“So Clever”: LeBron James Admits Guarding James Harden is a Difficult Challenge

The Houston Rockets struggled yet again as they slumped to a loss tonight against the Los Angeles Lakers. Their superstar James Harden was nowhere to be seen, as he ended with 2/11 from the field. However, he still had 21 points due to his 20 free throw attempts.

Despite this poor performance, LeBron James was all praise for the Beard in the post-game press conference.

“James is probably one of the best offensive players we’ve ever seen in this league,” LeBron said. “He had 20 free throws attempts and one of our game plans is to not send them to the free-throw line. The guy is just so clever, he’s still able to get 20 free throw attempts.

“We’re just trying to eliminate anything that we can from him because he can score. He gets to the paint with his runners and floaters. Obviously he has a step back, he has threes in transition, he has catch & shoot threes when he’s off the ball.

“He’s very tricky with his moves in the paint where he gets to the free-throw line. So we’re just trying to take away some things. We can’t take away everything, because that’s how great he is offensively.”

James Harden: Established poor playoff performer?

Despite LeBron heaping praise on Harden, the latter’s inability to show up in the playoffs has been clear, and tonight’s performance asserted that. He can rack up the points, but his efficiency lets down the team. In the last five seasons, this is the first time he is averaging over 41% from the field.

Harden’s three-point shooting in the Playoffs has been terrible as well. Since the 2016 Playoffs, he hasn’t had a single season shooting above average (above 35%) from the three-point line.

In fact, since the start of his postseason career, he has shot above 35% from three just twice in 11 seasons. For someone who prides in his shooting, that is very unimpressive.

Till the time he cannot be a real leader in the Playoffs, Harden cannot enter the conversation to be ranked among the best shooting guards, just based on regular-season performances. This was his best chance at a ring for a few years. But now he is one loss away from yet another tragic playoff exit.