I don't think it was a jab at Harden. We don't have to take out the pitch forks for everyone guys, Harden is disrespected enough from other people. Feels like the Salem Witch Trials in here loool.
Never heard or seen anything that suggests they're friends. Maybe a brief conversation after a game when he played in Indiana.
It's 2-fold, and both are true. PG was complimenting Harden for his offense ability, but his main goal was to use Harden's reputation to make his point and highlight that he focuses on both ends. It's the exact same journalistic tactic that Bill Simmons employed when trying to make a comparison between Luka and Bird. For some reason, Harden's name gets dragged into these comps and, unfortunately, it's his old reputation that's being dragged. We as fans only get Max Kellerman's "willing defender" comment to drive the narrative that Harden is "getting better" - never "good," just better - on D. In PG's case, he did it to illicit empathy. For the Bill Simmons -types, it's trendy to mention Harden's name in hopes to get readers/listeners on the same page as the author to make another point. They do this knowingly at his expense.
Opposing players are shooting 28/88 (32 percent) against him this season, and Harden forces turnovers on 13 percent of possessions. Against the Mavericks, Harden had three steals, three blocks, and nine defensive rebounds. On multiple occasions, Harden also stopped dribble drives and forced his player to pass the ball back out.
I agree with clutch on this. I didn’t hear it as a shot at James. I heard it more as him acknowledging that he can’t be as dominant a scorer as James, so he knows he *has* to make up for that in other areas.
Harden is the leading scorer for the past three seasons. I bet people would be b****ing if PG used someone else as a dominant scorer... If there was a dig on Harden's defense, even among Harden die hards, we all been there. Harden's doing well for himself right now. If he wants to use it as motivation, there's plenty out there...
Why is he even talking about any other playoff performer, let alone Harden, whos playing great at both ends of the floor. The no D Harden, is a bit old now. He was awful for a long stretch and desinterested, but after he got memed so hard in the internet, i think he turned it around. Now James is a great post defender, and he is ok in the perimeter, still takes a lot of gambles, but when he is engaged he is an above average 1 on 1 defender. This is one of the cases, where you become famous for doing something ( or not doing it, in his case) and when you actually turn it around, the media and the people never update.
I'm trying to figure out why he had to mention Harden at all. Lebron and Harden both didn't put up big scoring nights in their previous games. They didn't mention anyone at all they both just said simply "I can contribute in other ways."
Paul George is actually looking worse than EG on offense, he’s been that bad on defense, he and Kawhi are both looking fraudulent as hell Why are they allowing the likes of Morris and Reggie Jackson to take the bulk of defensive possessions against Doncic? PG’s talking about how he has to make sure he brings it on the defensive end. Well then, bring it. Take on the challenge of slowing down Doncic instead of hiding behind Morris and Reggie. I ain’t never seen 2 elite defenders see a guy just destroying their team, and still choose not to guard him or prefer to switch off of him due to the slightest of screens so that the likes of Reggie Jackson can get BBQ’d.
