in defense of hardens defence he is playing high minutes and made the be the focal point of the offense. such energy expenditure doesnt help, but sometimes he does look bad esp off the ball..
No more excusses!!!!!!!!!! Defense is a pride thing. some have it some don't. I personally take a lot of pride in frustrating the guy i'm guarding because I enjoy giving a guy who has been spoiled from a scoring standpoint fits. Harden does not take pride in defense and he should. Take lebron for example. He was killing it on the defensive end to try to defeat the bulls because he takes pride in winning!! You can not teach pride and it bothers me to see talent without that pride!!! don't get me wrong I think Harden is great but at times I really wish he would play some damn D!!!!!! So quit these excuses for Harden, it is nobody's fault but his own
Rockets fans have to admit that Harden will never be an above average defender. 23 is old enough to show some defense determination.
Harden gambles too much on defense. He needs to stay on his man and crowd him a little more, plus his rotations are too slow. I think he'll eventually become a passable defender, but he has to work on that this offseason and become committed to it.
Harden is a great player, but for him to become one of the all time best, he needs to improve his defense a lot. He's drawn comparison to TMAC, while Kobe Bryant was drawn comparison to Micheal Jordan. TMAC never passed the first round, why? Because he has no defense. Kobe Bryant and Micheal Jordan were on first defense team multiple times. Defense is the key separating between great players and all time greats. It is essential to winning games, especially in the playoff. If Harden doesn't improve his defense abilities, at most he will be another TMAC, which was a great player, but not a winner.
Harden definitely has issues on defense, but all five players seem to forget defense is important. I can't remember how many times in every game where all 5 defenders collapse inside the paint to a player driving all while leaving the opposition wide open.
TMac never got past the first round because he never had Shaq, Gasol, Nash, etc. TMac played very well in the playoffs for years. Further, Harden has already been to the NBA Finals so I don't think that comparison is valid. Harden needs to focus more on defense, and I suspect he will..... but Kobe hasn't played defense in a decade.
No.... I am not even black.... But I have noticed a very strong trend of certain posters to hit on the same themes, which are .... greedy, ball hog, lazy, etc.... and they are extremely exaggerated and honestly, offensive after a point.... a lot of jealousy is noted. I thought we were past this as a society, but the GARM has proven otherwise.
Look at any game, there's huge scoring points with the player he's guarding. I remember there's a player get career high on his score and Harden was the one guarding him.
Harden spent half the time guarding Paul George last game...... this doesn't even take into account team defense.... but I know, it doesn't fit the narrative.
I don't get how hard it is to play off ball D. If you're a guard: -Just freaking stick to your man AT ALL TIMES -BOX them out of long rebounds. YES, BOX THEM OUT -DON'T ball watch -DON'T reach in whenever someone drives unless they're within arm distance and your man is still beside you
No it isn't.... It is predictable...... Idiots say: 1. Fire McHale, he is terrible.... any failing by the Rockets is his fault. "He doesnt take any blame" ..... never mind that he never takes any credit either. 2. Lin has a bad game and jackasses start saying that he is terrible and should be replaced by Beverly in the starting lineup. Never mind that Lin overall has been solid, and that while Beverly is a better defender, he does not run the team as well as Lin. 3. Any criticism of Lin or cut in his playing time results in an all out war about how Lin's confidence is destroyed, and he is being held back by the evil McHale and how Lin needs to not be submissive. I always find this one insulting, Lin is a grown man, he can take criticism and his confidence is not made of glass, if it was he would never have made it to the NBA. 4. McHale hates his point guards, they hate him, he ruins them. Well lets see..... Dragic loved him and had his best season under McHale. Lowry had his best season under McHale, Beverly has blossomed under McHale and Lin is averaging 13/6/2 under McHale and has improved as the season has gone on..... 5. Harden is a lazy, greedy man that only cares about his statistics and holds Lin back. This has to be one of my favorites. First, Harden has the green light at all times, he could shoot the ball way more than he does. There have been numerous games where Harden will only have 5-6 shots in a half or far less than 20 in a game. His defense is mediocre, but a huge part of the problem is the Rockets team defense, and ALL of the Rockets outside of Asik are poor team defenders. Harden should shoot as often as he does, his TS and PPS are better than Lin, or anyone else on the team. So you can act like none of it is real, but it is in most every GARM thread. Clutchfans is now littered with posters with an agenda.
Just watching a few of the games with Harden, he isn't a great defender, at least not for the bigger or more active SG/SFs. He can turn it on for short bursts but he is gambler and can get distracted or knocked out of a play. It also seems like the coaches or Harden himself knows this and will usually try to guard the least active scorer in the backcourt in a lot of games. Lin is similar in that he gets knocked out of plays but Lin's biggest flaw defensively (at least recently) is that he will try to help cover someone and leave his own man wide open. Parsons is decent but he seems to have regressed from last season where he would have great games keeping guys like Kobe and Durant from going off but he will still be asked to guard the best SG/SF because he is our most athletic one. Overall, you can tell based on how often the 2nd unit shows up leading a defensive rally, that our starters don't seem to be coaching much of defensive effort. Our best defensive players seem to be Asik and Robinson, everyone else is wildly inconsistent or ineffective on defense.
Harden went to the NBA Finals but not as the focus of the team, he was 3rd (2nd at best) option. That is like Bosh on Miami team...Sure you can win Championship on a team where you don't have to carry it, but that does not make you all time greats. Kobe CAN play defense when it is the time, he has that ability to turn it on and shut others down. I haven't seen that in Harden.
Then you didn't watch OKC last year, as Harden routinely covered the other teams best perimeter player. Further, at different points Harden has played defense, including against LBJ and George. If you want him to play more consistent defensively, that is fine, but to say you have never seen him play good defense is false.
Haha...reminds me of Robert Horry with 7 rings floating from team to team..right place and right time.
exactly he's freaking 23...like McHale said, you should be thankful to be there, no need to recharge batteries.
