When you are expected to put up a lot of points and play heavy minutes, your effort on d will go down. It happened to Parsons, happened to Tmac, happened to Lowry when he started, and it happened to Harden. All we really need from Harden is being smart on defense, there's no way he can be an elite defender while scoring 30 a game.
man Harden is getting a lot of hype and hate coming into this season. You have GMs and others rating him as one of the best but as a result he is also getting a lot of hate. The stage is set for him to dominate
Might as well bump this thread. Rockets can only go as far as Harden's defensive effort. Like it or not, Harden at the SG position is likely going to have to guard the opponent's most proficient scorer. Dwight getting into early foul trouble isn't going to help us cover for Harden's lackluster defense.
His D isn't as bad as you guys are making it out to be. There isn't anyone on this team that's playing D well. They don't help each other. They don't rotate, they don't talk and they are not coached well.
Are you watching the game? I lost count of how many times he lost track of JJ and JCrawford. It's not a new lack of defensive effort, the Clips just know how to take advantage of it and have the SG cast that can light it up.
Are you watching the game? They are setting screens everytime time with him. Like I said and the guy at the half said no-one is stepping up after harden and whom ever else is guarding him get picked when they switch. Not Hardens fault. People need a scape goat whether it's lin sucks or hardens d. Houston as a team has zero D
What were you saying about setting screens everytime on him? Off-ball screens or not, he is letting his man walk right by him on nearly every possession tonight.