Who Can You Trust? James Harden, Rockets to Find out in West Finals vs. Warriors
OAKLAND, Calif. — Many others have been here before him.
Even better scorers. Guys heralded as true leaders. Accomplished champions.
Now James Harden assumes the titanic, but common, task of being the star player on a good basketball team that is not expected to beat the great basketball team standing in its way.
Very few of the others succeeded, because it is a team game—and the NBA playoffs require those stars not only to sparkle, but also to shine a light ahead for sometimes shaky teammates to find their way.
These Western Conference Finals aren't going to be simply about the Golden State Warriors' NBA MVP Stephen Curry against the Houston Rockets' NBA MVP runner-up Harden.
Curry's team went 67-15 in the regular season and is just as stacked now—in large part because of how well Curry has done to empower and complement his teammates. His life in this series will be even cushier because Houston's best perimeter defender, Patrick Beverley, isn't expected to play as he recovers from left wrist surgery.
Harden, however, has to run the gauntlet.
The Warriors can start vastly improved defender Klay Thompson against him—and have an array of comparably athletic wing players (Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, Harrison Barnes and Shaun Livingston) take turns guarding him. Golden State's switching defensive scheme is perfectly geared to prevent someone such as Harden from getting through toward the basket, which the Rockets learned late in the last round is the one thing that drives the team's aggressiveness.
And if Harden does get into the paint, Warriors center Andrew Bogut is a prodigious presence protecting the rim. Bogut isn't the athletic freak the Clippers' DeAndre Jordan was against Houston last round, but he is better at timing his help and not compromising the team defense.
It should also be expected that Warriors assistant coach Ron Adams, one of the league's top defensive strategists, will have something extra to send Harden's mind swirling into confusion when the moment presents itself.
So there's no doubt Harden will have to trust his teammates—and his teammates will have to be trustworthy.
Problem is, looking at Houston's roster, not a single other player is indisputably going to be there for him.
The greatest opportunity lies with center Dwight Howard, from whom Bogut will certainly drift to focus on Harden. Howard got more than his share of points that way last round, when Jordan would leave him, and Blake Griffin wouldn't even rotate over.
The Warriors' league-leading defense will not be compromised so easily.
Howard wasn't at full power in the two regular-season games he played against Golden State, which swept its four games against Houston by an average of 15.3 points. But the Rockets actually did worse against the Warriors when Howard was on the court.
His customary impact on defense is understandably diminished when up against Golden State's spread offense. Does that mean Howard will have more energy to attack on offense this series, though?
And even if he does attack, does he have the skills (and free-throw strokes) to make it beneficial for Harden and the Rockets?
Howard is, to be honest, primarily a decoy in Houston's offense. He sets a lot of screens on the perimeter and then moves toward the basket without much zeal to roll hard, more serving to suck the defense in for the Rockets' three-point barrage.
If streaky shooters Trevor Ariza, Josh Smith, Jason Terry, Corey Brewer and Pablo Prigioni are hot, great. But if Golden State's switching defense doesn't have to leave those guys wide open to sell out to stop Harden, it's unlikely they'll even be lukewarm.
Houston might be able to get some points just through its fast-break action and early offense—except playing that accelerated pace puts the Warriors even more at home than they already are in raucous Oracle Arena.
Oh, and Harden had better play a lot better defense in this series than he usually does, too—because Curry and friends will make fools of anyone who isn't actually trying down at that end.
Add it all up, and it leaves Harden and his Rockets in a tangle as thick as that beard of his.
Kevin Ding covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @KevinDing.
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