Welcome to the B-Ball Brunch. Enjoy reading about my NBA musings about last night during your brunch hours.
James Harden continues to pour in a ton of points.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Godofredo A Vásquez/Houston Chronicle.)
I’m not saying anything groundbreaking but James Harden is a Top 5 player in the NBA. Maybe Top 3. I won’t argue with anyone that says he IS the best player in the league.
Remember the time when Michael Jordan was scoring all over the place? We marveled when he averaged over 37 points per game in 1987. That was followed by a season where he went for 35 per. Then in 2005-06, Kobe Bryant (yeah, yeah, I know) was called dominant for scoring over 35 points per game then. That was punctuated by his famous 81-point scorcher against the Raptors.
Harden had one of those years last season, too. His average last season was the most since Jordan’s 1987 devastation. The Rocket guard went for 36.1 points per game. Right now, he’s following that up with a 38.2 PPG in the first 11 games of the current season.
And our minds are not blown away by this? What’s up?
Well, the NBA HAS evolved. Isolations used to be the norm in the league. When Jordan was on top, it was all about the one-on-one game. This continued with Kobe when he was the #1 star in the league. Beating your guy one-on-one was the name of the game. But as the years went on (especially with the Spurs and the Beautiful Game), it became more about passing the ball around. And with the growth of analytics, three-point shots became more prevalent.
The midrange game has been frowned upon as of late. And yes, I do agree that it’s the worst shot to take in basketball (though I’ve also defended it by saying that you shoot shots you’re most comfortable at). As Harden’s basketball growth and powers grew, he’s taken the isolation game and combined it with shooting the best shots (analytically) in basketball today.
Check out this shot chart!
And, by the way, he didn’t take any midrange shots against the Clippers on Wednesday night. So this season, 0.01 percent of his shots are from midrange (that’s 4 for 269). That’s incredible. By the way, Harden scored 47 points in their win over the Clips.
Harden’s offensive repertoire isn’t aesthetically the prettiest. Maybe that’s why people don’t seem to be super impressed with his offensive explosions. He does take advantage of the rules when he can get away with it (which is SMART). His stepback threes are unstoppable (even though he gets away with too many steps, sometimes). Harden can get to the rim with little to no problems. He doesn’t look like the quickest guy but he’s so crafty with his handles and his moves to the basket. He can get to the line just like a lot of stars did in the past. And once in a while, he can jam over somebody.
But you know, Harden doesn’t do ferocious power jams like his two-time teammate, Russell Westbrook. His 3-point shot release isn’t as pretty as Stephen Curry. He doesn’t weave like Kyrie Irving. And he doesn’t exactly have the head-and-shoulder fadeaway jumpers like Jordan and Kobe did. But he does so many things so well and has many ways to get a bucket. And a lot of players have a hard time stopping him. He’s also been a threat to pass, too, which makes him even more dangerous.
Like many a time, it’s hard to appreciate what you see or have in front of you at the moment. The thing is… Harden had the seventh best scoring average for a season in NBA history last season (behind five of Wilt’s seasons and Jordan). Not that I think this would stand but this season, he’s on pace to do the fourth best scoring average ever and a chance to maybe get to third (which is on 38.4 PPG).
So maybe Harden’s game isn’t the prettiest. But many buckets have been made by him. 20 years from now, most people will marvel on how Harden was able to do all of that.
Bullet Passes
The Wizards allowed 140 points against the Celtics (who are now a shiny 9-1). I find it unbelievable that the Wizards are not the team that allows the most points in the league (after all, they let Houston score 159 on them a couple of weeks ago). Still, the Wizards let opponents score 120 per game against them. No coincidence that they’re 2-7.
If you said that the Warriors would be the first team to get to 10 losses this season, you are a COMPLETE liar.
There had to be some sort of satisfaction for Markelle Fultz and Michael Carter-Williams on Wednesday night, right? Those two helped their team, the Orlando Magic, defeat their old squad, the Philadelphia 76ers.
Meanwhile, Joel Embiid missed his fourth game of the season. It’s been mentioned as injury maintenance. That is a FAR BETTER term than that stupid load management.
I like this supposed design for the Dallas Maverick city edition jerseys.
I’d cop it.
I’ve said many times that I’m not hard on Andrew Wiggins as a lot of people are. But maybe they should stop being so hard on him. He went for 30-8-7 in the Wolves win against the Spurs. Maybe he’s finally starting to get it.
I said Damian Lillard was having an incredible season. And then he went for 9 points in a loss against the champions. Whoops.
Speaking of champions, guess who LEADS in minutes this season? LeBron James? Harden? Lillard?
The answer is Fred VanVleet at 38.5 minutes per contest. His teammate, Pascal Siakam, is fourth at 36.7. I said recently that I worry about those two guys taking on too much so early.
Finally, the best part about last night was Doc Rivers melting down at the end of Clippers/Rockets. While he was fuming, Rockets guard and son of doc, Austin Rivers, was egging the referees to give Doc a technical foul.
It was even better. Doc got ejected.
(VIDEO CREDIT: ESPN.)
I love that Doc reacted to that question about Austin telling the refs to T him up by saying, “Well, he should!”
Thanksgiving should be fun with the Rivers family!
Watch This Play
Ja Morant! Look at him drive to the hole to win it for the Grizzlies! Wait. This game-winner wasn’t a contested jumper?!
(VIDEO CREDIT: Bleacher Report.)
Way to finish it strong and win it like that.
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
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