(Highlights) James Harden - 43 pts, 13 asts, 6 rebs

I hate to keep trashing on Harden, but his defense was awful and he made a lot of lazy passes this game.

I get that Harden has to use a lot of energy on offense to create for himself and others so that tires him out on defense. Our coaches have to find a way for us to improve our offense so we don't rely on Harden as much. Lawson was supposed to help but our coaches don't know how to integrate him into the offense to allow Harden to play off the ball. Even in crunch time, our default play is iso-Harden and everyone stand at the 3-point line so Lawson naturally defers. It's awful offense and it impacts our defensive effort, especially Harden's.

I seriously hope things improve. Harden does look better offensively, but he's still settling for a lot of threes, and one was a huge head scratcher in the 2nd quarter early in the shot clock. I'd still prefer if Harden had less points and assists, our team had more balanced scoring, and we were better defensively.

 

I would really like to see everyone back especially DMO so we can see what we look like full strength against the big boys of the league.

 

Great to see the Beard giving a fine performance, but I would have been happier to see Lawson getting 7 assists and 16-18 points. I hope Capela's weak FT percentage will go up, I am
pleased with his improved defensive rebounding.

 

Good things happen when he attacks. Lightning speed.

 

Attack with Lightning Speed Haren.

 

Capela dunks like a tru G.

 

Really?

More like a PF to me.

Maybe a bit like Amare Stoudemire.

 

LOL nice.

 

There is no hope for Harden to improve his defense, randomly getting a block or a steal in a possession is not good defense, some people are just using that as an excuse for him.

Bottom line, he is not that type of superstar that will have an aura to elevate the teammates, but he can be a good contributor.

The most important element in his game is efforts and decision making, yesterday is a good day, but there are other horrible days we haven seen him lacking both. Which no way for a superstar at this level can be playing with such low effort level.

I don't have a problem with how much he is going to score, Lawson is an overall disappointment so far, I would rather see Harden to take over the game to see Lawson getting the ball and making some weak ass parallel top of the key passes.

 

Whats really interesting you can see it in his body language when hes focused and points are gonna drop.

He needs to find that focus every game. I really dont know why hes not consistent in that regards

 

Honestly, I didn't think his defense was that bad. He had several moments where he lost his man but for the most part I thought he was quite focused. His biggest issue still is his off ball defense but other than that he isn't a sieve like 2 years ago.

 

There was one atrocious sequence late in the game when he lost Rudy Gay at the 3 point line. Gay could've have taken a vacation and still been able to shoot that shot uncontested.

This is why teams know they can come back from being down 10 to the Rockets.

 

You can say that about any player ever. Harden's had enough focus to nearly lead the league in scoring last season and is well past proven to be an elite offensive player.

 

Not much night club in Sacramento

 

Offensive juggernaut but his defense leaves a lot to be desired.

Also needs to cut down on the Turnovers. Had 7 this past game.

 

Lol, so many haters on this board for a guy who just got 41 points and 13 assists in a win. You can nitpick his flaws all you want, but we are spoiled having a guy like this after years of mediocre teams.

 

beautiful

 

There were a couple times when Harden let Casspi blow by him and score easily in the paint. I hate how our perimeter defenders allow that just because they think they can funnel the offensive player towards Dwight and Dwight would take care of it, but then it allows the weakside player an easy offensive rebound putback. Harden also gets cherry picked a lot in transition defense when he loses sight of his man. Teams get too many easy points off Harden's defense.

Saying it's not as bad as two years ago doesn't mean much when it was the worst you could be.

 

Still way too many turnovers

He is avg 4.7 TO per game!!

And a assist/TO of 1.36

Both pathetic numbers compare to other ball handlers and stars like Curry

Point of bringing TY was because he can create at a high rate and takes care of the ball well. However last night Ty had no say. Just hand it to Harden and go spot up