I don't see how fans can watch Harden abuse top notch defenders regularly and then think Wes Matthews holds the secret after one playoff series. Harden is pretty much only slowed down by bad officiating and just plain missing shots he has proven to generally make. He is that good. Yeah every once in a while TEAMS put together a good plan and execute it to make his life tough, but even the best defense doesn't stop players as gifted as he is. Sometimes shots just don't fall.
According to Shane Battier, stop him from going inside the paint. You can live with him making jumpers. Easier said than done, Shane. Since he's usually stronger than the one guarding him.And if they try to zone him with a big, DMo/Smith/Jones are ready to punish the double-triple team.
This was the number one thing I noticed this season about him. His defense and defensive energy, of course, have massively improved. However, his step-back midrange jumper makes him basically unguardable if he's shooting well. And he's shooting extremely well compared to previous seasons. What's obvious to me is that he developed that on his own. I can't imagine any of our coaches laying any major claim to helping him add that third blade to his Swiss army knife. The only other guy on the team that's similarly improved their own game on offense is D-Mo, and you can you see where that's taken him. Can we just let these two be player-coaches for the offense? Let T.R. Dunn handle our defense, let Harden demand that all the 1s, 2s, and 3s develop additional scoring skills and show how to do it, and let D-Mo show the 4s and 5s how to almost always make a shot when you get anywhere close to the rim. I can dream, can't I?
That stepback is a killer. First noticed when he shook off PJ Tucker for his game-winning jumper over the Suns. Harden's strong legs and strong core enable him to maintain good balance all throughout. When ESPN showed it on slow-mo, I found the mechanics similar to his Eurostep, except he's taking a huge hop forward and backward instead of sideways. I was thinking "poor knees" taking all the stress, but when I saw it, it was one smooth motion, didn't seem to put much stress on his knees.
There's no secret to it. Good perimeter defenders with strength equal to or greater than Harden make life harder for him. What we're doing better this year, which was especially notable last night and in the game against PHX/Tucker where Harden went off, is that the other guys are helping out Harden more. Once DMo set some really solid picks on the high pick-and-rolls, Butler couldn't do much. When Harden is ISOed against the Butlers/Matthews/Tuckers of the NBA though, he does tend to do worse. I don't recall seeing good picks being set all that often for Harden in last year's playoff series. We just have to make sure his teammates help but setting good picks, making good cuts, and hitting open shots. If that happens, there's nothing any team can do to even slow down Harden.
Shane alluded to some of it last night. Harden's footwork is amazing. If you watch the slow motion of his step backs, his footwork and the timing when he gathers his dribble creates so much space for him and same goes for when he drives to the basket.
I feel like after Harden retires, his step-back jumper will be like Dream and his Dream Shake. Dozens of players will flock to learn the technique from the master with none coming close to duplicating it. It's just that difficult of a shot for mere mortals to even consider.
I've stated this a while back. His step back is basically a Eurostep going in reverse. He makes a strong jab step and then steps back in the opposite direction to create a huge amount of space and lets it fly. His strong lower body allows him to do it on the fly and a lot of times we will see defenders falling backwards as they were attempting to guard the Eurostep and then try to recover to guard the step back. The ninja push off Harden does helps too.
<iframe class="imgur-embed" width="100%" height="404" frameborder="0" src="http://i.imgur.com/ItG6dnj.gifv#embed"></iframe> If you right click, you can see this baby in slow motion
Yeah. Come learn from the master and you too can shoot 39% on jumpers. http://vorped.com/1-nba/2014-2015/player/1112/james-harden/shotchart/
You're on it. Watching the Rockets, you forget that picks are actually supposed to create a gap between the ball handler and the original defender. If there was one thing you'd think a McHale coached team would be great at, it's setting screens. Point of emphasis and all that etc etc etc. If our big men ever learn to set reliable screens - ones where Harden comes around and sees daylight - this offense will fly.
Hey, pour out a lil' of your 40 for a guy who will be wearing undersized pastel pattern suits until the playoffs... he can still change shots and rebound for two, so let's take it easy on the goofy dude.
I like looking out for Harden's defender on the back foot. James smells blood when he sees that. All out attack.
That used to be the case. I think that Portland series (where the Refs decided they just were not going to send him to the line) taught him that getting those fouls will not always be there. I think now every time he drives he looks to impact the play and not for the foul. I think it was a hard lesson that he had to learn. Yeah, they have been swallowing the whistle for Harden for a while now since like January, it really has not slowed him down.
Harden also has a off-timed move on the perimeter where he suddenly shoots over his defender. He's moving his arms to clear space and just when you think, he'll make his dribble move or more feints, he's suddenly rising in the air for his shot. Too late for his defender.
I agree with this. Sometimes his teammates missing shots or turning the ball over has a greater effect on his offense than anything else. For me he only has one weakness and that's dribbling the ball to run the clock down. I've seen him lose the ball way too many times 40-45 feet from the basket. Hakeem was terrible at scoring when he was triple teamed. Everyone has a weakness, but great players weakness make you look pretty ridiculous when you point them out. I love Sam Presti. I love Scott Brooks. You have to be a really special GM and coach to trade and to not start the best player in the world.
