James Harden's Defense

[13th Man]

Harden should not be playing so many minutes, generally he plays the entire 1st and 3rd quarters, gets a little bit of rest then closes out the half or game. Because McHale makes him play 40 m/g rather than 30, he has to coast along the way rather than put in effort both ways. He's getting the Michael Jordan treatment but Jordan was physically capable this and understood what it takes to win championships. Again, I pin this on McHale who likes to run his star players into the ground, not the best approach for player efficiency and productivity.

[KungFuJoe]

Harden should not be playing so many minutes, generally he plays the entire 1st and 3rd quarters, gets a little bit of rest then closes out the half or game. Because McHale makes him play 40 m/g rather than 30, he has to coast along the way rather than put in effort both ways. He's getting the Michael Jordan treatment but Jordan was physically capable this and understood what it takes to win championships. Again, I pin this on McHale who likes to run his star players into the ground, not the best approach for player efficiency and productivity.

The thing is...it's not like Harden comes out the gate playing good...or even decent defense.

Right from the getgo in both Game 1 and 2, he was lazy on D, getting blown by, losing his man for easy layups, etc.

For all his minutes, he still ranks very LOW in terms of distance traveled on the court for guards.

He's either got the worst stamina in the league or he's lazy as ****.

I pick the latter.

[ChokeFasncists]

He's trying harder in game 3 but still......gotta pick up good habits in the regular season.

[jbohle]

Harden can play D, but slacks off when he's in foul trouble. Understandably so. If you're the best shooting guard in the league, then you need to stay in the game and stay out of foul trouble. Not saying this excuses not playing defense, but he needs to learn how to play solid defense without fouling.

[tonman]

Harden can play D, but slacks off when he's in foul trouble. Understandably so. If you're the best shooting guard in the league, then you need to stay in the game and stay out of foul trouble. Not saying this excuses not playing defense, but he needs to learn how to play solid defense without fouling.

no, when you're the best shooting guard in the league you should know how to play decent D even if you're in foul trouble. otherwise, you're putting your teammates at a disadvantage on defense and if his offense doesn't over compensate for his defense, then he is a liability on the court.

that said, I think coaching is part of the problem. both harden and lin when on the back side of the play on defense will favor the paint. lin is quicker than harden so he generally recovers better as harden is usually flat footed. harden is decent one-on-one defender. where he gets beat is by teams that have a lot of movement. still, as we saw in Portland's final shot last game he was moving around helping out well in that defensive sequence.

usually you have to give up something when you are told to provide help defense. when lin helps, he usually gives up open threes. when harden looks to help, he usually gives up a free lane to the basket. need to pick your poison. Beverley generally stays with his man as indicated by his higher ORB stat to DRB.

[ninjamilk23]

Harden can play D, but slacks off when he's in foul trouble. Understandably so. If you're the best shooting guard in the league, then you need to stay in the game and stay out of foul trouble. Not saying this excuses not playing defense, but he needs to learn how to play solid defense without fouling.

Harden is probably the best shooting guard in regular season but not in Playoffs. I would still take Kobe and Wade over harden.

[ChokeFasncists]

Now that I think about it, it's interesting that the SGs nowdays really suck, so Harden doesn't feel like he needs to play so much D. Well, but not THAT little......no easy baskets plz, well, he did make some steals in the first half. Didn't he just let the guy go to the hoop on a fast break?