Can we start giving Harden props for his good defense lately?

Only thing I saw wrong was Harden biting on the ball fake and giving Deron a more direct path to the basket instead of directing him to the short corner.

 

I think we can all agree that regardless of who is supposed to give help defense, Harden is terrible on closing out to the 3-point line. He'll drift inside too much while he ball watches, and when his man gets the ball at the 3, he'll close out too strong on the pump fake and go for the wrap-around ball-poke. It happens too many times.

Harden has to be more disciplined by keeping body contact with his man. He shouldn't even provide any help defense so there's no reason for him to drift towards the paint.

 

Too slow and too much ball watching right now. When bev's hustle and D are missing along with Dwight's presence in the paint, it really shows.

 

I am not saying Harden is blameless; I am saying Casspi blew his assignment as well.

Edit: It is hard to just solely "direct" them to the short corner. Often, what happens is that the guy gets beat but the center is already waiting, so the penetration stops at the short corner.

 

This.

Houston doesn't play help D which makes our perimeter D look way worse than it actually is. The only problem is effort on D with this team. Everyone not just Harden /Lin struggle with paying attention night in and out. Focus and we can beat anyone

 

It's the right thing to force the guy to the baseline. Unfortunately that's not what Harden did. He let the guy go straight to the basket without forcing him anything.

 

It is the right thing; however, I guarantee you if Dwight or Asik was shading as the helper, instead of Casspi (who was not in help/correct position at all with a Plumlee ball screen), Dwill would coincidently stop at the short corner or force up a contested shot.

Also, by the way, forcing the guy baseline will look like letting him go "straight to the basket" if there is no help, especially with the NBA talent and quickness.

Um, what? Our perimeter D looks bad because it is bad. Dwight/Asik remove many, many mistakes out on the perimeter.

 

I don't think you can say they don't play help D at all, however it is inconsistent as a unit and varies from player to player.

For example, Asik is a superior help defender to Dwight, especially in PnR. Dwight will help inside the paint (to the point of over helping sometimes), but he doesn't really run out to the perimeter to shade/ice PnR like Asik does.

Tjones and Dmo are actually pretty good help defenders as well. Lin is also solid as a help defender.

Casspi shades/shows well and consistently against PnR's though he does miss some rotations.

Beverley is hit or miss in terms of help defense. He's quick so he's able to slide to help very fast, but he tends to over commit and overshoot or get in the air too often. And he's inconsistent in terms of funneling his man to the right areas of the floor.

Harden is erratic as heck when it comes to help defense. Sometimes he helps, but often he doesn't help at all. And sometimes it seems like he's not even aware that he Should be helping.

And so on and so on...

 

Lots of excuses for hardens weak defense I see

 

Please look at the play again and tell me if you see DWill went "baseline." He went from the 3pt line straight to the basket and didn't get to the baseline until he got to the paint. Harden was like 3 feet away from him. He's not forcing him to do anything.

Come on, you sound like those LOF only you are blindly defending not Lin but Harden.

 

I will not resort to that level. In fact, you can see me tearing Harden apart in the three defensive analysis threads I created going over the games.

Am I saying Harden is blameless? I am saying Casspi dropped the ball, badly. This is not Parsons for being "late", he isn't even supposed to have to contest so early. This is not Harden; however, as it always is, Harden could give more effort, but really, he puts himself to give up baseline easily, expecting Casspi to be there.

I looked at the play again, and in fact, Dwill actually started to hesitate, thinking that Casspi was going to shade over. When he noticed Casspi hugging Plumlee like he is Kevin Love, he then exploded with one dribble to the rim.

1) Casspi should never be hugging Plumlee out there.
2) Plumlee was going to ball-screen; Casspi, should have dropped, but didn't.
3) This is a side pick-and-roll, meaning the rotation is not a hedge and recover by Casspi. Once again, more evidence Casspi blew his assignment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te4svk4vm1I

I suggest you watch this video. Specifically, look at 2:15 to 2:25. This is nearly an identical set forming with Deron Williams and Plumlee. However, Williams doesn't take the screen. Also, notice how in the video, if the helper was not shading over, the ball-handler would have a direct path to the hoop.

Before calling somebody blind, you should check your own vision. I can talk defence all day. There is a reason why I can play college despite some major injuries.

 

He forced him to take an easy layup instead of a contested 3. Suck it!

 

I wonder if Harden shaves his beard, would it improve his defense? *Cringes at the thought of Harden with no beard*

 

His defense would get better but his offense would get worse.

 

Harden would get less FT attempts because his beard is used to draw contact from defenders reaching in to run their fingers through his soft, elegant beard.

 

We don't need to hear about your sexual fantasies.

 

If he shaved his head and left his beard? Or shaved his beard and grew an afro? Or trimmed his beard to a Mo and a matching goatie? So many possiblities and very limited analytics available.

There must be some delicate balance there somewhere...the question is what is that balance

 

your argument defending harden would be more convincing if he didn't look like he was in quicksand, he just got burned

 

Meh...

The Rockets only have a handful of consistent good defenders (Beverley/Howard/Asik)

They have talented defenders with no interest in defending (Parsons/Harden)

They have mixed bag defenders that are good team defenders but poor 1on1 defenders (Lin/Jones)

The problem is it is hard to have an elite defensive unit when you have very flawed defenders. The perimeter players outside of Beverley are mediocre or worse, and don't even consistently switch or know what each other is doing.

 

Before I go all jtr on you, I really think you should watch this video that I also directed to Easy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te4svk4vm1I&noredirect=1

Notice 2:15; that defender would get "burned" as well if the help defender pulled a Casspi as well.