Thompson hard for Harden to shake
Rockets star having MVP season, but Warrior guard can match his physicality
OAKLAND — To win MVP during this epic season of massive numbers and worthy candidates — as James Harden is likely to do come early May — you can’t have many duds. Harden hasn’t.
But two of those rare clunkers have come in home losses to the Warriors. Despite more inefficiency in a third matchup, he triple-doubled and made some clutch plays in a doubleovertime win at Oracle back in December. But in totality, Harden’s numbers have been bad against the Warriors this season: 19-of-56 shooting (34 percent), 3 of 25 on 3s (12 percent) and 20 turnovers in three games.
In advance of their fourth matchup we take a look why the Warriors have been so effective containing Harden. They have stymied the Rockets explosive offense — a monstrous 112.3 rating dips to 102.0 against Golden State (an efficiency gap that separates the league’s secondbest and third-worst offenses).
“Klay (Thompson) is one of
the best one-on-one defenders in the league,” David West said. “We start there.”
Harden is a highlyskilled, but broad-chested bowling ball on the drive. At 6-foot-5, 225 pounds, most guards are at a physical disadvantage against him. The Warriors are fortunate to have one of them.
To start games, Golden State can shift Stephen Curry onto the smaller Patrick Beverley and plant the sturdy 6-foot-7, 215-pound Thompson on Harden. Thompson occasionally loses defensive focus and blows a team assignment — maybe allowing a backdoor cut — but as an on-ball 1-on1 defender (especially when engaged and inspired by a marquee matchup), there are few better.
Harden went 5-of-20 shooting against the Warriors on Tuesday night in Houston. One of those 15 misses: a spread-it-out, isolation drive on Thompson midway through the fourth quarter. Thompson snuffed it out, slid with him and blocked Harden’s layup out of bounds.
“He’s going to get his numbers,” Thompson said. “Great player. Played against James since I was in high school, so it’s something I cherish.”
But the assignment isn’t solely Thompson’s. The Warriors have plenty of other worthy options as a primary defender, allowing them to regularly change up the look. Andre Iguodala is the best of those. Iguodala’s defensive reputation has been built against the game’s best wings — Kevin Durant in his OKC days, LeBron James in the Finals.
But Harden is the kind of guard Iguodala can comfortably check. Strength isn’t an issue and neither, typically, is discipline — two things Harden often exploits. On one particular first-quarter possession on Tuesday, Iguodala draped Harden for the full 24 seconds, as he dribbled around the perimeter and then jacked up a contested, missed 3.
“You let him dance, dance, dance — that’s how he gets a rhythm,” Draymond Green said. “We’ve done a good job of getting into him, activating him, kind of forcing him to do what we want him to do.”
But that comes at a risk. Harden is a master at drawing fouls, perfectly sensing a reach and then flapping his arms right through it or barreling into contact and then selling the call. Harden has taken an NBA-high 810 free throws this season. Nobody on the Warriors has taken more than 372.
That’s been Harden’s counter to the Warriors physicality this season. Golden State’s force has kept him inefficient and sloppy (seven, six, and seven turnovers in the three games), but he’s also paraded to the free throw line 32 times, making 29. On Tuesday, Harden was fouled 10 times and made all 13 of his free throws.
Thompson didn’t foul Harden at all. Iguodala only got him once. But Matt Barnes, Shaun Livingston and Curry — the other three guys who take occasional turns on Harden — all got whistled twice.
Late in the first half, Harden baited his way into five free points. With 2:21 left, he slowly dribbled it into the frontcourt, saw Livingston placing his arm out as part of a prepared defensive stance and just swung his shooting motion right threw it for three free throws.
So the Warriors haven’t been perfect on him. But against the likely MVP, they’ve been about as close as any defense this season. They have solid on-ball options, alert help defenders everywhere, the league’s best 3-point defense percentage-wise and Green, the likely Defensive Player of the Year, ready to strip and contest and cause trouble at nearly every turn.
“Now saying that,” Green said. “Some of the shots he’s missed, he’s a great player, he can still hit those shots. You can’t just say, ‘Oh, man, it’s our defense.’ Our defense has done a great job, but at the same time he can hit those shots.”
The Warriors hope he doesn’t on Friday.