@Lone Blade dude attack the harden hating trolls in this thread if you don't want to cash these hands
I've gone both ways on the Harden is capable but would wear himself out if he went 100% on defense with his historically high usage rate on offense, making him a less effective player overall. It makes alot of sense in theory but also felt it was a bad justification for him to have in his head and being used as an excuse. Game 5 against the Spurs proved it for me, he was as great defensively as he was tired and ineffective offensively in the 4th quarter. He was playing the 4 and shutting down Aldridge and Gasol in the post like I had been yelling for him to do all season, he was switching onto Khawi and contesting, the Spurs shot like 3 for 20 against Harden and we lost the game because of it.
Corey Brewer, Tim Hardaway Jr, Austin Rivers, and every other scrub guard that's ever gone off for 30-50 points against the Rockets. This is a good post. But if Harden was tired in game 5, don't you think he could've just PASSED the ball? That was the main problem, anyways. That game was ours to lose; if just a couple of plays go the right way it's over before over time. Give the ball to Beverley, Gordon, Lou and at least try. What a series.
there's a difference between trying and standing there...2 ft away...just watching with no intention to do anything
You are confusing Harden hating with me highlighting how goofy he is and trying to bring some humor into the off seasons. Harden put his hand up contesting his own teammate's 3. Lighten up brah.
Stop, just stop. Harden will probably never be a good defender for a few seasons running. He just sucks on D. It is what it is. In fact if he can go from way below average to slightly below average to at least average on D, that would be great.
Agreed. I think Harde picks and chooses when to step up his defensive intensity. It's why often in clutch situations he's above average to really good at defense. But it isn't always consistent. What was amazing is that in game 5 and lot of that series he was playing post defense against much bigger opponents. He did a really solid job.
i dont think so. he's not at that point where he has the mentality to do that. he just doesn't have the entire focus or understanding of being a consistent defensive player
