Ever seen James Harden defend? Yes? You got to be kidding me.
Well, all he does after all is what Bleacher Report calls the "Harden Shuffle", which invovles stepping to the left and right, and most importantly, the slap.
Want proof of The Beard's awful "defense"? I've found an 11-minute compilation of the infamous Harden Shuffle. Beware: your eyes may hurt from the atrocious guarding from this clip.
Harden's matador-like on-ball defense is worse at itself, but try watching him guard off the ball. It's like he's trying to play D blinded, allowing back cuts to get away so easily, effectively creating a bounce pass clinic for the opponent.
As if a video proof is not enough, I scoured stats.nba.com for statistical evidence of his defense. True enough, statistics back up the claim. Harden has a Defensive Rating of 103.1, which means that the Rockets give up 103 points per 100 possessions while our beloved "The Beard" is on the court. Take note: Serge Ibaka has a DefRtg of 95.9. Also, he (Harden) allows 35.9 points in the paint, as a result of the many backdoor plays he has allowed.
As someone would point out, "offense wins games, defense wins championship". And if Harden keeps playing with a red cape in his hands (and doing a back-tap every now and then), that could spell major disaster to Houston's championship run.
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