Even though he was pretty good his last 2 playoff series I want to see more off-ball stuff, more midrange (Especially in the clutch), Post ups etc. I'm just tired of the high volume threes every year when his percentage is like around 31% in the last four playoff runs. Thats just unacceptable !
His post up game could improve. All the greats add something else to their game in the summer. I hope he does the same. Still a beast though.
Not sure which playoffs you've been watching but James (and the offense more broadly) has had way more variety this year relative to the other years in the Harden-D'antoni era. Especially when Westbrook has been playing. Btw, this is all on eye-test and rewatching highlights multiple times, but I suspect the data will also support most if not all of these observations. Some examples: - Harden post-ups: We've seen consistently at least 2-3 per game from him - Inverted Harden pick n' rolls with Green/Westbrook: Seeing this 3-4 times a game - Off ball curl hand-offs: We see this run for both Harden and Gordon pretty regularly - Westbrook post-ups: Not Harden related but these have proven to pretty effective and efficient with all the space our shooters create - Off the ball movement on isolations: Off ball screens/cutting have helped the isolations become more effective by keeping the defense preoccupied/distracted. Very few "pure" isolations happening now. - Overall pace is faster, especially with Westbrook. Overall, Harden is taking WAY less iso step-back 3s relative to last year when he used to do it on about half of all offensive possessions. His isolations have also taken a dip. The nit-picks I have is his off-ball movement. He was showing some really promising signs of picking up his off-ball activity and pace in the seeding games, but as the OKC series wore on (and especially with Westbrook out) he started regressing to 2019 iso Harden who prefers to play super slow and conserve energy. There were multiple times in Game 7 where he could've juked and cut from the top of the key and instead he just stood there waiting for whoever has the ball (usually Covington) to come give it to him. And multiple times after Covington would get a rebound/steal, Harden just stands there waiting for Covington to pass him the ball rather starting to run and speed up the transition. Covington also looked visibly confused as he would start to dribble to get the break going and Harden would just stand still with his hands out. Other than that I'm pretty happy with the offense this year. The pick n' roll from the top and/or targeted switch to get the desired isolation is still going to be this team's bread and butter. And without a lob/rim threat and the way all modern defenses switch, we're still going to get a steady dose of isolation (which I wrote above, is not the same isolations as years past). But honestly, that's what our offense is designed to do now. Create great spacing and trust our 3 guards to collapse the defense and make stuff happen. If you've got an issue with that then you probably need to start a petition to replace D'antoni.
Only thing I would like him to implement, which has been mentioned - Step back mid-range, espsecially when he has tired legs in the 4th More cutting - I forgot how quick James was off the ball just a couple of years ago. More driving in general.
na.... he can do anything that has to do with scoring the rock. Thats easy...but he needs to stick to his three or drive in his system. Need everyone to buy in. Now he just needs to be smart on when to do what and in what situation. Once we change the coach, he can show the world his who repitore.
Step back mid-range: I don't think we'll ever really see this consistently. Rockets ethos is to avoid mid-range, they'd rather Harden drive and kick to our 3 pt shooters. There's a reason it hasn't really made any re-emergence since the beginning of the D'antoni era. Would I like to see Harden take a couple of these shots in the fourth quarter? Maybe. But because Westbrook's man can always help, and also because defenses overwhelmingly choose to double Harden in late fourth quarter, I just don't think it's gonna happen. More cutting: This, along with keeping up the pace, is a realistic ask. Harden is crafty/shifty enough to cut and has shown this year he can do it, whether on the baseline or from the top of the key. He's gotten lazy with Westbrook out, needs to pick it up against the Lakers and use our speed to our advantage. More driving: This is somewhat misguided. Harden is currently #6 in the playoffs currently in drives per game, not going to get much more than that. The reality is that he drove a lot in Games 1-2 vs OKC, but then the Thunder started loading up when he was driving and cut off driving lanes, not to mention Dort would consistently buy the thunder defense enough time even when he did get beat to set up and cut off any layups. Rockets responded with running multiple picks for James but from Game 4 on it never really looked like Harden ever had the same freedom (that he did in Games 1-2) again largely due to better game planning from OKC.
Here is a paragraph from Kevin O'Connor from the ringer: “Variety” is the word that team executives and coaches have been using lately to describe which coaching approaches are most successful. People around the league wonder why the Rockets don’t unlock the midrange late in the clock, or late in the game. There are countless moments when a defender is just sitting on the 3-point line. Or when defenders know not to fear the midrange pull-up on a drive. Those shots may not be statistically more valuable than a spot-up 3, but now that nobody expects it to be coming, it should be a wide-open chance. Especially for Harden. He’s a 24.6 percent shooter from 3 in the fourth quarter and overtime of playoff games over the past five years. But he’s a career 39.1 percent on midrange jumpers. Couldn’t a pull-up 2 be a more statistically beneficial shot for him late in a game than a stepback 3?
In late-game situations, I think all options should be considered and just scoring (in whatever way) should be the strategy. Executing and making the "right play" is key and trusting your teammates is key. In terms of "mid-range stepback" I don't think you ever really draw up a play for a "mid-range stepback", sort of depends on the isolation play and how the defense treats you. In terms of a mid-range pull-up I can see that being a viable shot but honestly, I can't remember the last mid-range pullup 2 point shot that Harden has taken this past year. I think posting up Harden is a viable strategy and we have seen it frequently in these playoffs. He had a key fadeaway mid-range 2 point shot off of the post-up in 4th quarter of Game 2. Would love to see more of that if possible but of course, that shot was over the smaller Schroeder and not the much bigger Lu Dort. But yes, if your point is that we shouldn't be relying on Harden to just iso and take 3s in the 4th quarter of big games it's well taken, and going by what we did in the big game 7 fourth quarter a few nights ago we didn't really rely on that and we executed pretty well to get a lot of good high quality looks. The biggest shot of the night funny enough was a PJ Tucker mid-range floater off of a faked 3 pt shot. I doubt Harden is going to get any "wide-open" mid-range shots because he's so feared offensively that a defender is literally glued to him the moment he crosses mid-court, especially in 4th quarter situations. But if some of the role players have open mid-range shots they should take them if that's what the defense is giving. I think the problem with the Ringer's analysis is that 4th quarter defenses are usually very different from the defense during the entire game. Good teams are not really that "surprised" by something uncharacteristic that happens, especially in the 4th when defenses are locked in. It usually comes down to executing your offense well (that you've worked on the whole season), playing great defense, and sometimes just making big shots over great defense. There's no real "silver bullet" that's going to drastically improve our chance at this point.
1. Euro-step 2. Step back 3. Side step 4. Post up defense 5. Nail/help defense *Harden improves his game every season. And his BBIQ is off the charts elite, even on defense.
Good points. Agree with the step back mid range but we will need to maximize things in the clutch when legs are tired, and step back 3's haven't worked
Harden has already added the post up more in this playoffs. Especially early in games as well as to end quarters. And as vid states, this is already an important part of Russ arsenal. Nothing really new here.
LOL Clearly? RoCo is running circles around him defensively. And any DPOY worth his salt DEMANDS to defend the player who is dropping 40 on your team instead of deferring to his coach who is down 0-2 vs. a lesser team. Imagine what media or CF would be saying if MDA had Rockets 0-2 vs. OKC.
LOL. You spend way too much time in Rockets twitter. Giannis is a stupid *******, but lets not be stupid about how good he is defensively in spite of your moving the goalposts.
RoCo has been the best defensive player since his trade to Rockets. And in the playoffs, it is not even close to who has been the BEST defensively. RoCo leads postseason in both steals and blocks. Do you NBA Math at all? Notice who is sitting all by himself and notice who is sitting right next to James Harden.
And? You changed the subject from Harden vs Giannis DPOY to ROCO playoff stats. If you had started off with ROCO as best defensive player in the playoffs....
