Harden is disruptive on defense. He gets a lot of deflections and steals. He’s excellent in the post. I also feel like he’s pretty good at getting perimeter players to miss at the rim when he’s actually in a position to contest their shot. Sometimes he takes plays off or lets some scrub blow right past him, but when he’s engaged, he can get it done. We all saw him locking up Kawhi the other night ending the night snatching the ball right out of his hands. His defense is more than fine considering he has to maintain 40% usage creating 90% of his own offense in addition to creating offense for like 90% of the team.
Harden laughs at Kawhi's recent "load management" discovery. Harden's been load managing since he got here...not playing defense lol. In all seriousness, he has gotten a lot better. He still has those moments where he ball watches and gets beat for a backdoor cut or at the top of the key when he just lets the guy drive by him. I see much better effort from him. And honestly, if he wants the team to be better defensively, he has to hold himself accountable as well even if he does have to carry the scoring load more often than not.
Pump your brakes... He's aight... But you really think the media gonna notice that he's average at best? And that's being kind..
When Harden wants play D he is quite good, when he doesn't or he's too burnt from carrying such an insanely large load on offense he can be extremely lazy on D. The last few games he has been much better w/ the exception of the 3-6 plays he hunts fouls that aren't called and you'll see him arguing with the ref as his team is getting ripped with a 4/% on 4 or 3. He really has been noticeably engaged quite a bit the last 5 games or sohope he keeps it up !
He’s decent on the ball, particularly when he’s not having to keep a guard in front of him. He’s got some quick hands. He still loses guys ball watching way too much, he often doesn’t run back on defense when he doesn’t get a call, and he generally expends very little effort in rotating to the open man.
Right now his dfg is at 48.5 ,which is below average ,but it has definitely improved from the first couple of games were it was around 54%.
My only grief with Harden's defense is he takes his time to get back on defense. That being said, in half court sets his defense has actually be pretty solid. His help defense as of late is really good.
To me this is the best I’ve seen Harden look as a complete player. He’s had far fewer moments where he looks lazy or disengaged. Maybe it’s maturity. Maybe it’s having a lifelong friend who he knows is going to give max or close to maximum effort every night...maybe it’s vet leadership....maybe it’s being tired of coming up short and hearing all the noise... Maybe it’s a combination. Whatever it is I like it. I feel like he’s entering a new realm. if we can just get the pieces around him *coughbrodiecough* to bring their a game more often then I think they have a real shot to win it all this year. Whatever James is doing to get in a good head space and to be aware of how his effort level on both ends creates a ripple effect, I need him to keep doing it. Fingers crossed.
EVERY time Harden is scoring the other team is not. Harden leads the league in scoring. Has about 100 pt lead over the #2 guy.
He started off HORRIBLY and I was really worried it was gonna be one of those seasons. I give him credit, he's been as good as we can ask for the last 6 games. He's leading by example, giving effort on the defensive end while doing ungodly things on the offensive end. The main thing I can see different is he's closing out 3 point shooters a lot harder, that's simply an effort thing, and he wasn't bothering the first few games.
Both Kawhi and Sabonis had trouble backing Harden down in the post. Those guys can can back down anyone, but had real trouble vs Harden. He looks like he's gotten even stronger this year. His post defense is approaching elite status. I trust James post defense as much if not more than even PJ. His effort level has gone up a notch too. Maybe he has grown tired of all of the 1 way player talk. Despite his limitations on the perimeter, his overall defense has vastly improved over previous years. If he keeps playing both ends on this level, he enters an entirely different conversation historically. He deserves his props.
If taking his time getting up and down the floor on offense and defense saves James the energy he needs to play 35+ mpg every single night, I can live with that. Lakers fans always defended Kobe for conserving his energy on D. It's weird that Rockets fans have never extended that same courtesy to James. Fun facts: Kobe Bryant (ages 23-30) Defensive Rating: 105 Defensive Box Score +/-: -0.4 Defensive Win Shares: 26.1 James Harden (ages 23-30) Defensive Rating: 106 Defensive Box Score +/-: 0.5 Defensive Win Shares: 24.0
Yep and tucker stopped clapping at at perimter shooters and is now running closing out On the perimter shooters. It was a lot of bad habits the entire team had early on.
