True, but Harden played great defense in Game 2 against the Wolves despite getting 12 points. So he can defend quite well. The difference between GS and the Wolves is so vast on offense and defense, that James will have to get 25-30 efficient points a night at the least with 6-7 assists. EG is our 3rd best scorer, and he is erratic too. Tucker can't be relied upon to get 15 a night, and neither can Capela if/ once he is bottled up. Luc is just barely coming back, Ariza is not scoring much at all. Gerald's shot is off as well for the most part. Ryan needs to shoot the ball too. The scoring load is on James and Chris. Every one will have to play their role as part of the team on both ends of the floor. Defense first as a team has to be tight from the beginning to the end. If we are focused and organized from the start, we can win Game 1. Go Houston Rockets!
Harden is an odd cat On offense, he is super fast and very quick on defense, he is slow as a snail and doesn't even look like a professional athlete sort of like night and day
this is true OP, doesn't matter what kind of offensive game he is having, these games may come down to a few points
It's impossible. Not even Kawhi can play at the same defensive intensity and he doens't do half the stuff Harden does.
because that's not realistic...Harden has to do too much offensively and does not have the stamina for that if he was also elite defensively then he'd be in the convo for 1 of the GOAT
you mean DPOY and? he can only thrived offensively because of SA & Pop's system. watch him be mediocre on both ends when he gets back.. if he gets back
Disagree, he does not have to do too much. He has a team and chris paul now. This is golden state. Everyone needs to play both great offense and great defense.
harden has to be great on offense while ariza, tucker, and luc need to play the best defense of their career. 30 ppg 8 apg harden shooting 40%+ from 3 playing decent defense >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 24 ppg 7 apg harden playing good defense.
Kawhi defense took a dip the year later after winning the second DPOY when he started taking more shots.
Harden has been better this year especially in the post defense. The two defensive weakness are boxing out and back door cuts.
I would be more worried about his defense if this was last year or two years ago when we tried to fight through picks instead of switching. Granted, it's still a tough thing to do, to know when to switch, and when to stay. However, it's less taxing on a player who originally would have to fight through every screen on him.
His usage rate is still just as high as last season even tho CP3 is now here. Expecting Harden to be dominant offensively against GS's defense and then be great on the other side of the floor isn't realistic. This is Harden, not prime Lebron James or MJ. If he's the best player in this series offensively and is adequate defensively then we're good. He needs to hold it down offensively and be our engine on that end while guys like Clint, Moute, Ariza, and Tucker hold things down defensively. CP3 needs to be a great 2nd option and hold down the fort offensively when James is out of the game. He needs to dominate GS's bench units. Defensively, we all know he can get it done.
If Harden's defense would be better than his offense, then he'd already be considered the GOAT over Jordan, and it WOULDN'T BE CLOSE. This board sometimes...
The whole team has to be locked in defensively . Harden should expect to play harder on defense than he has ... sacrificing some offense . We have to get stops and get out in transition . I don't think we can outshoot GS
this playoffs, leads the team in steals, leads all guards in blocks even more blocks than nene as good as DFG% and DFGAllowed as CP3 https://stats.nba.com/players/defen...&TeamID=1610612745&sort=DEF_RIM_FG_PCT&dir=-1 leads the team in deflections & loose balls recovered.. 3rd in shots contested https://stats.nba.com/players/hustl...2017-18&SeasonType=Playoffs&TeamID=1610612745 people here just pulling **** out of their asses can we just combine all these doubter and whiner threads into 1 like "why can't our team be a superteam like the warriors!" or "why is harden only 2nd to lebron this playoffs!"
