‘Next question’: Why James Harden has ‘nothing to prove’ on defense

Harden had a key strip of Giannis Antetokounmpo in Sunday’s closing run that led to the go-ahead basket, and he also denied him in the post.

After the All-Star Game in February, Giannis Antetokounmpo said his team had targeted Houston Rockets star James Harden on defense as a strategy in the closing minutes. It failed then, and it failed now.

In Sunday’s game, Harden had six of Houston’s 15 steals against Antetokounmpo’s Bucks. In all, the undersized Rockets forced Milwaukee into 22 turnovers, and it was a important element of how Houston overcame a -29 rebounding differential to post a 120-116 victory.

In a potential NBA Finals preview, the Rockets (42-24) outscored Milwaukee (54-13) in the final three minutes, 16-4, to rally to a statement win over the team with the league’s best record. Harden had a key steal against Antetokounmpo in the final two minutes that directly led to Houston taking the lead, and he also prevented “The Greek Freak” from generating his own offense out of the low post.

It shouldn’t have some as a huge surprise, since Harden has routinely graded out as one of the NBA’s best post defenders in recent years. Nonetheless, given the national spotlight of Sunday’s showdown on ABC, it quickly became a talking point for some in the aftermath.

When the NBA’s leading scorer was asked if he felt like he proved something with his defense on Giannis Antetokounmpo, he replied:

I have nothing to prove to anybody. Nothing to say.

When asked later in his postgame interview how hard it was to guard Antetokounmpo, Harden succinctly responded:

Next question.

It’s easy to understand where “The Beard” is coming from, since his strong individual performances on defense are nothing new. From his perspective, what’s of greater importance is Houston’s team defense.

For the 2019-20 season as a whole, the Rockets rank No. 2 in the NBA in net rating on offense, but just No. 16 on defense. But they’ve shown flashes of being much better than that, as shown by their ability to limit the Bucks to just four points in the final 3:00 of Sunday’s comeback.

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“I think throughout the course of the game, we played some really good defense,” Harden said in his postgame interview. “Obviously, they’re a really good offensive team, but… we got stops when we needed to.”

As Harden sees it, whether Houston’s defense can match its offensive brilliance is the key challenge as they pursue the 2020 NBA title.

We found ourselves. It’ll obviously have to be defense, rebounding, and transition defense. Offensively, we can score on anybody. Once we find that identity, it’ll be scary.

Sunday’s performance from the NBA “bubble” wasn’t an outlier, as it pertains to Houston’s improved defense in clutch moments. They also pulled off a similar feat in Friday’s opener from Florida, when they limited Dallas and its No. 1 offense to just 20 points in the fourth quarter and 10 in overtime as the Rockets rallied to a stunning victory.

Harden and the Rockets will look to hold that form on Tuesday night versus Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers (30-38), with tip-off set for 8:00 p.m. Central. The game will be broadcast nationally on TNT and regionally on AT&T SportsNet Southwest (with Houston announcers).

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