Golden State Warriors: Loss of Kevin Durant sets up James Harden explosion
By Tony Pesta
With Kevin Durant ruled out for the remainder of the series, the Golden State Warriors must brace themselves for a James Harden explosion.
The loss of Kevin Durant is going to be a brutal one. His 34.2 points per game during the playoffs has made him the leading scorer for the Golden State Warriors and his defense has been key to slowing down James Harden. Without Durant, the Dubs must prepare for a monstrous game from the bearded one.
Harden is fresh off of one of the greatest offensive seasons in NBA history. Averaging 36.1 points and 7.5 assists a game in the regular season, Harden’s explosive numbers speak for themselves. He is a cold-blooded killer and a genius with the ball in his hands.
The Dubs have managed to slow down Harden to the best of their abilities, largely due to Durant’s defensive talents. KD has defended Harden on 54 possessions during this series and has held him to just 21 total points (4.2 per game).
The most important thing that Durant has been able to do is neutralizing Harden’s ability to run the pick and roll. With KD using his length to block passing lanes and take away potential jump shots, the Rockets have elected to run more isolation basketball then screen-and-roll action.
In the regular season, Houston ran pick-and-roll with Harden as the ball handler an average of 7.4 times per game. This number has dropped to just 5.9 in the playoffs while his assists numbers have decreased to 5.6 in this series.
The Warriors have seen their most success this series by forcing someone other than Harden to beat them. Without Durant, this will be a much tougher task, but someone will have to step up and force Harden into passing the ball.
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The Rockets understand it is now or never to finally beat the Warriors. Harden has seen his playoff hopes be snuffed out by Golden State three times in the last four years. He now has a chance to dethrone Golden State and solidify himself as an all-time NBA great. Golden State better be prepared for a big game from Harden.