Good post but why does he list certain years for certain players? For instance, why leave off the 2005 playoffs when Tmac was in his prime and went bonkers and had great stats? Also Wesley Matthews did have some frustratingly good games vs us in last year's playoffs mostly due to poor defense.
Points wise yes, but Tmac had JVG and Rick Adelman who had great minds and could put there best players in position to succeed.
I wouldn't mind seeing Harden set the pick on the PnR and have Jones or Smith handle it. Could make for an interesting adjustment. (disclaimer: I am not suggesting this be our game plan, but a set we try running a few times if things get stagnant). The issue is if Harden gets doubled, the rolling player should be the one to punish the other team. But we have been unable to punish them for the double team. At this point the best bet may be just having Harden keep doing what he is doing. He is passing it out of the double. Lets pray that our role players can pick up the slack.
Let's see...in the 2005 playoffs McGrady averaged 43 minutes/game and took 24.4 shots/game to average 30.7 points/game. In 2008 McGrady averaged 27.0 pts/game while playing 41.2 minutes/game and taking 24.3 shots/game. So, in 2005 McGrady averaged 4 points more than Harden has this year but he had to take 8.4 additional shots to get those 4 points. Likewise, in 2008 McGrady took 8.3 additional shots to average 0.1 point more than Harden has in this years playoffs. If you look at the per 36 minute numbers for the years that cited they look like this: McGrady 2005 Playoffs per 36 minutes 25.7 pts/game 5.6 ast/game 7.1 reb/game 45.6 FG% 37 3FG% 2008 Playoffs per 36 minutes 23.6 pts/game 6.0 ast/game 7.1 reb/game 42.5 FG% 20.8 3FG% Harden 2015 Playoffs per 36 minutes 26.9 pts/game 8.4 ast/game 4.3 reb/game 45.8 FG% 41.4 3FG% So, other than rebounding Harden is better in pts, assists, FG% and 3FG% once you standardize the minutes played.
The problem with having Harden set the pick and having Smith/Jones handle the ball is that Harden's defender will stay with him and Jones/Smith's man will simply go under and sag to the middle leaving Jones/Smith unguarded. LAC would be more than happy for Smith/Jones to shoot a jumper or to try and drive when Jordan is waiting in the paint. I agree with you that the best play (and really the only play) is for Harden to pass when double teamed. Seems like many here are opposed to that so I want to hear the alternative that they would prefer.
Not at all. The problem is trying to let numbers on a piece of paper fully tell the story of a game that is played on the court. Stats are a great tool, but if you take them out of the context of a game, ESPECIALLY given a small sample size, they can become very misleading.
I'll ask the same question I just asked a few posts above. What do you want Harden to do when he's doubled and also has Jordan camping in the lane. He's been passing the ball, so if you don't like that what is it that you think that he should be doing? Do you think that the proper play is to consistently challenge double and triple teams? If not, then what is it that you think that he should be doing?
aelliott you are fighting a good fight for basketball logic, and I applaud you. Some of the more troly ones, like HH above, really don't deserve your time though.
I was responding to the idea that those 2 guards always showed up in the playoffs. Citing examples of bad playoff performances is the simplest way to disprove that statement.
The big problem here is that our players are not hitting open shots. That is what is killing us, that and our bigs not making FT's. People whining about Harden simply don't understand basketball. The entire defense from Clippers is geared towards stopping him by taking away his ability to get into the lane by posting a shot blocker there and taking away his ability of breaking down players 1v1 by doubling him. Offensively, he is doing what I expect out of him; passing out of the double team and to the open man. The problem is, our open men aren't hitting shots. We shot 33%, 19%, 33%, and 42%. To put it into perspective, the Clippers shot 42%, 24%, 45%, and 43%. Before one of you idiots who don't understand what you are watching start b****ing about us shooting too many threes, the Clippers have shot damn close to the number of threes we threw up this series; 31-33, 25-26, 29-33, and 28-31. Again, the difference is the quality of shooters. The other thing that I noticed is that our players are missing a lot of freebies. T-Jones especially has missed quite a few as well as lost/not caught a few. Our turnovers already have been pretty bad this series, mainly due to Clippers pressuring Harden so quickly and aggressively. To compound the TO issues of our passers with TO issues on the receiving end easily spells losses for a team, especially one with such poor shooters and no secondary playmaker. Long story short, we play with very little discipline and when things start going bad, they start snowballing for us. This is where losing D-Mo hurts us the most. This is also why I was OK with dumping D-Mo for a playmaking guard and continue to be OK with dumping either him or T-Jones. So why were we so good against Dallas then? For one, they are a pretty ****ty team among the playoff teams. Secondly, their front court outside of Chandler just flat out blows chunks. Clippers have Griffin and Jordan, BOTH of which can keep up with any of our bigs as well as defend against the lob. This is NOT like the matchup with Derp who anyone of our bigs can blow by at will. We are talking about opposing bigs in their prime and top tier ones at that. Long story short, the front court makes a poor matchup with us and our fossil PG's turned a backcourt advantage into a terrible matchup. This is also why I prefer having Spurs instead of Clippers. To sum things up, Harden is not doing bad on O. Short of chucking up inefficient shots and magically making them (Aldridge in Game 1 and 2 last year), he is taking what the D is giving him and there isn't much available. Defensively, he has been terrible, but so has our entire team.
Wrong wrong wrong wrong. Harden is making the smart Basketball plays and picking his spots when they are available, which is why his efficiency is high. Trying to force something when defenses are focusing on you and Deandre Jordan is waiting for you in the paint is r****ded. It something an ignorant fan would suggest without thinking it through. Harden is making the right plays and getting the ball to the right people in the right place. They are not capitalizing. They are not capitalizing because we have limited talent to do so. Do you know mow many times have I seen Harden blow past his man forcing the Clippers to adjust out of position, kicking a pass off to Ariza..... Ariza of course can't dribble, takes about six steps awkwardly, gathers himself, passes off in a safety move to the high post man, who in turn gives it right back Harden at the top of the key with 15 less seconds on the shot clock. This isn't a Harden problem, its a personnel problem. The Clippers guys on the other hand ARE capitalizing and that is the difference.
He is averaging 5.5 turnovers per game, including games with 5, 7, and 9 turnovers. Are you honestly going to, with a straight face, say that he is making "smart basketball plays"? Do you watch these games live?
Well, for one, the mid-range jumpshot has been there all series long. Pass out of the double, fine, no argument from me, but when he does drive, he goes in begging for a foul that isn't there, or kicks it out to a guy that isn't that wide open. If he gets past his defender, he needs to be shooting the floater or pull-up jump shot. I get that those aren't 3 pointers or lay-ups and that Morey will grow a 4th chin out of frustration, but that is what the defense is giving him. He also is doing VERY little off the ball. The scheme against him when he has the ball is pretty obvious. Not so much when he is off the ball. Any movement while he doesn't have the ball in his hands would be refreshing. Go watch the last 4 games and see how often he stands around waiting for his turn to try and do something with the ball. The biggest thing, though? He could play some effing defense. He is putting out gifs and Vines like it is the 2013-2014 season. https://vine.co/v/emhzubVpxXK
The defense on Harden is the same scheme that OKC and Portland used in the playoffs the two prior years. Hardens defender's primary responsibility is to play up on him and contest the 3pt shot. Anytime that Harden goes toward the basket a second defender will come over to help. Additionally, the opposing defense is keeping a big man in or near the paint. For OKC it was Ibaka, for Portland it was Aldridge and now its Jordan. The problem with a floater is that in order to shoot that shot Harden will have to be going towards the basket and that means that he will draw a double team. There isn't a player in the league that has a floater that is good enough to effectively challenge a double or triple team on a consistent basis. As far as moving without the ball, theres still issues. Cuts to the hoop wont work because you'll run right into Jordan...he isn't going to leave the paint. Hardens not a guy to shoot the ball coming off screens. That's not his game. There's not too many guys in the entire league that have that skillset. Lets say Harden does turn into a Kyle Korver clone, who's going to deliver the ball to him when he comes open? Is Matt Barnes offense the reason that we're down 3-1? Thats Who Harden is primarily guarding. Personally, I'd be more concerned about our inability to defend Griffin. He killed us in the first two games and now we are sending guards to help out on him and thats allowing the Clipper guards to hurt us.
