I think he defends James better than anyone I've seen try. Strong..moves well laterally..disciplined MDA needs to earn that new contract he wants by figuring out ways to free Harden from Dort.
Yup and the hate on here for the love by the media is just funny as hell to me. Dort is giving Harden fits, when he's defended by Dort he is probably like 20%. He gets his points against other guys.
If Harden is the greatest one-on-one player of all time, then Dort must be, what, top 5? In all seriousness, he was great, but there are a handful of defenders that give Harden trouble like that. The Rockets were doing everything they can to force a defensive switch and a more favorable matchup. As has been observed in the past, as explosive as Harden can be against the average defender or defense, his scoring attacks on drives lack the variety of counters that other elite scorers have had. Case in point was that one play where he shook the defender and had a wide open 10 footer, but instead he hesitated and threw a pass to the perimeter for a contested shot.
Luguentz Dort the REAL MVP! Got James Harden on . Dort has quick feet and a strong torso. He’s built like the Pentagon. Thick and low to the ground. Built like a fullback. OKC played the last two minutes of the first half without Dort, and Harden drilled the Thunder for a quick nine points. After that, Donovan was much more careful with his Dort substitution patterns. All told, Harden scored 11 points while Dort was on the bench, with only one missed shot. Harden’s final stats were gaudy (they always are gaudy): 38 points, but he missed 10 of his 13 3-point shots. Harden shooting with Dort on the bench: 5-of-6. Harden shooting with Dort on the court: 7-of-21. And while Harden did get 15 foul shots, most came courtesy of other Thunders, not Dort. Dort finished with just three fouls, which will no doubt chap Harden, especially considering the way the game ended. Fifty-three seconds into overtime, Harden fouled out for the first time all season. The sixth foul came by fouling Dort, who had snatched an offensive rebound and was muscling to the basket. There is irony. There is double irony. Then there is Harden fouling out of a critical game because he hacked Dort. Harden likely still will get the last laugh. He’s 1-1 in playoff series against the franchise that traded him eight years ago, and Houston still leads this series 2-1. But the Thunder always makes things rough on its expatriate. Harden is averaging 30.0 points per game against OKC in the postseason. But they are a hard-earned 30. Thabo Sefolosha in 2013 and Andre Roberson in 2017 and now Dort in 2020 make things quite difficult for Harden. In half of those 14 playoff meetings, Harden has shot below 40 percent from the field. His 3-point percentage in those games is 29 percent. It’s a noble lineage. Sefolosha brought perimeter savvy and toughness to a team brimming with young colts void of a defensive mindset. He stood up to Kobe Bryant and Harden and even Chris Paul in the playoffs Roberson was a defensive terror before that awful patellar tendon injury 31 months ago. In the final two games of the OKC-Houston series in 2017, Harden was a ghastly 13-of-41 shooting, including 2-of-20 from 3-point range. But now comes Dort, an undrafted rookie who is manna from Heaven who gives the Thunder a chance against the Rockets and the name Luguentz a chance to spread. https://oklahoman.com/article/5669854/dorts-defense-on-harden-is-a-difference-maker-vs.-houston
Harden dropped 38 points on 27 shots with a single turnover... all while uncharacteristically missing free throws and having a poor shooting night from 3. He shot 9/14 on two point shots.... The problem wasn’t James Harden and he didn’t struggle. While some in this thread seem to like to take glee, James... Green and House showed up.... no one else did. Had House hit that late free throw no one would be saying a word.
I am not worried about this matchup at all. Harden doesn’t have any skill set that’s not 10x that of Dort. If the other 1/3 of the cap (less Green) did their part and final 1/3 of the cap (Westbrook) played. Dort’s name wouldn’t even be known here on CF. Dort is a nice player and a bright future in the league.
I’m concerned about Harden’s shoulder. It clearly affected him late in the game. So did the 5 fouls that he should never have had in the first place. The refs bias was clear throughout the game. If someone believed in conspiracy theories, that person might be forgiven for thinking a “higher up” wanted a longer series. Yes, Dort is an excellent defender, but he had help, in my opinion.
People definitely would’ve said something and have been. Harden wasn’t the problem at all, that doesn’t mean it’s not extremely noticeable how well Dort plays him
Everything that Dort brings on defense, which is phenomenal, is washed away by his offense. Much like Sefolosha or Roberson before him.
Please, if the Rockets had a 3-0 lead in the series and Harden having almost dropped 40... the discussion would be who the Rockets would be playing in round 2.
Lol there was discussion about how well Dort defended him before he even stepped on the floor. You got it though... either way rockets in 5
Its a damn shame that this gave the media an excuse to discredit Harden for the rest of his career. I can't name a single other star that has a stopper that locks them down night in and night out. This is three straight games defended by Dort that Harden has been shut down.
I figured 20% so not that much off. The problem is Harden wanted to prove a point at times and it backfired. That midrange 2 was right there, the one time he actually got open and then he refuses the shot. This system can be a real b****.
Dort does do a great job on Harden. An alleyoop threat could've helped Harden in this game. I still think having Russ back is going to keep the Thunder defense more honest in the paint than they were in this game. Rockets can't shoot threes like this, especially without Russ, and win very often. Have to point out though how wide open the Rockets left Dort on the other end and he couldn't make a three to save his life.
