What makes Harden's penetration so different that's getting him the calls?

Bball iq

 

He's getting the calls because the defenders are guessing wrong as to which way he's going to go, plus he takes his two and a half steps pretty far out and has his arms up in a shooting motion already half way through.

His game reminds me of Manu, prime Grant Hill, and James Worthy for some reason (beard and stride, though Worthy was more of a baseliner). There's even a little Drexler in there, Cedric Ceballos, and a healthy Arenas. Like Hill and Manu, Harden can play the 1-2-3.

 

He's playing around on the outside before penetrating. Sometimes you have to dribble around on the perimeter to make the penetration easier.

 

not that i'm a pro but i used to play a lot of pick up ball. i tried to develop that euro step when manu first came in the league and its just not easy. i think it takes a lot of natural ability. its just like some guys jump better off one foot and some people like steve francis are more two feet jumpers.

 

Big dick. Wait what?

 

It's the way he drives the lane while waving his hand at the refs and whispering, "These are the fouls you're looking for."

It's all about the Jedi Beard.

 

Thread title sounds like a Carl Herrera thread. My response: It's the beard, baby... The beard makes Harden's penetration so different and gets him all the calls.

 

Manu is more balls than IQ from his shot selections to plays like this.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ne8DVXbkbwo?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

ding ding ding.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvvBXc55ddE

 

good point! this is the reason he got a lot of and1. The strength!

 

The Eurostep is not easy to learn. I've been practicing it recently and it's not very straightforward.

 

I've been slow moing a lot of Harden's iso drives to see how he's getting in the lane so easily, so as a by product noticed how he gets the calls...

1. He pretty much is always swaying left and right with his shoulders and in conjunction he holds the ball in front of him with both hands. And he swings it through the defender's arm, or they get tempted to swat it away.

2. The point another poster made about him slowing down, the pace between the 1st step and the second step is not in rhythm, and by that I mean the timing of it, it sort of slows and then speeds up, ending with excellent explosion off the ground. (this really poo poos people's perception that Harden isn't athletic, do you know how hard it is to slow down and then explode from 1 step!) The timing confuses the defender and causes the foul, whilst the explosion allows him to finish.

3. Getting superstar calls now as well. Bonus freebies from the refs.

My final point has nothing to do with how he's getting the calls, but rather my original objective of trying to copy Harden's moves....

He TRAVELS!

A truck load!!! So many travels it's untrue, because he's so shifty and his swerving and shimmying, it's hard to discern when he actually took his first step!

I was like that's a nice move, how did he get past...hmmm, cue 4 replays later...yup pretty sure that's a travel....

 

Good video shows lots of similarities between lefty Ginoboli and Harden.
The Rockets backcourt of Lin-Harden can be like Parker-Ginoboli.
Parker didn't really get better until he got aggressive to keep up with Ginoboli's super aggressiveness
Lin has to continue to play aggressive too.
We know how super aggressive and talented Harden is.

 

to me, the big difference between him and a guy like kevin martin - is that martin plays for the foul call while harden plays for the bucket.

I think ref's pick up on this and are more wary of giving a foul call to martin - and in turn makes it seem more generous for harden

 

Can you show me an example of this?

 

I think the fact that he is not that fast or quick makes the refs able to see more of the contact.

For example, I think a player like Russell Westbrook gets jobbed a lot from officials. They miss a lot of his calls and it is because he is so fast and quick that the refs sometimes miss it because they can't see it.

Players like Harden, Pierce, Manu, etc. aren't that fast or quick so the officials can see every bit of contact that they received.

 

He's not getting the calls so far tonight.

 

Maybe the refs are reading this thread.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQD1Dg4m4CA 3:57 onwards

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kox2Z62ukPg 2:50 onwards

there's more but I can't be bothered now...