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Looking at Harden against the Warriors

James Harden was spectacular last night, as he has been for much of this season, dicing up a stingy Pacers defense.  However, he needs to bring it against Golden State on Wednesday if he wants to thrust himself back to the forefront of the MVP conversation.  Saturday was a very forgettable night for Harden, the league’s leading scorer, as he finished with just 12 points on 4-15 shooting.  I mentioned on Twitter, during the game, that Harden didn’t look like himself.  Several of you responded insinuating that the disparity in his production was obviously to be attributed to Klay Thompson and the Warriors defense.

I went back and watched all fifteen of Harden’s shot attempts from that game.  There was a clean block on a drive from Thompson, and two plays where James seemed to lose the ball while going up.  Aside from that, here are seven of his eleven total misses:

By the way some were talking on Twitter after/during the game, you’d think Harden had been driving repeatedly into the heart of the 89 Pistons’ defense, with nowhere to go.  Most of these looks were the sort he normally knocks down – a good number of them came with him wide open.  Even the misses in the paint weren’t in inordinately heavy traffic.  He simply rimmed out open attempts that usually roll in.  There’s the one possession where Klay Thompson forces him to his left hand, with Steph Curry shading at the basket.  Again, it’s not exactly as if opponents forcing James in a particular direction is something new to basketball.

James just wasn’t himself on Saturday night, for whatever reason.  Judging from the above clips, I wouldn’t attribute the drop-off completely to the Warriors.






About the author: Rahat Huq is a lawyer in real life and the founder and editor-in-chief of www.Red94.net.

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