Why Prime James Harden Was Impossible To Guard 

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Harden bag so deep im about 18 mins in and he still haven’t even mentioned his passing/lob throwing ability yet

Glad the first step was highlighted. A lot of people talk about his step back 3s but prime harden had that plus an unbelievable first step which made him unguardable

James harden is overhated and under appreciated

Prime harden was something special man, almost the most broken team of all time 😂

James Harden was one of the NBA players that brought me to the beautiful sport of basketball. He is like an engineer trying to figure out a way to simply their craft without sacrificing any resources or adding any costs. Many don't know this but it was reported that prior to the 2019-2020 season Kawhi wanted Harden on the Clippers rather than PG13. That would have been insanity. PS: Great Breakdown Hoop Venue!

Being a die hard harden fan it’s been tough seeing him being disrespected in real time. But every year passes and people realize he should have won more than 1 MVP and probably a title. They went 0-27 straight from 3 and only loss by single digits

Harden was an extremely underrated passer during his prime. Him and capela had the best 2 man game in the league during those prime Houston years. He wasn’t afraid to start his games passing before taking open shots. People complain about his lack of mid range game but if you watch 8 hours of highlights like I have you’d know he definitely took his fair share of mid range buckets.

I will never disrespect harden From 2014-2020 he averaged 31 PPG From 2020-2024 he averaged 10 APG Not including 2016-17 where he averaged 11 If we don’t include rings this man is offensively the best greatest COMBO GAURD of all time

I think the Harden rockets, who won 3 games in the playoffs against 73win GSW + KD, were stronger than many champion teams. I wanted to see GAME 7 without CP3's injury. And the Warriors with KD are a team that is unfair.

I see hoopvenue breakdown all time players i click

Prime Harden was an entire offense. He could give you 35 and 15 every night. He has a top 5 of all time offensive prime! I did not say player because he isn’t even top 20. Imagine if he played defense, wasn’t self-absorbed, cared about his conditioning, and didn’t party every dam night.

Finally more people are starting to appreciate peak Harden

Not going to lie, He was fuckin the league up to the point where they had to change certain rules. No one gives harden enough credit

Harden developed himself into an all-time great scorer before slowed by injury. His major shortcoming was he didn't know how to progress into being all-time great leader & winner, too. I think he wanted to make that shift in his later Houston era, but he didn't know how to, really. So, like another all-time great _scorer_ KD, he used his cache to *force* his way onto winning teams... he just wasn't/isn't a great leader like MJ, Lebron, Bird, Kobe... Doesn't change that he was one of few best individual scorers ever with MJ and Wilt

Harden is the ONLY player I’ve ever seen not get a ring in his prime because he went up against the GOAT team be held against him smh

Harden still blessing Houston 🫶🏾

thanks for this video. definitely gonna watch this a lot. very educational break down of james harden’s play.

3:04 no illegal Draymond screens here. Just pure basketball ability. Not special treatment for global marketing

That foul on 3pt attempt stat is crazy

James harden is so underrated as a scorer, top 10 scorer all time IMO,

if you will continue the trend of breaking down more all time peaks this off season, itd be sick to see you make a video on prime cp3. Love the content bro, big big fan

Please do more historic player analysis! This was one of my favorite videos you’ve done!

I never realized how athletic James Harden was

Because he traveled EVERY single time he touched the ball. I’d be “impossible to guard” TOO if I could literally jump sideways AFTER I already took a step back dribble.

The perfect point guard

Great video I'm a newer fan of the NBA being from Europe and picking up basketball late So its amazing to see breakdowns n looks at historically good players even if they are less than a decade old

Prime Harden is like Roddy Rich of basketball. Insane prime in relatively same years but fell off the popularity contests because people realised they dont like him

I really used to think this man would be the greatest scorer of all time

Insanely detailed and accurate breakdown, well done

crazy how james harden alone is the best isolation scoring TEAM of all time by himself

He was impossible to guard because the refs bailed him out. He constantly pushed off when a defender got close, hooked and grabbed, then eventually flopped when he drove. That's not hate, those are simply facts.

I always find it funny when people call Luka “just another harden” as if it’s some big insult 😂 Mavs sucked at the time so I watched a ton of rockets games and never understood the massive harden hate, the elimination game thing is real with harden tho ngl

ben taylor of the "thinking basketball" youtube channel says harden does NOT have counters lol. I was laughed at that notion because their is no way a player can average 36ppg in a szn with ZERO counter moves. That take aged very poorly just like Harden not being as "portable" as wade or kobe. Every single team harden gets traded too immediately somehow ends up posting their highest team offensive rating ever and besides the nets harden was generally hovering around 20% usage especially in philly and this last szn with the clippers

The biggest reason James is/was so good is that he always hunted for the best possible shot Whether he was passing or creating for himself He's an actual computer algorithm searching for the most optimal way to score Biggest gripe on curry is his god awful shot selection Give him James hardens and he might well have goat potential

hes like an isolation computer. constantly reacting off the defender and going to the best possible move for a bucket/assist. mj kobe wade harden ai top 5 SG’s oat

Prime Harden was the Father. Unstoppable

I would love to see a breakdown of dwayne wade and michael jordan if possible

Really looking forward to see the next breakdown !!! Great work as always 👏

Beautifully made, well done 😊

I think I asked for this video like a year ago ilysm for actually making it this is perfect

Prime harden is goat scorer. He just is. Ppl forget he carried teams on pure iso. He was averaging 30 and they were losing so he amped it up to around 40 and they were finally winning. He had to work overtime, curry didn't, lebron didn't.

He was so good the NBA and Scott Foster had to rig a game 7 on national TV because it was him vs the Monstars and was up by double digits with no CP3. Never seen a more rigged game in my life. The hoed him and D'Antoni out of a ring smdh.

The processing and reaction speed is nasty. Would love to see it compared to Kyrie who basically freestyles based on how defenders react

As good as Harden was and kinda still is at what he does, there are limits to what a ball dominant player can do. He was literally the entire offense and his mistakes especially with getting doubled at the 3 costed too much for his team. Players like Kobe, Lebron, Jordan could have games shooting less efficient than Harden but at the end of the day that extra height even if it's only 1 inch it can mean so much at the highest stage it's crazy. Someone like Booker at 6'5 tries to play like a Kobe but no matter what that extra inch that isn't there doesn't allow him to be the defender Kobe was, or even a less athletic 6'6 like Drazen Petrovic. Both those players have similar skillsets to Booker but the ability to play that extra little bit of defense better without costing the energy to do it is everything. There are great 6'5s that play great D they never have the energy to be anything more than a catch and shoot 3 guy or a cutter on offense. Every top scoring 6'5 player in history never had the athleticism or energy to be dominant on both sides of the ball besides Big O who was greatly limited by his era's rules. And as great as Harden was on offense I would say Booker has a better mid range and Harden has better passing ability but they both lack considerably at playing good defense. Booker is a swiss army knife but he can't play lockdown defense and lead his team in scoring at the same time like Kobe could do. Still if Harden stayed in OKC he would have become an offensive machine and Westbrook would have taken a more defensive role and I believe OKC would have at least won a chip if Harden stayed. He wasn't the same shooter before Rockets. Forgive me for being weird but I know if Kobe isn't shooting well I still have confidence that they win. With Harden if he isn't shooting well I almost know it's over same with Booker. I can't say if SGA will be a great defender but I think he has more potential than those 2.

WAITED ON THIS 1🤩😮‍💨

Great vid, feel like the Harden discourse has swung too far. All time player with elite elite skill and processing speed

Could you breakdown France vs USA and USA vs serbia and feel like when he played with machale that he had a mid range and a post up game

Imagine if kd, Russ and harden stayed together for just a couple more years 😔

Goated vid, definitely gonna come back to this

It was the perfect system for him at the time the spacing with the 3 point shooting and the lob threat heliocentric at It’s best

Can you make a video on how Russell Westbrook will fit in Denver that's the video I thought you would've made by now

Most star caliber guards have the same abilities he’s hard to guard because he’s a lefty

The title should say James harden, pre James harden rule

Wonderful video dawg!

17:57 is one of the reasons why The Beard is a GOAT offensive player: That defender stopped him to drive brilliantly two times but Harden just says "fck it, I'm bout to cross yo ass on the third attempt" and he did. Most players would give up, pass the ball or make a desperetion shot but not him. A true definition of unguardable.

Dont matter wat yall say bout him make sure yall add a goat scorer at da end🔥

Growing up in houston during peak harden was nuts

04:48 AYO! NO Diddy.

People were scared of his flopping techniques on drives. Flopping, traveling, lazy defense, and being a volume shooter will be his legacy

People hated James Harden so much they RUINED the rules to stop him. People wonder what happened to him? They simply stopped calling OBVIOUS fouls and the opponents simply foul him.

I love this video. You broke it down like a PhD thesis paper. :D

Still my favorite player to watch pple need to start appreciate his greatness and stop just pointing out his flaws

carmelo and hardens 1st steps were some of the best

He was a generational slasher in college

As a kid lebron was the first person i seen using jab steps and it helped

Even retired nba defensive players helping other teams on how they will guard him

The only thing that could stop prime James Harden is the playoffs

Can you do a video on breaking down your top best scorers in the NBA?

James harden prime is still here, but a loot of rule changes.. make him less efficient... Like drawing fouls etc

need this video right handed

That strength and accel/decel has PJF Performance writen all over it

James harden is lowkey underrated on how his game translated and he adapted to different roles I give him his flowers 🫱🏾‍🫲🏿

One of the greatest ever! The best left hand nba player to ever touch a rock

You cooked here! Also his floater volume went down more so bc of roster, game plan and role on the team(s) imo.

He is definitely an outstanding score and my favorite basekball player in The NBA

YESSSSSSS FINALLY JAMES HARDEN APPRECIATION

Bro I always heard RU-vidrs say harden can’t stay out the strip club 😂but never noticed that he couldn’t stay off the line dude gets a team worth of free throws

This makes the Lebron 2020 even more impressive.

Legendary in Houston lol he always was in the playoffs witch is crazy

One of the deepest and definitively most unique bags of all time.

Ngl if Harden took mid range jumpers during these years he woulda been considered the most unguardable player of all time

Can't lie Harden is my favorite player of the past 15 years aside from Blake Griffin. Might be boring for some but for me it was amazing watching the Beard cook everybody in the gym

Man.. if only harden took care of his body. I mean he's still good but he could've easily surpass D-wade as the 3rd best SG of all time but he went the route of Shaq/Zion conditioning wise

Imagine Wemby with this level of detail and acuity

Need a “why prime Kobe Bryant was impossible to guard” vid

Harden in his prime was so good he managed to single handedly destroy the OKC Thunder's opportunity to win a championship with both Durant and Westbrook on his team. Effectively tarnishing their reputations in the process 🤡💀🗑. This video is immensely misleading.

You forgot his double step back.

Thank you, good video from

Harden in Houston was good times. If the Warriors wasn't around... no way in hell the Rockets didn't come out the Harden era with at least 2 rings.

Elite shooting + Elite handles + Elite playmaking + God-tier foul-baiting was just an unstoppable combination. 🤷

If only he had any interest in doing anything without the ball in his hands

subbed. good content and nuances to these players are so good. can you breakdown steve nash? i dont know why his hang dribble and explode driving left is so effective, he doesnt look as fast or strong as other strong drivers, but its just like the defender is frozen and hes two steps ahead by the time they react.

4 steps after the last dribble is a traveling violation, don't care if you call it gather or zero or whatever that's a blatant travel and the NBA allows it and that's one reason he was impossible to guard, and that was not his fault too.. then comes foul baiting and flopping.,on that one season officiating was a bit more strict he looked like he aged 10years..

Yea when kawhi went down, clippers should've let James be this James again. It would open up for everybody

Excellent study 📖 ! 🏀

You just summed up why they never won a chip lmao

My top 5 2 guard of all time

He’s lost that first step sadly from that Brooklyn injury

that intro so tuff im gna make an edit