"At the other end, James struggled to get space with Harden on him."

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/miamiheat/post/_/id/16847/heat-see-harden-in-superstar-role



Just sifting back through the season, I always take the barometer test of players and teams on how they play against the best teams.

This season we were very, very competitive with the Heat. We lost both games but there were both barn burners. In this particular game on Feb 6, we came back from down 17 points and chopped it to 3 before the Heat separated again and finished +6. But we remained competitive down to the end after going down big in the 3rd quarter. In my opinion this was our most impressive loss of the season. Down big on the road in the 3rd quarter against the champions, second game of a back to back, with Delfino out and Beverley not yet in the rotation and we made a game of it. (Incidentally this was the game right after the monster GS game with all the 3-pointers.)


By the way, we lost to the Heat in November at home by 3. Also a competitive game but much earlier in the season. Went into the 4th quarter with the lead and faded.

What still sticks out in my mind about this game was Harden was actually defending Lebron at the top down the stretch. My first reaction at that time was what kind of stupid defensive strategy was this by McHale? But then as the game finished I started thinking about it after watching him defend Lebron. I didn't consider that he did a particular great job on Lebron (who possibly could?) but he was up on him, into his body, he was going high around the screens and scrambling to stay with Lebron. He was deterring Lebron, forcing him to dribble and move instead of stand there and scan in the triple threat. It was...very similar to what Jimmy Butler is doing on Lebron now. And realistically it was probably as effective as a single defender can be on Lebron.

So, that got me to thinking about how ultimately to put a defense together to cause Miami the most trouble. And you know what....it starts with Harden at the top defending Lebron. And it ends with multiple defensive bigs defending the paint and rim...and in the middle are some perimeter guys scrambling on the wings to deny the 3-ball and force guys to step in to long 2-point shots. Harden has the capacity to be a plus defender. He's got the bball iq, the athleticism, the quicks, and the strength. The only issue really with him defensively is how much energy can he expend when he is doing everything offensively? (Another reason why I am a huge proponent of moving him off the ball more and balancing out our offense by having Lin run the top for the majority of the time when him and Lin are in together. He can then dominate the top when Lin goes to the bench.)

All this talk about James needs to work on his defense, specifically his transition defense........just give the man another superstar and balance out the offense. And let his teammates understand that when he goes to the rim on those all-out drives they've got to balance the transition defense by getting back. You can't expect him to do everything. Yes, he needs to get better. But the understanding and skill set is already there.

Defensively, Lebron basically lays in the weeds, cheating and helping the whole game until crunch time and then he gets after it with the head of the snake. Whichever opposing player is the source of the Heat's defensive problems, Lebron gets on him at about the 6-8 minute mark of the 4th quarter of a close game and takes him away. Now, while Harden will never be on Lebron's level defensively, it does make a lot of sense for him to be used this way, especially with big playmakers up top like Lebron with the help coming from multiple bigs.

We saw the same thing in the Thunder series against Durant. We didn't use Lebron but good defense in today's NBA with teams using so much pick and roll and big playmakers starts at the top with pressuring the ball, getting the ball handler to burn up shot clock seconds before he can get into his pick or screen. Chandler and Garcia did that to Durant. Some would say it wasn't effective but I think they were very effective. OKC just hit some shots and got some lucky bounces. Otherwise we may have been back in OKC for game 7 and still be playing right now.

So I really don't think Harden needs to get better physically at defense. I think it's more of a mindset. He needs the Kobe/Lebron mindset of playing through the fatigue and making plays instead of worrying about conserving energy for the stretch. Just a little better conditioning perhaps a little bit more strength (though not much) and working on his endurance and decision-making end to end and he's there.

The rest of the defensive adjustment has to come from floor balance, getting another superstar level scorer on the floor to help Harden with the offensive burden, and another elite level defender to provide transition D and help D.

 

That is exactly right. Give him a bigger guard with whom he may have a quickness advantage on. Or at least he's just as quick as. He stayed with Lebron so well.

 

Kobe in his prime was an absolute monster on both ends. He never took possessions off. That's what I mean when I talk about the Kobe mindset. Of course, he was being given rest during games. When guys minutes start pushing into the 40s, they are going to take plays off.