The media agenda regarding James Harden's "defense"

wait a minute. WAIT A MINUTE!!!! are you honestly saying that "because his man was in the corner" Harden therefore "couldn't reach in"?

Are you really saying that? because that's just moronic. The guy is driving to the hoop so James gets a pass to say "olé" and just stand there matador-style? I don't think you really want to say that. I honestly don't.

 

He really could have played that better but I would have been furious if he picked up a foul there so **** it anyways the man is on fire right now he is that dude promised land

 

ESPN is running video montage of Harden's worse defensive moments placed right about the article about his 40pt 14a / 1 TOV night.

They don't even try to be low key anymore.

 

Not one of those guys to stand on a soapbox and talk about homerism and whatnot, but seriously...

there is no agenda, Harden is the best shooting guard in the NBA with a GLARING defensive weakness that was blown up in a video that went viral last year. All the media is doing is showing that atrocious defense. I am someone who has never been bothered by his bad defense because the team places so much on his shoulders offensively. You can be a fan of someone and acknowledge how terrible they are in something. Noone is the perfect player. The first couple of pages in this thread is so cringeworthy.

 

Bull****

Damian Lillard and Kyrie Irving are far and away worse defenders than Harden. Where are their videos?

 

Harden deserves the criticism he gets. His defense has been an issue since he's been here so that's nothing new. My biggest issue especially as this year has unfolded is his lack of leadership. I feel Harden set the tone for this sorry season how he came into camp and it was just a snowball effect. Nobody's saying he should be a big rah-rah guy. Curry doesn't appear to be a big rah-rah guy, but Curry leads by example and you can tell he is giving his all out there most of the time. When you best player has effort issues, it's cancerous to a team. If Harden came into camp with the same drive and focus he had last year, I guarantee this year would have been different and the Rox would be closer to last year, record and all.

 

Since the allstar break, Harden is besting Curry in points, rebounds, assists, and steals. ESPN would NEVER touch that.

Harden is putting up great game after great game since AS (at least offensively). During this stretch, this is the most play that he's getting. But they're all over every great Curry game/moment.

 

mmhmm

 

40+ pts 14+ rebounds, and only 1 TOV.

It's only happened twice in the NBA before Harden last night. Once by Chris Paul and once by Allen Iverson. And we won. Against a really good team with an even more impressive home record. And the Rockets haven't won in Toronto since 2007. And they were on the 2nd night of a back to back.

But they want to look at 1 play where Harden had 4 fouls. It's not just an assault on Harden or the Rockets, but also journalism and the sport of basketball. It's lame as all hell.

But there is no bias right? I feel sorry for someone that naive to deny a bias. I think people just like playing the Devil's Advocate. But no one likes a Devil's Advocate. As it should be.

 

Read the twitter comments. Lots of smack about Curry and the W's loss, plus some pro comments for Harden.

 

wasn't able to catch the game so I can't comment, but that is a beast stat-line

 

I'll agree that there has generally been a derogatory narrative about Harden that has been manufactured for whatever reason. But this specifically... I'm not complaining. Again - worst transition defense I have ever seen. And I've seen an old, injured, out of shape Charles Barkley play for 2 minutes against Vancouver as a retirement sendoff.

 

aww, c'mon, give me a break. I don't feel sorry for James. I think he's a great player, but I think he doesn't give it the effort he should on both ends of the floor. Harden invited the criticism with his "I was the real MVP" claim. Curry's leading the greatest team in history and Harden is just lucky we didn't lose to Toronto, otherwise he'd be leading a team that is TWO games below .500 in March. in friggin' MARCH.

 

Ok, that was pretty bad. That being said...it was one freaking play.



You can't discount an entire night's effort by cherry picking a clip to paint a narrative. Harden's defense is terrible. I'm one of his biggest critics in that regard, but ESPN shoved their heads up their buttocks with that sort of commentary.

 

This x1000, in all phases of media work. But I'll leave most of that to D&D.

I guess, for sports at least, the only thing that could change it is to not succumb to the click baiting.

It's like treating ESPN like a gigantic troll. If they post something worthwhile, like a well-reported article, it should make the rounds. But if most of us would ignore the click bait, they'd change their tune but fast.

(Yes, I know this is impossible.)

 

Absolutely. I for one am happy that they are openly treating him unfairly. James has always responded to such criticism with a chip on his shoulder and will have a lot more to prove.

Glad I don't ever tune in to watch watermelon head #1 argue w/ Watermelon head #2 on their stupid channel.

 

ESPN stopped being legit years ago now it's all just click bait rehashed ****. Terrible reporting.

 

Harden only needs to show up for 1 big game each season for some to be happy it seems

 

okay we get the joke, the rockets are not very good this season. wish they get in the playoffs and upset an espn riding team just to shut them up.

 

There is no money or need for quality sports journalism. That's why Grantland died. Even we as dedicated fans mostly don't consume it. What's left is click-bait and it does its job very well. We're all here discussing this, are we not? How many times have we talked about the opinions of ESPN talking heads? This stuff prevails mostly because of us.