The Golden State Warriors found a way to limit James Harden to a mere one free-throw attempt, which he missed — the lowest output of the season. Yet Draymond Green argued no player can cover the Houston Rockets star one-on-one.
“You have to,” Green said after a 116-102 win on Christmas Day, according to ESPN's Nick Friedell. “When a guy's averaging 40, you can't keep doing the same thing — you're going to get the same results. So I don't think there's anyone in the league that can cover him one-on-one. You can try to make it tough on him, but he's won MVP and became who he's become hitting tough shots. He's made a living now off of the step-back. That used to be one of the toughest shots in the game of basketball. He's now made it a patented shot.”
Harden had a bizarre night to say the least, as he'd never played as many as 38 minutes without making a single free throw in his entire NBA and NCAA career.
James Harden played 38 minutes in yesterday's loss to the Warriors, and didn't make a single free throw.
It was the most minutes he's played without a made free throw in any game at the NCAA or NBA level. pic.twitter.com/WNMJqVhDoM
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) December 26, 2019
Harden was effective with his 24 points and 11 assists, but nowhere near the dominating force of nature he's been for the Rockets this season, having one of his best weapons taken away from him.
The Beard is a safe bet to sleepwalk his way to 10 free throws every night and was averaging a whopping 12.8 per game before facing the Warriors on Wednesday.
Golden State, who has bounced Houston out of playoff contention in four out of the last five seasons, used the benefit of experience to device a defense that would take the ball away from his hands and prevent isolations, forcing him to be a play-finisher and a facilitator — something the Warriors lived with and used to pull off a stunner on Christmas Day.
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