Since being traded to the Houston Rockets and becoming a leading man in the NBA, James Harden has found varied levels of postseason success. Harden has made one conference finals, one conference semifinals and seen three first round exits in his five previous seasons in Houston.
Like so many before him, Harden has learned the hard way why it’s so difficult for a team led by a singular superstar to get over the hump in the postseason. Teams focus in on that star and make things significantly tougher on him, forcing role players to step up and banking on that not being sustainable.
Since joining the Rockets, Harden’s regular season averages have been spectacular at 27.9 points, 7.7 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game with a 44.3/36.4/85.9 shooting split. In the postseason, the counting totals hold steady at 27.3 points, 7.1 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game, but the efficiency takes a fairly substantial hit to the tune of a 41.3/32.3/88.1 shooting split. There are plenty of factors at play, including quality of opponent, but the lack of another star to take pressure off of him means he has been the sole focus of defenses, making it much more difficult for him to score as efficiently as in the regular season.
This year, the Rockets hope they have fixed that problem by bringing in Chris Paul to balance that load. Paul is looking to shed the title of “best player in the NBA to have never reached a conference finals” this season, and his postseason totals and efficiency have actually improved in the playoffs, even if his teams have never gotten over the hump.
Coach Mike D’Antoni thinks their backcourt dynamic will be a huge help for Harden this postseason, and told the New York Times’ Marc Stein having those two paired together makes this the most dangerous team he’s ever had for a postseason run, including those legendary Suns teams led by Steve Nash.
“When one guy has to make all the plays all the time, it wears them out,” D’Antoni said. “That’s what happened to us in Phoenix with Steve, and it happened to James last year. You combine the two and it makes a big difference — I hope. We’ll see.”
Joe Johnson, who was a midseason addition on the buyout market, concurred with D’Antoni’s assessment having been on those Suns teams, saying this is “by far” the most prolific offense he’s been a part of. Houston’s play to this point has exceeded the expectations of even the most optimistic Rockets supporters, but in doing so they’ve put the target firmly on their back in the Western Conference.
At this point, the conference finals are the floor for the Rockets and not making them would be viewed as an abject disaster even with some strong teams in the West’s second tier. Harden and Paul seem ready to shake free of the labels of not being great playoff performers and they can help each other do so, but falling short of the minimum goal this year would only intensify talk of those shortcomings.
