My theory as to why Harden is turning the ball over

Can anyone remember Harden making his Euro-step move in this series? All his moves are straight lines to the basket, and as soon as someone comes in front of him he's doing a Kevin Martin -- flailing his arms hoping for a foul. That's not what he was doing during the season when he was most effective. Maybe OKC knows his tendencies too well, or maybe he's just out of sorts for some reason. Maybe its the ankle?

 

Dwyane Wade was also extremely turnover prone the first year he took on primary ball handling duties. Harden will improve.

 

He eurostepped the crap out of Collison in either Game 2 or 3 for an easy lefty layup but yeah, mainly have only seen a line to the left side of the basket where Ibaka contests them all. Maybe Serge is in his head.

 

I don't care for the way he's playing lawyer ball either, he shouldn't be trying to imitate Kevin Martin. He needs to check out some old school guys like Jordan or Drexler. Instead of leading with the outstretched arms and trying to draw contact and rely on the refs to make the calls he needs to grab the ball like a running back as he goes through the defense and actually try to finish. At least that way on those marginal fouls the ball does not get poked out and it gives his teamates a chance to rebound.

 

his former temmates my ass...he is in bad shape a few months now...

 

1) Fatigue
2) Other teams figured him out and adjusted to him
3) Not used to being 1st option
4) Go to basket to draw fouls instead of finishing
5) Freak teammates out by draining the clock and suprise swing pass
6) Choked in critical moments that resulted in bad decision makings

He needs to play smarter by knowing when to involve his teamates and when to ISO, he needs to cut down his TO next season, he needs to add more offensive dynamics so he is less predictable, or else he would never be a super star

 

Yeah I have noticed this too. I think maybe the Eurostep puts a lot of stress on the ankle, and maybe that's why he hasn't been doing it as much the last few months. He made a living off of that earlier this season.

 

His best moves are extremely hard and rapid change of directions, they have to put significant stress on his thigh, knee, and ankle. All he does now is dive towards the basket and straight out of bounds while trying to throw up a layup on the way there

 

Yep. Main one being the nagging injury/inuries. He doesn't have the speed/explosion like he did before he got hurt. He's relying on craftiness which will only get you so far. This is probably also why he's opting to take the step back two's and three's instead of driving the lane in late game situations. He doesn't have the same confidence in his ability to get to the rim that he did earlier on when he was 100% healthy. Hopefully he can rest up and rehab over the off-season.

 

scrub lol

 

SkyrimOwnsAll:

Harden is young and he is afraid of Thunder and Lightning. He is playing scare now.

The second, most important one, is Lin.
Lin's bad play influenced him on the court, on the bench and off the court!

 

So this thread is basically "list all the excuses for Harden's turnover problem." Cool.

Maybe the next thread can be excuses for his poor decision making and abysmal shooting.

 

lol after you spent all season serving up excuses for your boy you come in here to call out people for doing the same for the teams best player. Cool

 

Your theory does not involve Skyrim -- I am disappoint.

 

Yea, I agree. Didn't read your whole post, but the first few lines are everything. He got to the line 20 times that one game, and it seriously probably should have been 30. I wrote the same thing, and said I'm not being a homer right. Saw so many hack plays where the ball goes for a TO. It's redic!

Also, did you say we weren't getting any calls because man I see the Thunder getting ticky tack fouls. Watch the refs and players talk. BTW Durant carries the ball all the time when he plays the point forward. He finally got called on it last game. Also, did you notice how all of our important players were in foul trouble the past two games plus right? and then like for example last game they tried to make it seem even bc Collison, Jackson, and whoever else had 4 fouls too when Harden, Parsons, Asik, and what our whole team was in foul trouble.

Anyways, I'm ranting, and totally agree with your post. I think Harden has got a lot of calls, but he does get hacked a lot more than really you can imagine unless you watch him. So ya. #rant sorry

 

obviously