BBALLBREAKDOWN: Is James Harden Breaking the NBA Rule Book?

Lol back to back arm hooks and a call, but Harden does,they need to change the rules.

 

The media is out for blood! Their golden boy is out because of the Rockets, they are fitting to publish hit pieces left and right in all media formats!

 

There is a huge difference between a defender getting caught reaching and Harden hooking them as he goes into his shooting motion and when Harden intentionally goes out of his way to hook a defender's arm and then continuing it into a shooting motion. Do defenders need to learn to stop reaching and avoid getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar? Absolutely. Does Harden intentionally seek contact to get fouls without any intention of actually making a basket? Absolutely. It's only because Harden is on the Rockets that we don't really care too much about it or even defend him for it.

 

Funny how when Steph was doing this it's fun to watch and crafty. When Harden does it then its ruining the game and ugly basketball. A flop is a flop. Call it all equally or shut the F up.

 

I think the league is in a bind because it all really started with Steph Curry. He was the one to show that, in his case at least, running behind a screen and taking that three off the dribble is not just a viable shot, it can also be an efficient and deadly one too. A lot of Steph's game is predicated on the fact that you HAVE to chase around screens with him, and you can't go under no matter how far away he is. If they all of a sudden stop calling it when the defender reaches out against the dribblers arms to maintain positioning, or even if they stop calling it a shooting foul, then it will neutralize a lot of what makes Curry so good.

With that in mind, guys like Harden (and Lillard and Beal and other future Curry copycats) are right to say, why not me too? The leaguecant create this double standard just for Curry, so they have to call it for everyone that tries it, even if they can't shoot it as well. Because now the screen and pop is a viable shot, and it deserves to be officiated as one. So those are free throws anytime the defender gets his arms on the shooters arms.

 

you have to realize this man, the defenders always want the advantage but the rules will always give the offensive player the advantage.

James Harden does not let them take away this advantage that the offensive player gets. you reach he teachers and if you hand check is going to get free throws.

 

I don't see what the fuss is about on the reaching and screening fouls..
90% of the calls are justified. You can't reach and you can't hold the opponent on a screen.
BUT, the hook is a bad habit. Harden is doing it too often and it is an illegal move. Refs will be watching this and ignore all the other contact fouls. We will get burned for it against the Spurs.
I hope Harden will take this move out of his tool box.

 

Because he's a left hander being guarded by players who are used to guarding right handed players.

 

Article or no article, harden was never and is never gonna get that call against Kawhi. Hope he understands that

 

There was no reach when Harden hooked him. Just because the defenders arms are down doesn't mean he's reaching. The defender has a right to his space too. And that space includes the area under his arm pit when his arms are down and not extended out past his shoulder cap. The hooking play is an obvious offensive foul.

 

No you are wrong. The defender has a right to his space and that includes the space under his armpit when his arms are down and not extended outside his frame.

 

I agree with your points. But nothing is more blatant than chasing up to a Dwight, Deandre or Roberson and "love-tagging" them with 2 hands away from the ball. That's not making a play on anything within the confines of the game. That is strictly strategy employed to exploit a "loop-hole" in the rules.

I'm fine with what Harden does...whether he initiates it or not. He's one of the smartest players I've ever seen EVER. If a rule can be exploited because a player is wiley/crafty enough, more power to them. This general exploitation has been going over since the inception of the NBA I would imagine.

People just complain because they don't have the player/weapon to exploit that to their favor. Well....too bad. Rockets also don't have the luxury of a "big 3" or even "Big 2" or simply Curry/Klay/KD/Draymond in their primest of primes all together at the same time. Just play the game in accordance to the rules.

 

Remember when Kibe was craving guys on the noggin when He brought his arms down after releasing the jumper? League stopped it cold. And the reason was simple. You don't have a right to the space outside your body frame horizontally. Only vertically. That means if a defender is standing toe to tie with the offensive player with his arms with at his sides or straight up vertical the offensive player can't simply create contract and get a foul called on the defender. There's only two possibilities in that case. Either no-call or offensive foul. When the offensive player hooks the defender in that case with one arm it's an offensive foul. Everybody knows that's not a shooting motion and Harden would never shoot that way if he was actually taking a shot. Nunn is right. Offensive foul.

 

You're more accurate, but this was a situation where we were clearly talking about the play Taj was making and his arms are clearly extended. Harden was not molesting Taj's armpits.

 

If this is the play you're talking about, it should be an offensive foul on Harden.

 

I like how they single out James Harden for doing something the whole league does...he just happens to be the best at taking advantage of it. I also like how they ignore the fact that the defender uses his arms and hand illegally to change the trajectory of the drive to allow Harden man to recover fast on the puck and roll. I guess they forgot it's illegal to use your arms to play defense and chose to focus solely in Harden since everybody complains about it.

 

Honestly, does anyone here still wonder why some NBA fans hate Harden? Not only this, he plays lackadaisical defense, and turns the ball over like crazy. Look, Harden is a great player, but his game could get real ugly. Harden is never going to be super popular, which will affect his MVP prospect in the future. Just something that we all have to accept.

 

No actually it's illegal to use your arms like that on defense. Players do it all the time with no call...and James is just smart enough to take advantage of it.

 

Why is it illegal?

 

This, the bias in this thread is pretty funny. If an opponent did this against us on multiple occasions, the whole GARM would implode.