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Big player for midfielders: The playoffs that blew up James Harden's balloon

Not getting better every year like the historic stars, not sweeping his teammates like the real leaders, not taking advantage of the no-man's land that others have learned to use in the playoffs.

There are many fathers to the Rockets' failure - but Oren Levy is sure that James Harden is the main culprit.

At this rate, Houston can forget about a championship

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• James Harden

• Houston Rockets

Oren Levy

Sunday, September 13, 2020, 3:30 p.m.

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He's too good to be true when it comes to playing "big player of small teams", but at this point it must be stated - James Harden is a big player of medium teams.

Let’s start upside down: in my opinion Arden could definitely be the offensive engine of a champion team, there is an alternative universe where that happens.

Daryl Murray is probably the best general manager in the league today.

In the middle of the season the Rockets officially married the small-ball when they transferred Clint Capella in a trade in which they got Robert Covington.

Murray's move - along with Harden and coach Mike D'Antoni - is brave, creative, and has a proper internal logic.

Harden, for his part, has proven that his offensive efficiency in the regular season rivals the biggest names in history.

So why this morning did I finally give up on the possibility that Arden could be the most dominant player in the world for the Rockets playoff run?

Why did the balloon explode this morning?

While other stars diversify their game each season, reinforce weaknesses, and add elements that will make them better - Harden focuses on therapy, becoming a sort of cartoon of himself with each passing year.

For example, while the offseason improves their weak hand, fitness, defense, and work without a ball, Harden chooses to put his energy into a one-on-one hallucinatory move enough that he will not even try it in an official game.

This is after he completely gave up creating for himself and others from a half-distance range.

He's not even in the physical shape he needs to be in to play all the minutes he himself insists on playing.

He falls off his feet at the end of each season.

It is impossible to detach the physical from the mental.

These are battles that less talented players than he have already done before.

With all due respect to the impressive attack that Arden built together with D'Antoni and Murray in Houston, this is not how you build a wall.

Come join the celebration

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The Lakers defeated Houston 96: 119, advancing to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in a decade

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On the way to?

Harden, tonight (Photo: GettyImages)

And another word about the method - the only thing that is less effective in the modern game is a shot that comes from half distance, is a total waiver of the use of all this space during the game.

Houston’s offense is flourishing in the regular season, but the adjustments and level-up in the playoffs bite its effectiveness more than they bite the effectiveness of other attacks (coach Coach Bud and the Bucks can also be added to the defendants ’bench).

It happens season after season and it's already more than Blip Brader.

The 31-year-old Harden has just finished his eighth playoff game with the Rockets.

Alongside two losses in impressive series against the Warriors, the Rockets have disappointed, epically, more than once or twice, with Harden's game guarded far from the standards he set in the regular season.

The team with D'Antoni plays a key role in this - while he encourages the complementary players to throw without account, D'Antoni really does not empower them.

He’s a brilliant and groundbreaking coach, but there’s something almost cynical about Houston’s attacking game.

Something that completely contradicts the spontaneous and fun nature of a basketball game as it is played at really high levels.

With the ball in Harden's hands the efficiency of each pose rises on its own, but along the way the creativity, team spirit, and any chance the Rockets had of reacting surprisingly to defenses that know how to slow down and frustrate the old man is trampled.

We will touch on the creaking combination with Westbrook, but the root of the problem is not there.

We tend to forget, but the biggest stain in Harden's career came at all in victory.

The Rockets' historic comeback against the Clippers in the sixth game of the 2015 series came after Harden had already completely given up the game and watched him from the bench.

Additional stains have since covered the area, and most of them in embarrassing losses.

Most of them were in front of teams that were good to excellent, though.

And yet, the mental fragility that Harden's teams display is not something that can simply be skipped over.

After a surprise loss in the first game, the Lakers advance to the next round after four straight wins.

The Twitter account's Twitter account (shown below) noted the difference between the teams by comparing Alex Caruso's conduct to his college friend, Daniel House, playing for the Rockets.

Although the connection between the two cases is completely random, and this is a somewhat populist comparison, it can be seen how it also says something about the leaders of the two groups.

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While LeBron is pressuring Caruso to give up his sister's wedding before the playoffs even begin, Harden is unable to even make sure House betrays his wife (allegedly) in a way that does not violate the rules of isolation in a bubble.

It's not that Arden is the problem here, but unlike LeBron, Damien Lillard, Chris Paul, Stephen Kerry and others, he's not the solution either.

Another leader Harden can learn from is his 'predecessor in office', Steve Nash.

We see the difference in the mentality of the complementary players when the ball was in the hands of Nash versus Harden.

The latter is more explosive and offensive, more effective.

But Nash's emotional intelligence has allowed him to be so dominant on the ball, while maintaining everyone's morale and commitment.

It's not only that Nash had a better morale, because Harden also has a rare game vision, and he is also not selfish in the classic sense of the word.

He will share the ball without a problem when the double save comes, or when someone is available for a good shot.

This is something else.

But there is a dimension to the game of all true leaders that empowers others, and it is simply lacking in Harden's methodical and reductive game.

It's a group chemistry that Nash took care to nourish, and Harden assumes she's just supposed to take care of herself.

And all this before we get to the most marginal and annoying side of the game - the defense.

Just as the Rockets adapted their offense to their biggest drawback - Westbrook’s outside shot - they did the same with their weak link on the other side.

Especially during the regular season, Harden, who spends so much energy with the ball, is unable or unwilling to do anything beyond the minimum necessary.

Houston has created a defensive method around it that relies on substitutions to protect it.

Protect him from having to decide, react, or even move.

Precisely in this series we saw a little more willingness on his part to save, and as if to anger, it turns out that when he does not put his mind into flight mode, he is actually not bad at all.

This is not just the defense in the post.

He is really capable of moving his legs and more to the right places.

Where was it all ?!

On the face of it, Harden is not supposed to be a bad guard: he is a great and athletic player in his position, he has a supreme understanding of the game, and all the motivation in the world - externally, internally, individually and as a team - to succeed on this side.

He does not do that.

Harden's battery saving mode lasts not only when he's on defense, but basically every moment the ball is in the hands of one of the other nine players.

There is no player whose detachment from what is happening is more blatant.

He seems to be doing well when he even crosses the halfway line, and even that doesn’t always happen.

If he releases the ball you can be sure he will not make an effort to get it back.

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Somehow, all of the above does not prevent Arden from being one of the best players in the world.

So when one considers that the idea that the best player on the team must be its central leader is nothing more than an invention of American sports, one can imagine a different reality.

A reality in which Harden will connect with someone, a natural leader, who will spare him the burden of this burden, and turn him into the scariest offensive weapon in the league.

No more and no less.

So who does Arden need next to him?

Surprisingly, I do not hate his match with Westbrook personally.

The two are good friends.

Westbrook is energetic and aggressive, and Harden respects and appreciates him, unlike Chris Paul, for example.

The problem with Russ is in the professional aspect, where he takes more than he gives, probably compared to other stars.

His lack of shooting simply stifled the Rockets' offense until they had to get rid of Capella.

When the ball is not at Westbrook it is a negative asset, causing the ball to "find it" too many times.

His decision-making is outrageous, and is even more deadly in the missile method, which relies on very few per-position decisions compared to the rest of the league.

If so, the Houston small-ball sounds very principled but it came out of the necessity of reality.

Although these are players who have won the MVP Award in the past, and have proven themselves as two of the main characters of their time, at this point it can already be said that it will not work with both.

Despite all the talent, the dynamics between them are a bit reminiscent of the scarecrow and the tin man.

One is all desire without thought, and the other is thought without desire (I exaggerate, I know. It's fun, give it a try).

Bottom line, considering the assets left over in Houston, and the new and financially "calculated" owner, it's hard-to-impossible to see how the Rockets will compete for a championship with Arden functioning as its most important player.

Come join the celebration

Book cover by Sagi Rafael and Oren Levy

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