How the Warriors limited James Harden, plus other thoughts from their Christmas Day win
The Golden State Warriors frustrated Rockets guard James Harden in route to their third-straight win.
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SAN FRANCISCO — Draymond Green hit a 3-pointer from his mark in the corner and ran to the sideline, jumping into Steph Curry in celebration while the Chase Center crowd erupted, as the Warriors took a six-point lead over the Rockets late in what would become their biggest win of the season.
The Warriors (8-24) defeated the Rockets, 116-104, on Wednesday at Chase Center, and celebrated on the NBA’s nationally-televised Christmas Day stage. Though Green hit a timely 3-pointer and Curry and Klay Thompson cheered from the bench, it was Golden State’s newcomers and defense of Rockets guard James Harden that helped them earn their third straight win.
“It’s great. It’s been a very trying season for us,” Green said. “It’s a lot of these guys’ first time playing on Christmas. That’s a huge stage, and to come out and execute like we did and to actually get a win like we did against a very good team, it definitely feels good.”
Warriors guards Damion Lee (22) and D’Angelo Russell (20) combined to score 42 points while Houston’s backcourt of Harden and Russell Westbrook were held to an inefficient 54 points on 40% shooting.
The Warriors’ defensive strategy of doubling Harden and forcing him to his right made the NBA’s scoring leader (38.6 points per game this season) uncomfortable. With Harden limited, the Rockets’ offense struggled and was held to 37% shooting for the game.
It was the most impressive defensive performance of the season for the Warriors, who executed a complex game plan to send their rivals back to Houston with a loss.
“We’re probably not going to play a bigger game than this all year, on Christmas, on national TV and against the Rockets,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “This game meant a lot to us and you can see it in the way our players approached it.”
Lee had 22 points on 5-for-9 shooting (2-for-2 from 3-point range, 10-for-10 from the free throw line) and 15 rebounds. Glenn Robinson III scored 18 points on 6-for-13 shooting while spending most of the game guarding Harden. Green finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and three assists.
Green is learning to appreciate these wins more during a losing season, and he seemed to especially relish Wednesday’s over the Rockets in front of Chase Center’s Christmas Day crowd. Over the years, the Warriors and Rockets have developed a rivalry, with Golden State eliminating Houston in four of the last five postseasons.
The Rockets (21-10) walked into Chase Center undoubtedly expecting a win over a make-shift Warriors team with one of the league’s worst records.
Instead, the Warriors frustrated Harden, found their rhythm offensively and got major contributions from their newcomers as the incumbent Warriors cheered along with a merry home crowd.
A few more thoughts…
1. The defensive game plan: The NBA has been trying to figure out novel and effective ways to guard Harden for a couple of years now. One of the most dramatic, early examples of this was last season, when the Milwaukee Bucks had guard Eric Bledsoe defend Harden from behind in order to counter his step-back jumper.
Others have tinkered with different strategies. Kerr recently watched the Kings use a box-and-one, similar to what the Raptors showed Curry in last season’s Finals. “James has basically forced the whole league to reconsider how to defend him,” Kerr said.
So what did the Warriors do? Kerr and assistant coach Jarron Collins devised their most complex defensive game plan of the season. They trapped, sending a double team to his left to force Harden, a lefty, to pass with his right hand.
It’s not an uncommon strategy around the league, but it’s a high-wire act. If done wrong, it unlocks wide-open shots for Harden’s teammates. Outside of Harden’s second-quarter surge (16 points on 6-for-7 shooting and four 3-pointers), the Warriors’ execution was near perfect.
And again. Excellent defensive gameplanning by Kerr and execution by the Warriors so far pic.twitter.com/ils4M8i6UN
— Ben Pfeifer (@Ben_Pfeifer_) December 25, 2019
The Rockets countered in the second half by setting a screen for Harden at half court to disrupt the trap. The Warriors answered by having the weak-side defender go over the screen and run down Harden like Bledsoe did for Milwaukee.
Sooner or later, Harden will manage shake loose, but the Warriors did a great job in those moments of playing individual defense.
“That game plan was [expletive] phenomenal,” Green said. “It doesn’t get much better than that. And then you have to give our young guys credit. You can’t execute it much better than we did today.”
Usually when opponents bother Harden to this degree, he relies on getting to the line, from where he’s taking an average of 12.8 free-throw attempts per game this season. On Wednesday, he took just one shot from the line.
To understand how rare that is: Harden has only been limited to one or fewer free-throw attempt in a game three other times since he was traded to Houston in 2012.
“The best thing we did was not foul him,” Kerr said. “That kept the game going and allowed us to play in open space because their defense is really good in the half court. The tempo was right for us.”
It shouldn’t get lost just how remarkable Wednesday’s execution was. Remember, this was a team that had the league’s worst-rated defense through the first month of the season. Kerr realized early in the season he needed to start from scratch — to simplify his defensive schemes and get a young team to first master the fundamentals.
Golden State’s defense has steadily risen up the league rankings and has been playing at a league-average level over the last couple of weeks. That improvement gave Kerr the confidence to install Wednesday’s game plan.
“I don’t think we would have been able to do this early in the season,” Kerr said. “I think we’re finally at the point now where we have more confidence defensively, and that allowed us to be a little more creative and our guys handled it well.”
2. Damion Lee: Last Christmas, Lee had five points in 3:34 of garbage time in a blowout loss to the Lakers. A lot has changed since then, but Lee’s contract status hasn’t. He signed his second two-way contract with the Warriors this summer.
Lee had 22 points and 15 rebounds in what was undoubtedly the best game of his career, and it came on the heels of Kerr’s announcement that he would be the starting shooting guard for the foreseeable future.
His 15 rebounds from the guard spot reflect the work he needs to put in to land a standard contract on an NBA roster.
“It’s a show of Damion’s basketball awareness, he’s a very smart player,” Kerr said. “He’s in the right place at the right time. He understands the game and he’s really made a huge impact for our team the last few weeks since he returned from injury.”
Lee has started the last five games for the Warriors, and is averaging 14.6 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 30.7 minutes. In the Warriors’ three consecutive wins, he combined to go 8-for-14 from 3-point range. His shooting and rangy defense make him a seamless fit next to Russell and Robinson on the perimeter.
Only one problem: Under the rules of his two-way contract, Lee is only allowed to spend 45 days in Golden State. The remainder of his season must be spent with the Warriors’ G League affiliate in Santa Cruz. After Wednesday, Lee has only 14 days left of his NBA allotment.
At this rate, Lee will be out of NBA days by mid-January, and the Warriors will need to find a new starting shooting guard, or find a way to keep him.
“He’s making it tough on people, whether it’s our front office or other front offices,” Green said. “He’s putting his name in the conversation as a piece on any team in this league.”
3. Christmas Day record: Golden State is now 13-16 all-time on Christmas Day.