Why isn't Harden driving (and trying to finish) more?

i think hes saving it for games that matter.... conference finals and finals both harden and EGO...driving takes the toll make you tired and susceptible to injuries
i think they know we will beat thunder no matter what and are saving their health

 

To be fair, Thunder were helping Dort and were forming a wall behind him. Look at the sequence when Harden drove in on Dort but a couple of Thunder players were there to meet him at the free throw line, then Harden did a behind the back pass to Jeff Green.

Dort did a good job moving his feet but the Thunder defense is fully focused on Harden. He doesn't get the wide open lanes that other Rockets have been getting.

 

Dort is defending well, super excited about tomorrow's game because of that. I'm expecting James to come up with ideas. Kudos to the kid, awesome disciplined defense.

And he must be built like a wall, for Harden to be reluctant to go in, I guess it must be draining him. Also, don't overlook the fact that behind Dort is Adams waiting too, OKC in general has been very emphatic in closing the paint to James with Donovan leading the bench

 

Harden needs to post up on offense at the end of games because he is automatic from midrange.

 

He is still driving and finishing, but he is just very smart about his options. In the past playoffs, he would become too predictable at his intention is. For example, the Blazer series a few years back, they would stick (I forgot his name, the dude with a headband) onto him to swat him. But this version of Harden are very selective when to drive all the way and when to kick out to the side or behind the back. That's an evolution.

While we are on this topic, I am surprised that no one has mentioned that he stops looking for fouls when he drives, but really focus on finishing and dishing instead.

 

Maybe Harden reads CF and finally understands media conspiracy. If he drives more, the media will say that his game is nothing other than drawing fouls.

 

He definitely hasn't been going as hard as he can offensively these 1st two games. It's been noticeable.

You'll see him open it all the way up next round though when he's going head-to-head with LeBron. That's for sure.

 

This isn’t getting talking about enough. He was absolutely deadly on the mid range step back in 14-15. He needs to utilize that more

 

he drove 22 times in game 1...5 more than his season average...that dipped to 13 drives in game 2

Dort did a good job, nobody can deny that...the paint is open, just not for Harden because of how he’s defended...it’s open for EG, House, Green, and Rivers because of Harden’s gravity and the attention he demands

I also think he drives a little less because he’s been picking up a lot of defensive fouls and doesn’t want to add possible charges on top of it...he’s had 4 fouls in each game against OKC, and he was racking them up in the seeding games as well

 

Its not only "getting the shot" its also the energy cost involved. If james has to work hard to move Dort then over the course of the game he cant just force it. Also 3>2

Harden played so well on defense and controlled the offense very well . I think if the calculus tells him to drive , he will.

 

I think the idea is that James is likely to be hot from the three point line tomorrow. He was just missing usual step back threes that he makes regularly in Game 2. Credit to OKC for taking away the drive, but they never took away the three point line. When Harden burns them tomorrow from three, expect Billy to go away from his "no doubling" game plan and double Harden all game long. Should allow the rest of the roster to feast for game 4.

 

He hasn't been driving much going back to the start of the season so it's not just Dort. He's more comfortable settling for threes than he used to be. A lot of it was that the paint was clogged before we got rid of Capela.

 

Drives and shots off drives and shot percentage on drives

Season : 17.6 drives with 7.3 FGA and 55.7% shooting

First 2 playoff games : 17.5 drives with 6.5 FGA and 69.2% shooting

Other seasons
18/19 : 19.6 drives per game
17/18 : 17.1 drives per game
16/17 : 17.1 drives per game

 

I just think he gets into this mode where he misses some threes and then he'll start to shoot one after the other probably because he's annoyed from missing them, and it's frustrating to watch at times. But yea give credit to OKC defense they were making it a point to stop his penetration.

 

Agree and I expect him to increase his mark, not sure if he is going all the way up to high thirties (%3pt) because of the volume he is taking and again, I'm giving some credit to the kid. But at the same time, I think this is the best stretch of basketball I have ever seen from James Harden and because of that, even if we go up early, I'm as a fan, expecting him to try something to get to his season averages.

Not sure if he is going to bring back the mid range stepback, try the weird shot we saw in the offseason, or if Coach is going to try some actions to get him downhill with the ball before the defender sets up, but I expect them to try some counter

 

Harden takes what the defense gives him and they have to pick their poison.