if you are injured then you are injured but is Harden really hurt? His foot is fine to drive around multiple defenders, euro-step his way to the hoop, dunk through traffic, but all of a sudden when the other team has the ball, his feet hurt too much to move?
That's funny. Gordon going off had nothing to do with Harden's inability to guard him one on one. It had everything to do with not fighting through screen and trailing his man (doing more ball watching than keeping eye on his man).
i've only watched Harden this year but his defense is horrible. he's very athletic actually, especially for his size. but perhaps he's relying too much on Howard and Asik to bail him out and looks to get the outlet and get going on the offensive end? either way, i think he has the ability to be a good defender but he has to want to be a good defender.
Last night Hayward scored 5 baskets while being guarded by Hardin. 3 in the first quarter and 2 in the 3rd quarter. In the first quarter Hayward also scored 3 baskets in the less than 4 minutes that he was guarded by Brewer. Hayward also scored 2 baskets on Garcia and one each on T. Jones and Beverley. Burks and Burke each scored one basket while being guarded by Hardin. Follow the link in this post and you can watch the video yourself. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showpost.php?p=8480239&postcount=969 Attributing our defensive problems last night to Harden is short sighted at best.
Out whole team D was bad, just Harden stood out because he lets his man pass him too obviously. They switched Bev on Hayward because no one can guard him, Harden included.
Agreed. While I completely agree that he could and should be playing much better defense than he is- I think it's only fair to note that most NBA players these days play horrible defense, or rather don't play it at all. Especially good to great offensive players. I know not all are like this, but the vast majority are. This is largely because of today's rules, which don't really allow you to play defense without getting a foul called against you. However, indeed, it is definitely the lack of effort and discipline that is stopping Harden from being a good defense. I've even seen some flashes where he plays good defense on the occasional play. I would really like to see him step it up. If he plays good defense, he will unquestionably be a top 3 player overall in the NBA.
Harden would love to stay on the left side then again this is the NBA there gunna do everything they can to not let the beard keep on the left.
I get how miserable harden's defense is over the course of a game. Frankly it astonishes me when he DOES apply defense and it is usually very good. Given this is his modus operande at the moment, interested in how the Rockets counter balance this currently. Certainly Parsons helps in many situations, imo. Is there a player in, let's say, an Asik trade, that would a 4 who could be both a second line and of course a consistent scoring threat ? Harden is way to incredible offensively not to be on the floor when we need points period. Jeremy does bring some pretty good ball hawking to the game as Beverly does 24/7. maybe his missing last night was a piece we needed in those circumstances. Who's out there that fits the bill best in your opinion ? Reasons and how they fit with any/all of Harden/Howard/Lin/Beverly/Parsons is appreciated. Some of you are gym rats on tracking players not on the roster I know.
Last night it sure was. Painful also to watch Asik have the ball go through his hands. Geesh fella, really we're all puling for you, but are you working on those stone mittens ?
Everyone is quick to blame the loss on Harden even though he outscored his man. His defense really isn't the problem. It's the team defense. Howard didn't really provide any help defense. T Jones barely got any minutes. AB is also a terrible defender which didn't help. Once we get Lin and Parsons back we will be fine. Dont get me wrong though obviously Harden can play better defense but his defense isn't really that big of a deal because he's always going to outscore his man.
Hey James, I have some advice for you.... You need to put 5 mill in my checking account, this is the giving season... So give my brotha, give!!!!!! T_Man
