

In his defense, he's probably never really been truly coached on defensive discipline first and foremost. At least not from an NBA standpoint, where positioning and transition defense is so vital. In OKC he came off the bench for a team that ran...and ran and ran and ran. Ditto for last year in Houston, except he started.

Now Dwight has changed things a bit and we have to play more half court defense. I honestly just don't think he's used to that. Hopefully it'll come.

 

Yes. I think so.

 

we don't know for a fact that he's holding back on D to save energy. If anything, he said he was working on his D and conditioning this summer so he'd have more endurance on both ends.

both mchale and harden are to be held accountable.

haha, didn't harden say he wanted to guard the opposition's best players? maybe he was joking.

 

Is it just me or Did Tmac play better D?
Harden makes the opposing teams SGs look like MJ each and every time.

 

Good article.

 

That certainly didn't pose a problem for the likes of MJ or Kobe (until recently.)

 

great article.

 

Yeah and they forgot that Bev can't guard two people.

Asik is poor at closing out.

Howard doesn't bother closing (don't think he knows how to)

If I were the other team I would run Harden around a couple of screens to lose him, make one or to passes to find the open man while Rox try to rotate. We'll probably give them a 3 because Howard and Asik will be camped out in the paint. I'm not looking forward to a Golden State game with this line-up.

Harden plays 40min. a game and needs to rest on D to produce on offense.

If we are to continue the TT, I think starting Bev and Lin together might help alleviate this problem. Lin's D actually compliments the TT as he is a more position and quick recovery type of defender.

Parsons cant shoot the 3 or play D at the moment and may need to sit down in the TT experiment until he can.

Overall I hate the TT and think we're better off playing small ball with this line-up: Bev, Lin, Harden, Parsons, Howard

 

Yep. This team's superstars may also be its greatest liabilities. Unlike more complete players, both Harden and Howard have glaring weaknesses that are easy to exploit.