The Evolution of Harden's Defense 

"They can't break my ankles if I don't defend" -James Harden probably.

It’s almost like he really only cared when Giannis started to talk about him

Dont forget when Ron Artest knocked out the defensive side of his brain

Harden’s girl: “Play defense and I’ll let you hit this 😏” James: “nah im good”

Isnt it ironic that he first started playing defense in an ALLSTAR GAME

Bruh everyone in Houston including myself just shook their heads when Livingston crossed Harden

He’s that one cherry picker in 2k rec center

I guess his defence took a”step back”

He’s good at defense when he wants to be

I love how harden looked at his hand after blocking giannis like “that was me?”

At least he good at scoring

"Half the defense double the offense"

Damm imagine if james harden was a cop and a criminal trying to get through him, james harden:

Who is here after Game 7 against OKC after harden’s jump

He defends likes he’s trying so hard not to draw a foul

James harden always leaving assignment 😂

I am actually happy to see he has improved

Harden always had active hands to deflect, steal, and sometimes block the ball, but he always lacked effort. In the early part of his career, he was tasked with being the offense so he spent his energy there and relaxed on defense. The past few seasons, he has been on his A-game with his offense and putting more effort into defense. With the line-up they have now, it is necessary for him to put effort on defense and can rely more on his teammates on the offense.

Remember at one point in OKC harden was seen as a defensive stopper and had battles with Kobe and wade where he made them struggle mightily. It's a effort thing when it comes to him. He has shown the ability to make guys work for their shots , but decides to conserve energy on the defensive end

1:53 my 2k character when I need to scratch my nose

he’s actually gotten good at defending at random times last year and a lot this year it’s just not talked about because people like to portray that he has weaknesses

Lmaooo even when he defends, he still be looking at the ball like it’s bouta go in

I love how you started the vid with the interview shows this mans defs has something he is trying to prove

His 2k teammate grade is suffering from "defensive breakdown" Edit: 46 likes! Wow.

Harden was known for his defense when he was in OKC. That's how he gain minutes he's first two years

i remembered Harden did have some solid defensive moments in western conference final against Warriors with KD in the team. There was a highlight he stripped the ball from KD and posterising on Draymond Green. Next year his dunking rating in 2k went over 80.

I love James Harden as a player he is one of my favorites. But this video is so true to his defense.

The move by Livingston at 2:18 is filthy. Even good defense ain’t stopping that

He only have good defense in the paint and not the perimeter. I would say he has slightly above or above average defense in the paint. Man can hold his ground.

Who's here after james harden's game winning block?

u posting legendary vids keep doing ur work

Great content

He is like Arsenal F.C he can't protect own Goal at all

When he got elbowed by Artest is when he gave up 😂

Well made video 🔥💯

He was around for that long with that kinda play. Great he loves his game. Never gave up.😊

when the youtube recommended brings me to a video quicker than the lads in the notif squad

Damn bro you didnt put in THE clip???

Good video bro 😁

He needs all his energy for offense that's why so he can spam that step back travel

In all fairness he’s expected to expend all energy on offense, getting up 40+ shots lol

James "mild incovenience" harden

Harden plays defense like he wants to be back on offense asap by letting them score on him

I’m glad he is putting more effort into defense now

He played finally defense on Giannis cause of his interviews and their beef, just for that🤣

When we saw him strip the ball from Giannis, we knew this video was coming

Being the second in the mvp voting for 4 years and winning the mvp one time with such a defense speaks volumes about his offense.

Thank you finally

he's literally averaging 1.8 steals and last year 2 steals, year before 1.8

There’s two reasons he doesn’t defend Ron Artest smacked the defense out of him He saw what happened to Paul George when he went for a chase down block

Your highly underated

He used that lockdown time very efficiently

Right before the world ended Harden finally played defense

"Defensive Breakdown" C-

hes actually good a t deffense back when he was in OKC and Collage when he was traded to the houston it all changed

Should’ve started this from his OKC days and called it the Devolution of Hardens defense.

People clown him a lot but he actually was an above average defender after the all-star break. Give the man credit

At least put the "steal" he got on DeMar DeRozan on here.

@2:24 “…WATCHED… by Harden…” LOL 😂

I really admire Hardens Brain. He’s got offense down. It looks like he’s getting defense down a bit

DiAntoni: James I’ve been running some sims and I’m stuck I can’t find out any way to make us score more points than the other team Some janitor: maybe make the other team score less?

could you imagine MJ allowing even one of those plays during his career?

man said “eh lemme start trying”

It's amazing how he tries to blame his team for his every mistake

The fact that this man got voted onto the 75th anniversary team still baffles me

2:41 " *SEX* knocks it down" is what I heard Edit: This dude hearted my comment😂😂

He just did that against the Lakers game 4 just sat and watched

Nice to know he decided to play defense at the end of his career

He still sucks in D, if he did a good defensive play (very lucky) doesn’t mean he’s improved, watch the whole game and other rockets games

He just lazy.

My man's did the splits on the first clip

Literally saving all his energy for offense

Shaun Livingston really kickstarted his defensive career

Its the ankle break that stop him to do defense, Everytime he do defense a flashback of him sliding is popping on his head

He is that one guy who didn’t make a 2 way build

where did this mans subscribers go!?

Hes good in the post. Still needs to get a little better on the perimeter. But he is progressing

I'm glad that he finally playing defense

He's leaving his guard down.

He has improved his conditioning to be able to put more effort on defense without sacrificing his offense

Everyone's gangsta until he gets 2 free throws for opponents sneezing

That livingston crossover was FIRE

ngl the sports cases at 1.5x speed is fire

He’s been able to play defense the last two years.

When it had the opening clip, I thought you were gonna show Artest elbowing him which caused him to make him play no defense xD. That would’ve been hilarious

Every game he is making a career high on defense.

Wish you added the clip when he stripped Derozan, nice video though

Yeah it looks like he doesn't want to get his ankles broke.

He led in steals this year And number one in post Defence stoppage

Good for him 👍🏽

He's always been an underrated post defender tho

To be honest, Giannis can be easy to guard if you have strength & can body him up. All Giannis got is the long Euro Step, spin move and him lowering his shoulder on you like Jerome Bettis or Marshawn Lynch

Lock Down?... Ya lets not over play his improvements here. He has progressed from "Actively ignoring defense" to... "I guess I can try to poke the ball or something"

2:20 He will never be posterized in his career. I'm smaaaaaahhhhht!

This now deserves to be elongated...positively for Harden!

Harden defense: if they score 2pts, i'll score 3.

He literally went from not being able to guard anybody to guarding giannis

Garden’s defense is practicing social distancing.

*lets defender run right by him* "I wonder what's going through his head?" - Announcer "Should I buy another lime green suit?" - James

He's been one of the top stealers in the league, this season. He is a skilled defender, Unfortunately he is also a careless and low-effort defender. What's important is whether he can bring a high defensive intensity to the playoffs.