James Harden. 2018 NBA Most Valuable Player. 6x NBA All-Star. 4x All-NBA First Teamer. 2013 All-NBA Third Team. 2012’s Sixth Man of the Year. Led the league in assists in 2017 (and finished second in scoring). 2018’s scoring champion. 2x USA Basketball Gold Medalist (2012 Olympics in London and the 2014 FIBA World Cup of Basketball in Spain). The Beard is a bucket, and an abusive one at that. He gave it to defenses in every conceivable way: Harden was the league leader in points per game (30.4), 3 point field goals made (265, compared to second place Paul George’s 244) and attempted, free throws made (624, compared to second place Anthony Davis’ 495) and attempted (on 86% shooting), he also generated 8.8 assists per game (good for third in the league, behind Russell Westbrook and LeBron James). He lead the league in Player Efficiency Rating (PER) with 29.8, Win Shares, Box Plus/Minus, and finished second to only LeBron James in terms of his Value Over Replacement Player.
The Beard broke down defenses with his dizzying, dazzling dribbling. He danced and danced until his defenders were dazed and confused. Until they rocked to and fro from his riveting and rhythmic movements. He’d shift and tilt and jab and jerk and juke and then hesitate and devastate. He had his guy whirling and twirling and then he’d turn on the afterburners with his frightfully forceful first step and then it was over. He’d either muscle his way to the cup, read the direction the defense is leaning and fire the perfect pass, bust out the insane in-between game he’s honed over the years, or rock his signature stepback for a more or less (to him) open jumper.
(Then again, what else would you have expected from the man when he works with PJ Performance? If you haven’t given that guy a follow yet, I would strongly recommend it. A link is available in my “featured channels” section. His page is crucial for basketball knowledge and to become a better athlete in general.)
The Rockets decided that the optimal way to play this past season was to utilize two of best shot creators in the league. With Harden’s potential being truly unlocked by the D’Antoni/move to point guard fusion in 2016/17, many wondered how exactly Chris Paul’s arrival would impact Harden. What ended up happening seemed like an anomaly. In the era of pace and space, and secondary break action, Harden and Paul were isolating for large chunks of the shot clock. The reason was obvious: from day one, they were preparation and perfecting a game plan with which to attack the practically unbeatable Golden State Warriors: work the early offense and get a great shot, or use their flow to force a mismatch via the switch, and isolate and devastate that switch. Ultimately, it resulted in falling just short (by virtue of missing a historic number of three point field goal attempts (giving annoying life to pointless argument “live by the three, die by the three”)) of doing something that seemed unimaginable since Kevin Durant decided to take his talents to the 73-9 Warriors…but man oh man, did James Harden light up the league in the about 90 games he played this season.
These are for the regular season only, and feature no finishes at the basket or passes.
But here's part 1: • James Harden - Superb ...