No, it's worse. Harden is bad due to a lack of effort mostly. While Lee doesn't seem to put in much effort himself, he is unable to stay within 5 feet of his man .
You're wrong, you're kneejerking since Harden wasn't exploited tonight since McHale was able to hide him defensively.
The one time he actually puts in some effort on D combined with the fact that he was defending the only, very specific, type of player he's actually comfortable defending (a non cutter, non shooter, high post iso player who backs down defenders instead of trying to get by them), while still managing to look completely lost a couple of times and you're gonna forget his previous defensive (non) efforts? Come on now, you're better than that. If he manages to string together a couple of solid (at the very least not lackadaisical) performances on D, I'll gladly eat my words, until then, he's the worst defender in the league in my book. Harden is my favorite player when he's giving his best at both ends, don't get me wrong. Just don't lose perspective because of one game.
Barnes is a cutter and a shooter though. But I agree consistent effort is the thing with him. I have really only seen him try vs good teams.
I wonder if Lin got Lee and Curry drunk before the game for those guys to perform as bad as they did.
