Man some of those assist where highly suspect, some of those guys went from a standstill and dribbled several times for baskets. What is the definition of an assist I thought they player had to get a basket directly after receiving a pass?
You're really going to die on this hill, this the one? Suspect looking assist eh? even if we chop out half a dozen of them he still would have above league leading 12 assist for the game. I guess we can nitpick like westbrook's rebounds, he still is the pound for pound best or one of best reboudning guards, but you can find a rebound that came too easily or a bucket that was too open or whatever else. I don't think its disputed by the actual plyers, including jimmy butler, harden is the problem to guard in the nba and one of the smartest players in history to cut through the game like a surgeon and read the defense and frustrate a team of professionals, staff and basketball savants who game plan just to stop you..then Harden still does it.. "He’s one of those guys you game plan for. Like you go into the game saying, ‘We’re not gonna let James drop 40 on us.’ And he still drops 40 on you. That’s the mark of an unstoppable player." Jimmy Butler on James Harden, but note there should be an *. Jiggyfly thought some of his assists were suspect. He really should've had 14 assists instead of 18!...?really?
Yup, people always says he has no heart or whatever because he can't "takeover" like other super stars. The thing is Harden's excels by exploiting defense's mistakes, he doesn't have the athleticism to just force things. A lot of his drives are inches away from getting blocked, so he can't just bully his way in like Lebron does, or just shoot over people like Durant. When the defense tightens up in a playoffs game, his only go-to move is a step back 3 pointer, which has a huge variance and not all that reliable. I would say the thing Harden never truly developed in a post game, but his lack of height does make it harder to get good shots off.
He had some midrange and post moves in the McHale days but completely went away from them under Dantoni.
Yep, for a big boned 6'5 guy, he maximized his nba output. Like he mentioned about giannis, but even with lebro he cant just run faster or jump higher than people, harden is a skill player. a skill player that messed around and led the league in points, then assists and took on more useage with a team committed to cost cutting and put out video game outputs that we haven't seen before. For a variety of reasons,we didn't take the chip, we cheaped out on margins and role player/staff, but harden led to a run where we were always a threat if we had him. Getting to the conference finals the final 4 two times and once a game away from the finals he literlaly is in the conversation with only the greats of whose achieved what hes done in the history of the game and whose bested him so either ay its an elite conversation. We can nitpick on what he doesn't do, we can do that for a lot of players but just like many in the media we are missing out on a living legend whose also innovated and played the game entirely his own way, an original. Like steph, like Lebron and whoever else is in that conversation is hof fame level. Its ashame how the narratives took over and harden got dismanteld when he was a quiet diligent worker who played heavy minutes, games, and useage in a time of load management, rarely complained or made excuses, just kept respecting the process and the game and working and doing things over a seriies of 7 seasons consistently that very few have done and is even hard to do for a marathon of just one season 82 games, let alone the mental grit, determination, perserverance to do it nightly over years while your franchise cut costs and puts the onus on you...hopefully some of these people will come around by the time his hall of fame enshrinemnt like with kobe, why wait till they are gone to give the respect for a master craftsman/surgeon
those assist were ridiculously late. His teammate crossed took 3 dribbles and shot over a defender. Thats some bogus ****. Im about to discredit all NBA stats except for points
Got this definition from a great article about the problem with counting assists: -- The NBA’s definition of an assist makes it clear it is a subjective stat. “An assist is a pass that directly leads to a basket. This can be a pass to the low post that leads to a direct score, a long pass for a layup, a fast break pass to a teammate for a layup, and/or a pass that results in an open perimeter shot for a teammate. In basketball, an assist is awarded only if, in the judgment of the statistician, the last player’s pass contributed directly to a made basket. An assist can be awarded for a basket scored after the ball has been dribbled if the player’s pass led to the field goal being made.” (https://thejumpball.net/2018/01/02/how-the-nba-is-getting-assists-wrong/)
luka as great as he is, is still just a poor mans harden. Harden is the better defender, shooter, and they are about even at passing. Luka is a high usage pick and roll player but even with his high usage isnt doing the stuff harden has done since 2017
Dude I think Harden is one of the best passers in NBA history and he might be my favorite player ever because I have witnessed him take up so many levels as a basketball player, I even cringed when he said he wanted to be the best B-Ball player ever but goddamit he meant it. So slow your roll. I was just surprised that some of those were called a assist, it's not what I had considered an assist. This is not about Harden its about what is considered an assist
