Paul George Couldn’t Believe James Harden Was Being Guarded By His Side 4 Years Ago

James Harden developed into a superstar during his stint with the Houston Rockets. Mastering the art of knocking down a step-back three-pointer, Harden instantly became one of the deadliest offensive maestros in the league. There was a point during The Beard’s career when recording 30-point triple-doubles became a common occurrence. From 2015 to 2020, Harden was scoring the ball like no one other. Averaging 31.7 points during that five-year span, the Southpaw was subjected to each and every type of defense. In fact, the Shooting Guard’s dominance even got teams to use some of the most unique defensive techniques fans have ever seen – guarding him by his side and even from the back. Years later, Paul George believed that the unconventional style of defense was the “dumbest sh*t” he had ever seen.

Back in 2022, when James Harden was still playing for the Brooklyn Nets, the 6-ft-5″ superstar criticized the NBA’s officiating. A frustrated Harden claimed that a defender couldn’t even play defense without it being called a foul now. The statement is hard to deny. The NBA has become “softer” than ever before, safeguarding the offense. Admittedly, however, it is a bit ironic that James Harden was the one who made this complaint.

As ironic as it seems, Harden was able to average 30+ points per game because of this very officiating. For the longest time, before the NBA had to tweak some of its rules, a part of James’ offensive efficiency was heavily dependent on his trips to the charity stripe. A player who averaged 10+ free throw attempts per game, for eight years, should perhaps be penalized for making such statements.

Paul George couldn’t fathom the type of defense teams were using in order to stop James Harden

James Harden has been subjected to virtually all types of defense the NBA has to offer. Whether it is the double team, triple team, quadruple team, or even box and one, teams tried any and all defense that prevented the 2012 Sixth Man of the Year from going on a scoring rampage. Still, even by those standards, things went out of hand when Ricky Rubio of the Utah Jazz was seen guarding Harden by his side, and even behind his back. Take a look at the YouTube clip posted by House of Highlights.

On the recent episode of Podcast P, the panel had a brief discussion about the defense coaches were deploying in order to contain the 2018 Most Valuable Player. When KJ Martin brought up this incident, Paul George couldn’t help but scoff at the Jazz for doing so.

KJ: “You couldn’t even guard James back then. People are guarding him to the side, guarding him behind him.”

PG: “That was the dumbest sh*t I saw when Utah did that. You gon’ let him shoot? Don’t make sense to me.”

As expected, the Utah Jazz failed to prevent Harden from defeating them using their peculiar defense. The three-time scoring champ would go on to record 27.8 points per game, leading the Rockets to a 4-1 series victory.

The Milwaukee Bucks also tried a similar style of defense in the 2018-2019 regular season. To their credit, it worked flawlessly, with the team clinching a 108-94 win. While Harden did score 23 points, he struggled shooting the ball – 34.6% from the field and 11.1% from beyond the three-point arc.

Harden could possibly team up with PG as part of the Los Angeles Clippers

James Harden is one of the stars to look out for this offseason. As predicted by many pundits, the 10-time All-Star could be on the move, parting ways with the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Los Angeles Clippers are one of the teams that have been rumored to be the frontrunners to acquire the 33-year-old combo guard. If the rumors were to be true, the Clippers would instantly become one of the most star-studded lineups ever, with Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden leading the pack.