Contain Harden, but don’t forget about the others
As the frontrunner for the 2017-18 NBA MVP Award, there’s no denying that James Harden simply isn’t a player to be trifled with. While some of his antics and play style are considered controversial by many, he’s still unquestionably an exceptional player that can catch fire and absolutely punish opponents.
The Jazz witnessed that first hand in the regular season when he dropped his second highest output of the season of 56 points on a mind-blowing 19-of-25 shooting performance back in early November. When Harden gets like that, he’s pretty much unstoppable.
As such, the Jazz will have to do everything they can to limit his airspace, but also avoid fouling. That’s much easier said than done and a conundrum that Harden loves to exploit. Much like with Russell Westbrook, who the Jazz faced in the first round, Harden is going to find a way to get his points. After all, he’s averaging 29 points per game in the playoffs thus far. But if the Jazz can make him inefficient in getting to those points, it will be a big win for them.
James Harden (29.0 ppg) showed off his scoring versatility in Round 1 to help the @HoustonRockets advance with a 4-1 series win! #Rockets #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/Gm3cpifr0E
— NBA (@NBA) April 26, 2018
Unfortunately, unlike what tends to be the case for most star players, James Harden isn’t necessarily the ‘head of the snake’ for the Rockets. In other words, just because you stop him doesn’t mean you’ll be able to stymie the rest of his squad. For a perfect example, look no further than Game 2 of Houston’s first-round series. Harden went a horrific 2-of-18 from the field that included going just 1-of-10 from deep. But at the end of the day, his team still won.
That’s what happens when you have a fellow superstar in Chris Paul, Houston’s second leading scorer, sixth man and three-point shooting extraordinaire Eric Gordon, a veteran stud in Trevor Ariza, a special big man in Clint Capela and gutsy defenders such as P.J. Tucker and Luc Mbah a Moute, not to mention the rest of their exceptional role players.
So while slowing Harden is vital, he can’t be the only focus. Stopping Houston truly is a full-out team effort that requires both discipline on defense and production on offense. I’m far more confident in the former coming together for Utah than the latter, but if either one falters, there will simply be no stopping the top-seeded Houston Rockets.