If he is the current leader of this team, he needs to show intensity on both ends. He needs to set a high bar for all the players in this team if we are going to compete for a championship (future) and that mind set needs to start now.
Harden is actually really great at defending the post, he probably played a lot of it in pick-up and in highschool. he's below average lateral speed only hurts him defending the face-up, not the post.
I think a lot of the big time scorers are somewhat passive on defense in order to stay out of foul trouble.
As most people could probably tell, he probably wasn't firmly coached in sound defensive principles. Especially since he is such a phenom when it comes to offense, I doubt that many of his coaches during grade school and college bothered teaching him these things. Couple of points: 1) His stance on defense is very high. His center of gravity is way too high and his stance does not lend itself to balance and quickness when he's trying to stay in front of someone. In addition, he does not optimize the way he sets his feet to defend. There are a few defensive angles that allow for a defender to efficiently adjust and defend someone. 2) A lot of good defense is making sure you angle your body correctly, keep an eye on the hips of the offensive player when they have the ball, hands up at all times, keep a low stance, and have your legs loaded on the balls of your feet just to name a few keys. 3) He's constantly ball watching instead of paying attention to screen angles, reactions of the offensive player, etc. There were a few times in that game where he just got stuck behind screens because he was ball watching instead of following his man Shved.
I never complain about his defense but today, damn. He again completely lost his man (Green) from the start of the game who was left wide open for five consecutive 3's that quickly got us into a hole. When he actually stays in front of his guy, he's pretty good though.
Seems like we have to take the good with the bad with Harden. I just hope McHale calls him out on it and holds him responsible because those open threes and long two's he lets guys take are inexcusable.
Harden usually plays average to below average defense. His defense today was terrible. Harden is capable of becoming a better defender but he'll never be a guy that can play great defense because his lateral quickness isn't that good.
how many 30+ scorers are there that play good d? it's just not possible to put in the energy on both sides of the court. harden is "the" scorer for the rockets and his subpar d is understandable. also harden getting fouls would really hurt the rockets. like what happened today when he got the 5th foul and then the whole momentum of the game started to shift.
nah that's not the point his fundamentals in defense whether it's one on one or off ball are severely lacking. It's not about energy spend when you are in a bad defensive stance.
We're not asking him to play lockdown defense. He is absolutely capable of playing better defense than he has so far this season. I'll agree that fatigue plays a factor in playing good defense but most of it has to do with his lack of effort. Half-assing on D is completely unacceptable.
all i can say about this is look at lebron and other elite scorers....do they take a day off defensively so they can concentrate on offense???
That's a cop out excuse. Not possible? Ever heard of Michael Jordan? One of the best defenders ever along with being the best offensive talent ever. He never took plays off on either side of the court. It is possible. Not saying Harden should try to be Jordan's level but he can put in more effort for sure.
You know, this could be a really good inspiration talk for your next pick-up game "hey, Joe, stop those layups, you know what Micheal Jordan would do? He will dunk from the free throw line!" the point is, stop comparing everybody to MJ, he is that special.
Harden's defense is bad, but I don't understand why he is still assigned to the same guy after he got exposed again and again. Like last game with Green, Parson should have been switched to him after the first 2 wide open threes.
