Oklahoma City Thunder vs. the San Antonio Spurs: Play James Harden More

The consensus among Spurs-Thunder previews is this: San Antonio should be favored. I don't disagree, but I wonder how the scale would tilt if Scott Brooks played James Harden, say 40 minutes per game. 

In the three games between the two teams, Harden averaged 28 minutes of burn. Within that small sample size, he was fantastic. The Beard shot 59 percent and managed 6.7 free-throw attempts (via NBA Stats Cube). You'd think he would have played more with numbers like that. 

Through the playoffs so far, the Sixth Man of the Year is notching 30.3 minutes per outing. This is a strange arrangement, considering Harden's starter-level production over the season. He can get fouled seemingly at will and do a decent point guard imitation in between trips to the line.

His true shooting mark was a ridiculous 66 percent, and his win shares per 48 minutes (.230) were well above Russell Westbrook's (.163). Simply put, he very well could be OKC's second-best player. 

What's curious about the current situation isn't that Harden comes off the bench, but that his minutes stay far below what a star warrants (Seriously, Ray Felton played more this year). This type of role makes for a bench star like Manu Ginboili, but he's older and injury-prone. I'm not sure what the rationale is in OKC, beyond wanting to keep his market value low. 

So, considering that his team seems to be at a disadvantage in this series (2-8 against the Spurs in the last 10 games between the teams), I wonder if Scott Brooks chooses to unleash the Harden. It could be his best card.