The media agenda regarding James Harden's "defense"

Yeah, it's unbelievable. It's worse than after the Toronto game. They plucked a play from the first quarter when it was like 10 to 10 and it shows Isaiah Thomas make a difficult layup over Harden. The title now is "Thomas' moves exposes Harden." It's just completely ridiculous at this point. I've never seen ESPN troll an NBA player like this. SMFH is right.

 

Lol if I was harden is never do an interview with ESPN. Then I'd go to my hotel room and do meat spins

 

Espn can suck on a big one cuzz we beat the celtics. Screw their crappy videos

 

Now this is fair criticism

Very good post sweet lou

 

I stopped watching ESPN unless Houstons on forever ago. Don't ever go to their website either. They don't know anything about sports

 

Media gonna narrative.

Harden with 5 fouls, late in the game, doesn't want to pick up a 6th and basically lets Westbrook score. And the media gives no context/nuance and just presents that play as "Harden bad defense play."


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">James Harden inexplicably moves out of Russell Westbrook's way on a fast break: <a href="https://t.co/sPcW5X9rmr">https://t.co/sPcW5X9rmr</a></p>&mdash; Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) <a href="https://twitter.com/jovanbuha/status/712499731088297985">March 23, 2016</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">James Harden is known for his defense… or lack thereof. Last night, he added to his &quot;highlight&quot; reel. <a href="https://t.co/9dTEPxVDHx">https://t.co/9dTEPxVDHx</a></p>&mdash; SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/712678786135891968">March 23, 2016</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Say what you want about the guy, but you have to give James Harden credit for really contesting this Westbrook dunk <a href="https://t.co/ecYNSXBkZR">https://t.co/ecYNSXBkZR</a></p>&mdash; Mike Goldfarb (@Shaqtin_A_Fool) <a href="https://twitter.com/Shaqtin_A_Fool/status/712471665729544192">March 23, 2016</a></blockquote>
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^^^ That's just annoying.

Not only does he have 5 fouls in a very close game, it's a freaking 4 on 1. Even if he moves to contest, WB passes for an equally thunderous dunk from Durant on his left...or worse, AND-1 for three points *and* he fouls out.

Plus, the broadcast team even said that's not worth risking fouling out.

sheesh, this is getting silly.

 

Whatever gets the clicks...

 

Straight up, 5 fouls or not, like you said, 4 on 1 fast break. You move out of the way to not get dunked on.

 

his defense was terrible last night. he just sags down into the lane and stays there. he gives up so many wide open threes. remember when morrow had like 10 pts in a row for gods sake.

 

Dwight was even worse, he was -5 in the game which was the second worst among the rockets, whereas Harden was +1.

If Dwight can't play good defense, then he should just let Capela take all his minutes because he has nothing to contribute positively for the team.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">James Harden - defensive enforcer? <br>He had a career-high 8 steals tonight.<a href="https://t.co/kPhPA3Og0S">https://t.co/kPhPA3Og0S</a></p>&mdash; SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/712848416045473792">March 24, 2016</a></blockquote>
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That's all you need to know. ESPN thinks steals numbers are the measure of how good a defender you are.

 

His defense has it's flaws. It's just late to rotate and he doesn't get in front of his guy at times - or loses them.

But Harden isn't the problem here. The problem is that there isn't enough surrounding him.

 

His attitude slowly adulterated this entire time.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">James Harden is known for his defense… or lack thereof. Last night, he added to his &quot;highlight&quot; reel. <a href="https://t.co/tmW1jqT47J">https://t.co/tmW1jqT47J</a></p>&mdash; NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNNBA/status/722495432543240192">April 19, 2016</a></blockquote>
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this actually perfectly proves the OP's point.

where are those lowlight reels of Dwight flat out refusing to contest shots at the rim? it happened several times in the last game, which lead many people to suggest that he looked extremely 'disinterested.' the only reason Dwight gets so many passes despite committing as many as defensive lapses as Harden is because he has the faux reputation of being a good defender - which hasn't been the case all season long.

even when the whole team plays poor defense, only Harden gets picked apart like crazy. Harden mainly guarded Greene and Barnes the last night, and both of those guys didn't shoot well nor score that much. but those are just facts, so carry on with the scapegoating.

 

Dwight can't be expected to cover for everyone else's defensive mistakes. Sure, he looks disinterested, but so does the rest of the team. Nobody is playing for any cause and nobody is playing together.

 

There's a difference between not being able to help and just refusing to guard the paint. It's not a coincidence that Houston's defense - especially the rim protection - seems a lot better whenever Capela is on the court. I don't know what's going on with Dwight, but since the all-star break he just flat out refuses to defend sometimes.