Harden is not a natural leader. He is quiet, not loud. Paul is the leader of this team, and it is allowing Harden to be himself -- a scoring machine. The focus no longer being solely on Harden, thanks to the addition of Chris Paul, coupled with the fact that Paul is great at creating, is leading to lots of Harden room, and subsequently scoring.
He is more focus on making the shot/s verses trying to draw the contact. Them coming out with this Harden Rule actually helped him out more than anything. Lol and they thought they were going to stop the Bearded One, not.
This is also true. You can see that he holds the ball when getting contact now and then lets go of it after the contact. It's an adjustment that he has made for when the playoffs come. i assume management or coaching helped lead him to this conclusion, and it looks to be working a treat.
He is more determined about what he needs to do for the team. His mentality has reverted back to more of his strong suit, which is to score points. Granted, his assist numbers are still incredible, but his TOs are much improved in comparison to the past 2 seasons. Since CP3 came back, Harden looks focused on being a shooting guard, and letting Chris Paul be the PG. I like this version of Harden. He is looking to get his own points now, and his scoring attempts, efficiency and overall points have increased as a result.
It was forced on his shoulders. The Rockets never got him a legit starting point since he was here. Lin and Beverley are career average backups and Lawson was a shell of himself and as a result Harden was forced to do it all by himself. With CP3 Harden can revert to being the super scorer in the league.
He does seem to communicate more though. There were several instances last night where him and PJ were talking and also him and Paul.
Wasn't it Ariza who said last year that if James didn't have to be the point he would average 40 points a game? Well...now we know.
quicker, more explosive, handle is tighter, jumper is clearly better, and he’s a lot more focused on just getting buckets and not trying to force fouls
Last season he had a historic season with a bunch of new teammates. He went to a Finals with star players. He obviously was the second best player on that team It's just more chemistry. He is shooting better but he shot like this in OKC. Paul gives him rest. Hakeem Thorpe Maxwell and Smith finally clicked after a few seasons. Hakeem always played MVP caliber ball.
Harden (per basketball-reference.com) ...........Pts...mins...FGA..FG....FG%...3PA...3P...3P%...2PA...2P..2P%..eFG%..Rebs....Asts..stls...blks..TOV...PER.. 16/17: 29.1..36.4....18.9...8.3.. .440.....9.3...3.2.. .347....9.6.....5.1 .530.. .525......8.1......11.2....1.5... 0.5....5.7.....27.4 17/18: 32.3..35.9....21.4...9.9.. .462....10.9..4.4.. .406...10.5....5.5 .520.. .565......5.3......9.2......1.7... 0.4....4.4.....31.3 Yes he eats, drinks, sleeps basketball.....even the previous summer he arranged summer workouts with Gordon, Ryan Anderson, Bev, Ariza. The decreased weight hasn’t equated to greater Rebs, Asts, Blks, 2P% in 17/18 CP3 and better spacing of Luc MaM and Tucker to go with the threat of Gordon, Ariza, Ryan Anderson is the difference. Harden doesn’t have to carry the load assist-wise or rebound-wise. Harden 16/17 vs Player-X (year with similar mins......per basketball-reference.com) .............Pts...mins....FGA..FG...FG%..3PA..3P...3P%..2PA...2P...2P%..eFG%...Rebs..Asts..stls...blks...TOV...PER.. Harden: 29.1..36.4....18.9...8.3.. .440...9.3....3.2 .347...9.6.....5.1 .530... .525......8.1......11.2...1.5.... 0.5.....5.7....27.4 PlayerX: 30.4..37.7....22.6..11.2. .495...3.2...1.4. .427..19.4....9.8 .506... .525......6.6.......4.3...2.2.... 0.5.....2.4.....29.4 Who is Player X? M Jordan in the 95/96 championship season. Age 32. One could use the 92/93 championship year if one chooses (very comparable-just a mins difference one has to account for.....and different era is a given). Like I said. Harden has been a bad MoFo for years.....now has greater supporting cast to fit system
He finally figured out which big booty places and big booty women he likes the most. Thus, he's no longer spending late nights searching the seas and is fresh for games.
Improved Physically: Visibly leaner and quicker Improved Shooting: He tweaked his shot and it seems less streaky as a result Reduced Responsibility: He knows he doesn't need to be the full-time PG, and can focus on scoring more Natural Peak Age: In athletes, age 27/28 is generally considered the period where physical ability and mental understanding overlap the most As much as I loved '17 Harden, I actually felt like '15 Harden was a better version of him. As great as it was to watch Point-Harden lead us to a great year last year, I enjoyed watching StepDaddy Harden in 2015 a little bit more and thought he was a better overall player. Since he's realized that he doesn't need to get 10+ AST every night with CP3 around, it feels like he has kind of mixed his styles from those 2 seasons to be more scoring-focused than last year. It's been an absolute joy to see him dominate the league this year.
quiet/unload harden single handedly led the rockets to 55 wins last year.. then vocal cp3 followed suit
I think this year Harden isnt trying to win MVP. this year he’s going to do his thing and make them look silly if they don’t give it to him. i think now harden knows he’s not going to be handed anything, he now is just going straight to what he does and is initiating it quicker, right into them, and if they don’t let him do that, if they pull back, even a hair, then he steps back. hes like a kid going right into what he wants to do, working a problem he knows inside and out. he doesnt say you cant guard me, because that would distract from how he frames it night after night, 56, 48, assists, leaving players face down in the lane, its almost like he doesnt notice, he is already on the next play. a combo of absolute engagement w/o holding onto anything he has just done. he looks different this year. in a different space. effortless.
Capella, to me looks like an extension of Harden; Ryno, an extension of Paul. Luc, PJ, Ariza play junkyard dog D, as does Paul. Gordon makes sure you can’t load up on Chris or James or he will destroy you, look at his +\-, Gordon is a chess piece sitting on top of your King adding pressure, making you sweat. And while Paul implements, engages, conducts, it is Harden who leads both by being the leader and getting out of the way, whether its floating a pass to Capella, bouncing one to Nene, hitting Gordon as he comes around a screen, or getting the ball to Paul to balance the attack, refocus himself, or pass out of a double. Paul and Harden are two hands bludgening opponents by coordinating their attack w/ each other, and both tied into, making the rest of the team extensions of themselves via assist.
