What Is Going On With Damian Lillard and James Harden?
It’s the start of the 2nd week of basketball in the NBA and we have another exciting slate of games. From the Brooklyn Nets getting things together (kind of) to how the Clippers destroyed my Blazers (not excited to talk about that one).
We had a lot going on last night and I recapped all the best parts. Let’s get into it.
Brooklyn Nets
The Brooklyn Nets’ 1-2 start to the season wasn’t something that worried me, but it was clear they needed a statement win to kind of start fresh. They did that and more in this game against the Wizards.
They came out with great effort from the jump and it looked like things were starting to click on both ends. Now it’s time to do this against every team in the NBA, not just the Wizards.
Should We Be Worried About James Harden?
James Harden has been off to a rocky start in 2022. He just hasn’t looked the same and there are a lot of reasons to blame for that. Many people point to the fact that he isn’t getting the same amount of free throws as he once did, as he’s averaging just three free throw attempts per game this season. While that might be true, there are other reasons to consider.
For one, he looks out of shape. He looks a lot bigger than he normally does, which is saying something. Harden is built like a tank, but we’re used to him being deceptively quick off the dribble. We’re not seeing that this season. Who knew partying in Paris all summer would do that to you?
A 2nd reason could be his shot selection. Harden seems to be settling for a lot of floaters this season. Instead of taking that one extra dribble, that one extra step right to the front of the rim, he’s settling. While he can certainly make his floaters, he hasn’t been converting them well enough to justify this change. It seems like he knows he won’t get the call, so he’s just shying away from contact, which is stupid.
In this game against the Wizards, Harden was better, but that’s not saying much. He kept his turnovers down and finished with 9 assists and 6 rebounds. That’s good.
The bad is that he shot 5/17 from the field and 1/8 from the 3-PT line while only getting 3 free throws. Now, Harden did do a better job of attacking the basket in the first half. Instead of stopping, he was just going right to the rim and finding success. That’s a step in the right direction, but there were still some problems.
In the 2nd half, he just started chucking up 3’s. Even after he was scoring well in the first half, he kept settling and finished 1/8 from behind the arc. Not all of them were bad shots, but you’d have figured that Harden would’ve continued to attack the rack.
Weirdly, I have to analyze every little thing that James Harden is doing because we know how good he can be. But he just needs to adjust to these new rules. I think that he is right in the fact that referees might turn a blind eye to some fouls just because they don’t know if he’s faking or not, but regardless, he has to be better.
He has to attack the rim more, stop looking for calls, and most importantly, get in shape. If those things happen, then the James Harden we all know and hate will come back.
Great Defense
Albeit against the Washington “should be rebuilding” Wizards, the Nets showed you that they can play a little something called defense. Steve Nash made the right decision by starting Bruce Brown in this game and the defense looked solid in this game.
The Nets were in the passing lanes, causing havoc to the tune of 17 turnovers for the Wizards. Washington only scored 25+ points in a quarter once as they just couldn’t get anything going.
The Nets held the Wizards to just 35% FG shooting and 23% from 3-PT range. Spencer Dinwiddie and Bradley Beal shot a combined 11/35 from the field, as it was clear that the Nets wanted to win this game.
Obviously, I don’t expect the Nets to do this on a nightly basis. But having a quarter or two of defense like this will be important, especially with the Nets still having to figure things out offensively. If they can do this, they make it so much easier for themselves to beat teams when they’re not giving up points every single possession.
Look, a 2-2 start for the Nets seems underwhelming, but I think they’re on the verge of exploding. Steve Nash is figuring out which guys work in the rotation and I think the wheels are starting to turn for this team.
James Harden still has to turn the page, but assuming that he does, when he does, the Nets become a whole different monster. Add in that good defense that we saw in this game. Scary Hours might be back for the Brooklyn Nets.
NBA Officiating Is Back To Being Good
I think that we can all agree about this one. After the last few seasons of basketball felt more like a whistle simulator than basketball, this is a great change of pace.
Free throws are down across the league and we’re back to play basketball. You have to use your actual physical tools to score in the paint, instead of just flailing around like a fish and getting to the free-throw line. Abusing the rules is no longer in the NBA and it’s great.
We have had some great, exciting games this year and they aren’t dictated by the officials. We don’t spend 10 minutes looking at out-of-bounds calls. It’s been really fun to watch the NBA this year, simply because the officiating is better.
These new rule changes are easily some of the best things that Adam Silver has implemented during his tenure as commissioner. He and the league have saved basketball and for that, we say thank you.
(Now, it’s time to make sure that the coach’s challenges are kept if you get them right.)
The Charlotte Hornets Are Fun
I don’t think this is up for debate. While the Hornets lost last night in overtime because they couldn’t stop Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown (who can), they’re still 3-1 and one of the most exciting teams in the league.
The same was true last season, but they got a lot better this offseason and they are certainly going to be contending for the playoff spot this season, barring anything unforeseen.
Lamelo Ball is a rising superstar. He is a slick playmaker/ball-handler and his outside shooting looks a lot better than it did last season. He’s likely going to be an All-Star this season and he is the conductor on this fun train.
Around him, you have a lot of talent. Miles Bridges continues to excel when he’s in the starting lineup, as he’s a great scoring threat and high-flyer in transition. Free-agent acquisition Kelly Oubre. Jr. has also looked solid. Gordon Hayward is a great safety valve when all else fails.
But then we’re just forgetting about Terry Rozier, who had a career year last season. Rozier has played just one game this season, but when healthy, he’s another great scorer for this offense.
Then you have so much talent off the bench with the likes of James Bouknight, Kai Jones, Mason Plumlee, PJ Washington, and Jaden McDaniels. The Hornets are surprisingly deep and they boast a lot of spotting youth for the future.
They are a team to look out for this season. Their offense is lethal with Ball running the show, as their run and gun pace is a problem for teams. They started 3-0 for the first time in franchise history and are still a solid 3-1 to start their season.
The Hornets are going to be a team to remember this season.
Portland Trail Blazers vs LA Clippers
Let’s get this over with. After a fun night against the Suns where shots were falling, the defense looked passable, and everything was ok, reality struck in La La Land. The Blazers, notoriously bad against the Clippers, did it again. The team looked dead in every sense of the way and delivered one of the worst games of basketball I have ever seen.
That’s not an exaggeration. Jack Ramsey is somewhere rolling around in his grave because of this horrendous performance.
Portland Trail Blazers
When the ROOT Sports Broadcast starts playing whale explosions in the 4th quarter, you know things are bad. Neil Everett talking about the game at halftime was the best thing about this game. Other than that, I would rather forget about anything.
That Was Embarrassing
The effort has to be better. As soon as shots stopped falling, we stopped trying. That can’t happen. The defense had no life with Jusuf Nurkic looking lethargic (as did the whole team) and the sharp-shooting Clippers took advantage. The effort has to be there consistently for this team to succeed.
In the Suns blowout win, you saw great effort defensively, and while the defense wasn’t good, it was passable. That’s all I’m asking for and performances like this don’t encourage me in the slightest.
While we’re on the topic of crappiness, let’s talk about the shooting/sloppiness. Turnovers plagued us in the preseason, but through two games, they didn’t seem like a problem. But in this game, we were just careless. The Clippers were more aggressive, stealing the ball 21 times and forcing a whopping 30 Blazers turnovers. That’s inexcusable.
On top of that, we couldn’t make open shots. We had decent ball movement in the first half when the game was in striking distance and we just missed a lot of open looks.
When you have only two more field goals than turnovers (32-30), then you’re going to have problems and that’s what Portland had in this game. I wish Neil Everett’s voice at halftime lasted longer.
Dame?
As a Blazers fan, you’re used to seeing slow starts from Damian Lillard. That’s not what I’m worried about. I’m worried about the fact that this might be the start of the decline for Lillard.
Lillard has battled with abdominal injuries for a long time and, I’m no doctor, but I don’t think he’s right. He’s missing all of his 3-pointers badly, either short of air-balling them. He can’t get to the rim as well to start this season and we’re not seeing those same explosive plays as we did in years prior.
Dame is a deceptively strong player, but he just seems to be not at 100% right now, for whatever reason. He just looks gassed, as if this is Game 82 of the season when it’s just the 3rd game.
To make things worse, Dame’s slow start is compounded by the fact that he’s 31 years old. While he’s never missed time with injuries, playing that many minutes for nearly a decade takes a toll on somebody. Playing in the Olympics with an already shortened summer also couldn’t have helped things.
I still think Dame will turn things around, but normally when Dame starts a season off slow, you just kind of know he’s going to turn it around. But never before have I been able to think of so many reasons as to why he’s playing this poorly. Some people might say that it’s the new system, but Dame’s too good of a player to just not understand Chauncey’s system. I refuse to believe that is the reason he’s playing poorly.
Whatever it is, Dame needs to get right and fast, because this team is still very, very flawed.
I think this game showed us that no matter how Chauncey Billups is, it’s the same team. The same team that relies on their star players to perform, the same team that relies on other teams missing their open shots, and the same team that desperately needs to make 3-pointers to stay in games.
While firing coach Stotts might have gotten rid of his coaching style, this roster still isn’t perfect. I do think we can get better, but I do think this was a game where you just have to wonder, are things really that different?
LA Clippers
Whatever, you beat the Blazers. What’d you want, a cookie? The Clippers played well and I kind of expected this, given how they usually dominate us in the regular season, but the Clippers showed us that they can still compete in the Western Conference. They have an abundance of weapons, their defense looked good, and they are still pesky as ever.
Bench Production
With Kawhi Leonard out, I wondered who would step up off the bench for this team? With role players from last year getting more minutes, which new guys would have bigger roles? This game showed that the Clippers do have enough depth to deal with such problems.
Luke Kennard feasted off of poor rotations on the perimeter, making 6/7 3-pointers and finishing with a game-high 23 points. Tyronn Lue didn’t play Kennard enough as he should have last year, but you’re seeing why he deserves playing time.
Terance Mann gave you excellent production in 24 minutes off the bench. 13 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals. Again, all of that in just 24 minutes.
But the most surprising one of the night was Isaiah Hartenstein, who is the Clippers’ backup center? With Serge Ibaka being out, I guess that makes sense. I really couldn’t tell you much about him, but hey, he looked good, good for him.
Defense
You rarely see smothering defense in the NBA, but whatever the Clippers did to my Blazers last night was just that. When you force 30 turnovers and get 21 steals, you’re doing something right.
The Clippers’ combination of length and pressure bothered the Blazers, as it seemed every single telegraphed pass was going the other way. The Clippers’ defense, even without Kawhi, has looked really solid so far this season.
Through three games, the Clippers have the 8th best defense in the NBA with a 101.9 defensive rating. They are 2nd in the NBA in both forcing turnovers (20.7) and steals (12.3). They are also top 10 in opponent FG%.
So even without Kahwi Leonard, the Clippers are an elite defensive team.
While I didn’t think the Clippers would be anything special this season, this game proved that they can still be competitive. They’re going to be that pesky team that will fight for every inch and makes you work for wins. Their defense has been elite this season and the bench has looked better than I thought it’d be. While they are just 1-2, they are a scrappy team, one that you wouldn’t want to play in the playoffs.
What Are Your Thoughts From Last Night’s Games? Leave A Comment Down Below!
Follow My Instagram/Facebook To Never Miss A Post: @hoopnotions
