Fairly or unfairly, James Harden has developed a reputation for being… well, not the best defender in the NBA, to put it kindly, or not so kindly (they’re teammates now, too!).
Harden has shown in the past that when he’s engaged defensively, he can make impactful plays on that end of the floor, but the problem is that he often seems to take plays off.
Such was the case on Saturday, when Harden and the Rockets hosted a short-handed Mavericks team playing without Dirk Nowitzki, Chandler Parsons or Wesley Matthews. Even without their big three, Dallas beat Houston 110-98, due in no small part to defensive breakdowns like these:
https://cdn.makeagif.com/media/11-15-2015/hh02gs.gif
That would be Deron Williams with the smallest bit of effort cruising right past Harden for an easy layup after turning the corner on the high screen. Then there was Devin Harris burning Harden on the backdoor cut, and Dwight Powell just dribbling past him after briefly getting bodied when he received the pass. Three buckets, all largely the result of Harden’s defensive effort.
But that wasn’t the only play against Dallas where last year’s MVP runner-up didn’t go all-out defensively. There was also this sad attempt at help defense on a Raymond Felton drive.
It certainly looks bad that Harden isn’t playing 100 percent on the defensive end, especially with his team sitting at only 4-6 a little more than two weeks into the season. But Harden is more than pulling his weight offensively. Only Russell Westbrook and DeMarcus Cousins have higher usage percentage than Harden’s 34.1, and he’s second in the league in points per game (28.4). Plus, Harden’s not the only NBA superstar who will take a play or two off defensively because of all the effort they expel on the other end.
Unfortunately for Harden, his reputation ensures that whenever he does, someone is going to make it into an embarrassing GIF or Vine.
(GIF via reddit)
