I think Harden could be more consistent on defense, but team defense > individual defense. Assuming the core is still intact next year I'm sure their team defense will only get better.
I agree with you... and if you look at many of the elite defensive teams, they are not good individual defenders. An example is Utah when they had Hornacek, Malone and Stockton. All three were poor individual defenders but very good team defenders.
this thread is about his defense but yeah, he looks a bit clueless when he doesn't have the ball. at least get out of the way and give his teammates some space to operate. hope this improves next year. i think it's too late at this point to work on anything new so they just gotta go with what they've done all year. next year is when we get to see what the team can do on a consistent basis.
i really just can't believe people are making such a big deal. i don't get to see games so i don't want to comment on his game in game out defense. i have no idea. i do know that i wasn't going to pay any attention to this team till they traded for harden. he brought excitement for me since he became a rocket and hasn't disappointed on the court. so for good friday's sake can we lay off the beard's defense or defence (yes its the british spelling, i was schooled on that by yof years ago)
Harden's defense today was piss poor again along with no energy. Mchale finally benches him I wonder what kind of reaction this will have in the locker room.
I called for Tony Allen with 16 pts in the 1st quarter. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=7786292&postcount=350
McFail took the coward's way out and instead of just benching Harden (and maybe Lin and Dmo), he benched all the starters...he wanted to send a message, but was too Pu$$y to go all the way and target Harden...this is two games in the row that McFail has pulled some weird, cowardly move
The problem stems from Rocekts' relying too much on Harden on the offensive end, and playing him too many minutes. As a result, the coaches kinda let Harden off the hook on the defensive end most of the season. With no discipline and accountability, this is what we are seeing right now!
They need to expect more. Kobe, jordan, lebron, wade, drexler and co all gave effort on defense and took on a scoring load equal to or greater than harden. Played the same minutes to boot some years 40+ mins per game. Its no excuse.
I am in fact seriously wondering if the Rockets lost the edge that we've had in the past because of players like Scola, Lowry & Hayes. When you see your teammates do that, it tends to have an effect on everybody. It also helps to have a veteran like Camby who turned back the clock when he started diving for loose balls last year. Right now, we have no leader in that category. I have not seen not much fighting spirit, even last year, and it worries me. Even if the make the playoffs, I can see us getting swept without putting up any resistance. T-mac was our best player with Yao out and he didnt play much defense either so Harden not doing it or having to work too hard on offense, shouldn't have an effect on the rest of the team. Sometimes I wonder if it does though, especially because McHale doesn't seem to be holding him accountable.
