Zach Lowe* is unintentionally writing a book if these columns about how the league* has been adjusting post-"South Beach Revolution" and how teams, but most importantly the top "modern" players, adjust to those adjustments aren't actually part of one:
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/page/zachlowe26559923/james-harden-breaking-defense-embarrassed-himBut the Spurs also unveiled a template for defending Harden that would spread across the league. It was simple: When Clint Capela set a pick for Harden, Capela's man was to plant himself near the hoop and lie in wait for Harden.
They would not switch. They would not trap, exposing an easy slip pass to Capela. They would meet Harden at the restricted area and wager they could at least disrupt layups and lob passes. They would foist indecision onto him. They knew Harden would not accept the shots they were giving him; floaters and long 2s were verboten in Houston. It worked.
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After that Spurs series, Harden went about adding a floater. If top defenses were going to concede that shot, Harden would have to take it.
This season, he mastered it. Harden has attempted more than twice as many floaters as he did a season ago, and he has hit almost half of them, per Cleaning The Glass -- an elite number.
The next step was more radical: eliminate the need for a screen altogether. "We used to talk about the screen as an escort for a double-team," Morey says. "Why even give the defense the option?"
Harden was already a very good isolation player, but he would have to stretch the math beyond what anyone had dreamed possible to render the pick-and-roll -- basketball's staple play almost since the peach basket -- obsolete. Enter the step-back 3 -- an isolation worth three points if it goes in, which it has about 40 percent of the time this season.
Harden has drained 240 step-back triples in 2018-19. Stephen Curry led the league in total 3s with between 261 and 286 for three straight seasons from 2012-13 through 2014-15. Just making that many 3-pointers was revolutionary four seasons ago. Making that many step-backs was not a thing that existed in the NBA's brainspace.
The threat of the step-back forced defenders into pressing Harden 30 feet from the rim. That made them easy pickings for a blow-by.
Harden had warped math, and opened new possibilities for Houston. Instead of having Capela screen around the 3-point arc, the Rockets can now station him at the dunker spot -- along the baseline, at the edge of the paint -- at the start of possessions. That doesn't sound important, but in talking to opposing players and coaches, it has changed everything.
Even scarier: Houston appears to have landed on a basic method of triggering Harden's preferred passes and springing wide-open shooters.
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Look at Ingles and Gobert bark at each other after Harden's put-back. If I had to guess, I would say Ingles is miffed at Gobert for bolting the restricted area and leaping at Harden's floater -- leaving the glass naked. Gobert replies by mimicking Harden's floater motion: What am I supposed to do? Let him shoot unchallenged?
Semi-related to this, I've been kinda curious how Greg Monroe basically ceased to exist as a viable big in this league. He was always a pretty good passer for a big man, maybe I overestimated his athleticism? His ability to develop a jumper? In Detroit he seemed to shoot fairly well from ~15-18 feet that I thought maybe he could like Lopez develop out that range or add at least a "can't always leave him alone" three that a lot of lesser bigs get away with hitting at like 30% or something. Kinda crazy that Zaza and Bogut have been able to develop their talents more to fit in the modern league than Monroe. Hell, the reason he bailed out of Detroit, Drummond even has!
Tongue in cheek slightly more unexpected may be that the Sixers are totally getting away with playing Boban fairly big minutes in the playoffs, everybody told me it was never time during the important regular season to release the Boban because he was donezo in the "modern" league.
(Though the Sixers also seem to have figured out a place for Monroe too after every other Eastern contender tried him out and passed.)
*Although I think the recent Brook Lopez one was from another ESPN writer writing basically the same thing Lowe has been
**or the Spurs, then copied by everyone
