Not sure about lineups he plays the most, but per Basketball Reference: When Harden's on the Court: ORTG: 108.9 Opponents Offensive Rating: 100.1 When off: ORTG: 93.4 Opponents Offensive Rating: 100.2
I don't really care if Harden relaxes a bit on defense. He is most of our offense and I don't mind it if he gets too tired to make the right defensive play sometimes. Sure, he has some mental lapses but everyone does. To call him a bad defender over 10 minutes in an entire season was silly to begin with. I am glad they did because he is showing his potential. Thank you haters. The key thing is I don't want him to get injured. Playing tired defense (tired from running the offense) increases the chance of getting injured. I would rather him be a defensive monster when we need him to be like in the playoffs and important stretches of the 4th quarter (3rd if we really need it). The Rockets can't afford him getting injured over one defensive play. He already looks fatigued and sore these past few games because of how much work he has to do. Sure, the Suns game was a back to back, but he has been looking sluggish as of late.
With the Rockets leading the league in defense and Harden's defensive stats and advanced stats you would think these guys would be quiet. I think some of the guys who continued to talk mess after the video dropped are now hearing about the Rockets defensive statistical achievements as well as Harden's and they quickly dropped it. They know they numbers don't lie.
Does Reggie Miller strike anyone else as a douche bag? He kept reiterating Harden was REQUIRED to play defense. No duh Coach K probably told him you won't have to focus so much on offense because of your all-star teammates and instead focus that energy on defense. I don't see how that's a big deal like he and the rest of the media spun it.
I cannot stand Reggie Miller as an announcer. It seems like he gets every national Rockets game lately, too. Harden is a different player this season. His defense has been great so far. Maybe getting Lin and Parsons off either side of him was a blessing in disguise.
Posted this video in the same facebook groups that had the 11 minute no defense one......that video got 100+ comments. This video got none. I'm not surprised.
Well I did my part. Argued with a guy on the bleacher report posting on facebook so good that he deleted his comment.:grin:
ask the haters which superstar with a similaroffensive.output\burden as james they think is a great defender then we compile a defensive lapses video of that guy
Ugh. After almost a day I can say that this video unfortunately hasn't helped. I know Clutch said he and some people are working on a video, but Clutch, if that video isn't a trillion times better than this one don't even bother. It has to be 12 minutes of straight up Harden playing good on-ball defense and good off-ball defense(as in denying the player from getting the ball.) No Harden playing the passing lanes or getting a block from behind. It has to be more Harden-on-Monta moments instead of Harden-behind-Cousins moments. No filler either. No background music. and maybe not 20 games into the season? During the all star break would be nice. At least in the year 2015.
Well, even if not everyone in the media gives Harden respect, at the least Harden knows he has fans who will fight for him and his reputation. Rockets fans in Taiwan, you have done good.
WTF with people complaining about the video ^^ This is a great vid, OP. Thanks for your hard work and effort.
Loved the video and it is a great start. Going to need more though and maybe after every game someone needs to make a defense video.
