Harden asked McHale to let him guard Zach Randolph

Have you missed the 5238992387 examples so far this year of Jeremy coming to help only to see his man hit a wide open shot.

 

This. Harden fits better defensively playing guys who don't move that much.

Randolph is probably too big and strong for Harden. But it might not be a bad idea to let him guard smaller tweeners.

The question is, when Harden is guarding the 4, who's going to guard the 2? DMo?

 

hey that's called fundamentals!

 

Harden typically guards the PF only when the Rockets are going small with a center and 4 perimeter guys. So, matching up at the other perimeter positions isn't a huge issue.

 

this. /thread

plus he can still back Harden down. Harden may be incredibly strong, but Randolph is still bigger and stronger

 

You guys are missing the obvious reason why Harden wanted to guard ZBo.

Spoiler

Big booty hoes. :grin:

 

Thanks for the great insight. So which PF on the Rockets is bigger and stronger than Randolph that you propose guard him instead of Harden?

 

Yet when Harden did actually guard him, Randolph didn't back him down and didn't shoot mid range shots over him. In fact, Randolph didn't score a single basket while Harden was guarding him. Randolph did have one assist during that stretch but Harden also blocked one of his shots and amazingly Harden didn't commit a single foul.

I fully understand your logic and how you think it "should" play out but the fact is Randolph didn't have any success when Harden was guarding him. Likewise Ed Davis wasn't able to do anything while Harden was guarding him.
Harden was also our best matchup on Ibaka in last year's playoffs.

You'd think it wouldn't work but so far it has.

 

Except, most of that are from people who never touched a basketball and are completely ignorant of the game.

You want to double up on big men if they are a mismatch for your own defender. Zbo against Jones is a mismatch. You want a guard to come up front to swipe at the ball up front to prevent him from dribble backing his man down for a dunk. Every team does this against dominant centers. Howard gets doubled all the time by guards. Yao had his pocket picked constantly by PGs. You give up an open 3 at the perimeter, but that's just the risk you take to stop a dunk.

What's not OK is for ALL the guards to come in for a quadruple team. However, that is a coaching problem.

 

This has been going on for 3 seasons now.

PPat/Scola lineup used to inferiote me.


Mchale puts out pansy lineups and he's from the toughest era in NBA history. I just don't get it.

 

Sample size is way too small to reach any conclusion. I think element of surprise helped a lot in Harden's favor. If you put Harden on Randolph consistently, they will adjust and I just don't see Harden can guard Randolph's mid range jumpers. Harden is strong, so he may not be pushed around easily by Randolph at the post, but he's too short and Randolph is too skilled to be stopped by Harden.

 

PG: D Howard
SG: Jones
SF: D Mo
PF: Harden
C: Brooks

This is our best lineup.

 

What is Harden smoking? Goodness.

 

Nobody can make mid-range shots all day...except maybe Dirk. If you ask me I'd rather have ZBo shoot mid-range shots than have him or Marc Gasol trying to score in the post.

 

I remember when Chuck Hays we able to control guys like ZBo and Al Jefferson...I wonder would it would take to get the Chuckwagon back for a playoff push.

 

Doesn't seem like a terrible idea, Harden always seems to do pretty well when playing post defense against a bigger player.

 

Exactly. Randolph is shooting .386 from midrange so if he's going to take those shots when Harden guards him then we should play Harden on him the entire game.

 

So in a game Harden wants to be PG in offense, SG in offense and lastly PF in defense? Good lord what else can harden do?

 

First of all, ZBo's mid-range jumper against Harden will be hardly contested.

Second of all, ZBo won't be just doing mid-range jumpers, he will take the ball strong to the basket too, and Harden will be fouled out in 10 min.