Harden best ever?
Rockets coach says he’s unguardable
PORTLAND, Ore. – Mike D’Antoni isn’t just any NBA coach.
The 66-year-old is an innovator, someone who changed the game during his time with Steve Nash’s Suns and went on to coach the Kobe Bryant Lakers and Carmelo Anthony Knicks before this ongoing renaissance with the Rockets. So when he called James Harden “the best offensive player I’ve ever seen” after Houston’s 115-111 win over the Trail Blazers on Tuesday night at the Moda Center, it was the kind of compliment that deserved a deeper examination.
Bryant is the third-leading scorer in history. Nash was a wizard of the most memorable kind, someone who passed his way into third on the all-time assists list while qualifying as a lethal scorer. Anthony, now with the Thunder, recently entered the top 20 in all-time points.
Yet here is Harden, whose 42-point, seven-assist, six-rebound outing left D’Antoni convinced he’s never seen someone better.
A step-back three from the left wing against Jusuf Nurkic with 3:21 remaining was just downright impolite. The big man was left alone as Harden buried the shot that improved so much last summer. Ditto for a follow-up three with 1:55 left, when Damian Lillard guarded him to halfcourt only to see Harden push a three up and over his defensive pressure for a nine-point lead.
This was the latest virtuoso performance from the soon-to-be league MVP.
“He’s a hell of a player, first off,” D’Antoni said when asked to explain his declaration. “It’s a combination of everything. There are other players who might be better at this or a little bit better at that. But when you put everything together and the way he passes, the way he sees teammates, the way he can lob, the way he can fight through a foul. I mean even on an off night, he’s probably getting 30, 40 points, and I mean efficiently. And he doesn’t even have anything going. But he’s so efficient, and he gets other guys involved. … He’s got one flaw. He does get tired some. He’s mortal. And that’s it. Other than that …”
Harden’s fatigue factor was evident last May, when the Rockets fell to Kawhi Leonard-less San Antonio in the Western Conference semifinals. The Rockets clearly needed help. Enter Chris Paul, who veered from the alpha-male role he held with the Clippers to force a trade to the Rockets that has worked out better than they could have imagined.
After beating the Blazers (who had won 13 in a row), the Rockets have 30 wins in their last 33 games and are four games up on the injury-ravaged Warriors (the Rockets have the tiebreaker to boot). The combination of Harden and Paul has been nothing short of magical, their brilliance magnified by injuries to Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green that have made the Warriors look vulnerable.
Yet when it comes to the MVP conversation, there’s no debate about who will be hoisting the Maurice Podoloff trophy once the season ends. Harden, who leads the league in scoring (31.2 points per game), is third in assists (8.7) despite playing alongside a future Hall of Famer in Paul, who is averaging 7.9.
“I mean to me it’s just clear cut he should be the MVP,” Rockets guard Eric Gordon said. “He’s scoring. He’s passing. And to me, the efficiency is just there. You know, whenever there’s a tight game, he’s just hitting the tough shots. I just don’t know what else you want from a guy like that.
“I just think he needed teammates around him like he has now, where we can play both sides of the ball where it takes a lot of pressure off him and he can just focus on one thing — that’s really scoring — and he’s defending better.”
For Paul, and so many others, Harden is the MVP.
“Nah,” Paul said when asked if the MVP race that includes Durant, Lillard, Anthony Davis and Giannis Antetokounmpo is close. “But who knows? I don’t get a vote, you know what I mean? But (we need to) stay healthy, keep playing, and I think that’ll take care of itself.”
Harden, meanwhile, is taking care of every opponent that comes his way.
“It’s hard (to stop these Rockets),” Harden said with a smile. “It’s pretty tough. Not just because of me, but because of the way our team is stacked up. We have a lot of talent on both ends of the floor. … We just take what the defense gives us.”
And as D’Antoni sees it, Harden does it better than some of the best who have ever done it.
“That’s the best offensive player I’ve ever seen,” D’Antoni said. “They were running guys to him, and he just steps a little further back and hits a three. You know, the way he can pass and see the floor, get fouls, layups, floaters, maybe a lob, maybe out to the corner. He has so many weapons, and now he’s shooting those step-back threes, it’s impossible to guard him. It’s impossible.
“It’s amazing. Tonight was an unbelievable performance.”