Harden, Rockets take on Curry, Warriors in Game 1
Harden gets better despite fewer wins
OAKLAND, Calif. — They don’t do the MVP chant at Toyota Center anymore.
The arguments have ended. Even if Stephen Curry’s name had been understandably inscribed on this year’s Most Valuable Player award long before the votes were cast or counted, James Harden is not considered even a candidate to repeat as runnerup.
But Harden did score more points per game this season than last when he began the postseason receiving great acclaim. He grabbed more rebounds. He dished out more assists.
He was rarely men-
tioned as a member of the NBA’s top echelon, an exclusive club whose membership he had secured and opponents still assume is his.
Of all the changes in the Rockets since they began last season’s playoffs, the conversation about Harden and his reputation has been especially conspicuous.
“I don’t think he gets his due,” Rockets owner Leslie Alexander said. “I don’t think people see him the same way I do. I think people underestimate how great he is and how much of a load he had to carry, how he can perform in the fourth quarter when everything is on the line. “I think he’s great. He’s underrated.” As Harden and the Rockets return to the postseason to face Curry and the record-setting Golden State Warriors, the spotlight and the rapid-fire evaluations that always come with it will be back.
“I don’t pay attention to stuff like that,” Harden said. “I just go out there and do my job, man. That’s all I can do. There’s always going to be some negativity. There’s always going to be people that praise you. Take the good for what it is; take the bad for what it is. Just go out there and be the best you can be.”
It’s not bad to have the team’s owner in a player’s corner. For Harden, that also means being part of conversations about team decision-making.
“It means a lot to have input on a team,” he said. “I’m here and I want to win. To have a say-so and for them to listen means a lot to me.”
But for Harden, the rematch with the Warriors offers a chance at redemption. Last year, he had a good series against Golden State in many ways, averaging 28.4 points on 46.7 percent shooting and 42.9 percent 3-point shooting, with 7.8 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 2.4 steals per game. But the series ended with Harden committing a playoff-record 12 turnovers in Game 5.
“Last year, we had a really good opportunity, especially the first two games,” Harden said. “Myself, had some turnovers. I won’t say careless turnovers, but trying to thread the needle on some passes. We had some opportunities to come away with wins in those first two games. We didn’t. That’s what the playoffs are about. When you have opportunities, you have to take advantage of them.
“My turning the basketball over is me wanting to pass the ball first instead of being aggressive and letting the play come to me.”
‘He’s figured out the loophole’
Harden set an NBA record for turnovers this season, but he also averaged career-bests of 29 points, 7.5 assists and 6.1 rebounds, becoming one of four players in history to average 29 points, seven assists and six rebounds in a season.
He averaged a league-high 30.9 points on 46.1 shooting, 8.3 assists and 5.6 rebounds after the All-Star break. He leads the league in scoring in his four seasons with the Rockets, putting up 533 more points than anyone in the last four years.
“James leads the league in free-throw attempts, by far,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “He’s the master at drawing fouls. He creates angles and gets you to commit. And as soon as you reach, he throws his arms underneath you and it’s a foul. You’ve got to be really disciplined in terms of making him hit shots without getting your hand in there. It’s tempting — you see the ball, you reach for it and boom. He’s so smart, he gets right underneath you and it’s an automatic two free throws. That’s the challenge, to try to avoid that.”
Harden has made more free throws than anyone else has attempted. He’s said he doesn’t try to draw fouls, but he does look to put defenders in position to have to choose between fouling and backing off, making it easier to finish his drives. But that style could be held against him.
“When you do what James has done, people see it over and over and over again, and they don’t appreciate the art of it,” Rockets interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “People see him getting to the freethrow line. ‘Oh, he’s flopping.’ Those types of things. James has figured it out. He’s figured out the loophole. Guys foul him. He goes to the free-throw line.
“That should not take away from all the things he does. Being able to score almost 30 a game with seven assists, six rebounds, that’s hard to come by. The weight he has to carry for this team, there’s not many guys who do what he does at that level.”
Still, his reputation is not what it was, and not because of the trips to the line or the influence of occasional YouTube videos and social media vines.
A season ago, when the Rockets finished second in the Western Conference and there was a search to explain it, Harden was first consideration.
This season, when the Rockets slumped to eighth, he again is considered culpable.
“That’s 100 percent,” guard Jason Terry said. “When you reach the status that he’s reached, it’s all about the team success and how far you go. I always go back to Dirk (Nowitzki) when he won MVP, his numbers were nowhere near the year before. But we won 67 games. That’s why he won MVP.
“James’ stats are a little bit better than they were last year, but the wins are dramatically different. That’s the biggest thing. We don’t even look at his individual play. It’s more how the team does. It’s all about the team success.”
It’s all about the wins
Harden does not appear likely to be in the top five of the MVP balloting. A firstteam All-NBA pick last season, he might not make any of the three All-NBA teams. But an argument can be made Harden is as good a player as he was last season.
“I don’t view him as the same player,” forward Donatas Motiejunas said. “I view him as a better player. I think he’s improving as a player.
“Everything for him is in the future. This year, he’s passing the ball much more than last year. He’s playing as a playmaker, as a point guard. That’s a big improvement in his game. When he’s going to grow as a player is by doing better and better stuff as a team.”
The Rockets’ issues have been far greater than just with Harden’s reputation or award candidacy.
But just as the Rockets’ struggles have reflected poorly, the “opportunity” to face the No. 1 team also will ring, fair or not, another referendum on the Rockets star.
“He’s doing what he’s always done, but we’re not winning as much,” guard Corey Brewer said. “If we won as much this season, if we win, he’d be in the same situation as last year, near the top.”