The Milwaukee Bucks will face one of the hottest teams right now when they visit the Houston Rockets tonight. They will be up against James Harden, the reigning NBA MVP and league's leading scorer.
Harden has been one of the most difficult players to guard, as he's known to be good at drawing fouls against whoever is defending him. He's currently averaging 11 free throw attempts per game, shooting 85% from the foul line.
Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer was asked by Mike Velasquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel if he has any strategy on how to defend Harden, and he has quite a sweet response.
“It just starts with a great discipline,” Budenholzer said after shootaround at the Toyota Center before the Bucks' game Wednesday night against Harden and the Houston Rockets. “You have to stay disciplined from the start of the game to the end of the game, from the start of the possession to the end of the possession. It’s an incredible discipline.
“It’s like whatever your favorite dessert is, you’ve just got to stay away from it; you can’t have it. I think, also, just the technique of showing your hands, constantly letting the referees and everybody know that you’re not reaching, you’re not grabbing, you’re not holding. … Much harder to do than to just talk about it.”
It is clear that the Bucks will try to avoid fouling Harden as much as possible, something that is going to be very difficult to do.
Even if they do prevent themselves from committing fouls against the All-Star guard, they will still have to find a way to contain his scoring. Harden is currently averaging close to 34 points a game.
Bucks players admitted that it will be close to impossible to stop Harden, but they have to do whatever they can to make him work for his shots.
Bucks guard Malcolm Brogdon added: “You’ve got to understand he’s going to make tough shots and you’ve got to live with some of those shots. …
“You got to trust the help will be there (when Harden drives). You got to trust that Giannis (Antetokounmpo) and Brook (Lopez) and our bigs will be ready to contest shots in the midrange. We just want to make him uncomfortable all night and try to be physical with him without fouling.”
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