NBA Playoffs 2012: Kobe Bryant Is Eliminating James Harden's Impact for Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder's thrilling Game 4 win over the Los Angeles Lakers not only gave them an imposing 3-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinals, but it demonstrated the Thunder's ability to pull out a win even when things aren't all smooth sailing.

With a double-digit deficit erased in the final minutes, Oklahoma showed they have what it takes down the stretch to emerge with victory—regardless of how they've played for three quarters and change.

The Thunder won despite being dominated inside by the Lakers big men; they won whilst struggling to shoot successfully from outside.

And they won without James Harden—Sixth Man of the Year and the undisputed key ingredient to the Thunder's success this season.

Bleacher Report's Ethan Norof encapsulates perfectly the impact Harden has, writing:

"

"The majority of attention will be paid to Oklahoma City's dynamic duo, but it's Harden who is the key for the team to live up to lofty aspirations and contend for the title.

If Harden doesn't produce the way his team needs him to, it's going to make winning incredibly difficult regardless of what either Durant or Westbrook does. ..."

"

Teams right around the league set to face the Thunder this postseason will have wondered and contemplated how to restrict the impact Harden has off the bench—and the Los Angeles Lakers just figured it out.

Use Kobe Bryant.

In defense? Nope. The exact opposite—in attack, and force the bearded guard to work harder on the defensive end than he's come to expect off the bench. Hopefully, it'll mean that by the time the Thunder do get on offense, Harden is just a little bit more tired and his shot drops a little bit too much.

Hopefully.

Down 3-1 and staring elimination right in the face, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the Lakers hadn't actually figured it out and Harden was still having the same crucial impact he always does.

You'd also be incorrect.

Courtesy of NBA.com, we can see both Harden and Bryant's regular season averages below.

Player	FG%	3PT%	PPG	APG	RPG	SPG	PF
James Harden	0.491	0.390	16.8	3.7	4.1	1.0	2.4
Kobe Bryant	0.430	0.303	27.9	4.6	5.4	1.2	1.8

As we can see, they're incredibly solid numbers from both players. Obviously Harden's numbers are going to be lower than Kobe's considering his reduced game time, but still, both produced phenomenal numbers throughout the regular season.

Let's then take a look at the postseason, where the Thunder swept the reigning champion Dallas Mavericks 4-0 in the first round.

In that series, Harden dominated off the bench as per usual—averaging 18.3 points, 4.3 assists, 5.5 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 3.0 personal fouls per game. He also shot 50 percent from the field and a phenomenal 46 percent from deep throughout the four matches.

Read: Harden having the same impact as usual.

Now let's take a look at what's been happening for the Sixth Man of the Year against the Los Angeles Lakers after defending the NBA's second-leading scorer, Kobe Bryant, throughout the series. And whilst Kobe has been averaging his usual 28-plus points per game, Harden's numbers are significantly different.

The following table hopefully highlights this well, where we see Harden's average numbers against the Lakers and the difference from his regular-season numbers.

James Harden	FG%	3PT%	PPG	APG	RPG	SPG	PF
Regular season	0.491	0.390	16.8	3.7	4.1	1.0	2.4
vs. Los Angeles Lakers	0.302	0.222	15.8	1.8	3.8	1.8	3.5

As mentioned above, Harden's averages have taken a significant drop against the Lakers and we can't underestimate the impact that defending Kobe at the other end is having on his offensive productivity.

Notably, there's a significant drop in shooting percentage both from the field and from deep, and subsequently less points per game. Also, Harden is picking up more than a foul extra per game when guarding Bryant.

Read: Kobe is having a definite impact on James Harden in the playoffs.

Fortunately for the Oklahoma City Thunder, their dynamic duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook is getting the job done offensively and has pulled out several clutch performances to give the Thunder a commanding lead in the series.

And they most likely will progress through to the Western Conference Final where they will most likely meet the San Antonio Spurs.

But as long as Kobe is around, they'll have to do it with less assistance from James Harden.

Both Durant and Westbrook's offensive productivity is determined to a large extent by the play of Harden, and thus it's no surprise the Thunder have had several close score lines with the Lakers throughout the series.

Maybe it's not the additional defensive work Harden is having to produce—perhaps the Lakers are simply defending the guard better than most teams and perhaps Harden has just had several off nights.

But from the undisputed Sixth Man of the Year, it's not likely to see four consecutive "off nights" in the Western Conference semifinals—it's got to be the Lakers and it's got to be Kobe.

As I said, I still completely expect the Thunder to progress through to the Conference Final and I completely expect their offense to feature prominently on SportsCenter in the process—it's just going to be a little more difficult without Harden's usual contributions.

If I'm the San Antonio Spurs or any of the teams left in the East, I'm paying close attention to the impact that Bryant is having on Harden. This Thunder juggernaut is rolling along incredibly well and any advantage on offer should be snatched up with both hands.

The Thunder have shown this season that they're one of the best teams in the league with James Harden; now they're showing that they're still one of the best without him.

For now anyway.

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