If you’re a fan of the NBA, you understand that James Harden undoubtedly has the best beard in sports history. You probably also know that Harden was voted the Most Valuable Player in 2018. What you may not have been aware of is that his beard has its own line of candy and that he’s suffered from asthma for most of his life.
So what else is there to know about The Beard?
The dude had an incredible stretch of 30-point games that lasted from Dec 13 until Feb 21 (32 games). He also averaged over 41 points during this time. How did he do it? Well, he leads the league in willingness to pull 3s and the craftiness for drawing fouls (3PAs and FTAs respectively).
Harden told the media that this scoring streak wasn’t something he focused on, but rather “Something I had to do to give us a chance.”
This begs the question: What is needed to give his team a chance in the NBA playoffs? They definitely don’t have an easy path to the finals, drawing the 5 seeded Utah Jazz in the first round, while presumably facing the defending champs in the second round.
The best way to understand what is needed from Harden, is to look at success the Rockets had in the regular season against the other teams that were good enough to make the playoffs. Over these 42 games, the Rockets only won 24. That’s a significantly lower percentage than their overall record. But when they were successful, what things did Harden do right?
Let’s take a look at his three point attempts against other playoff teams.
It’s interesting that the win percentage actually drops off when Harden shoots a larger amount of 3s (16+).
What’s even more interesting is the trend in free throw attempts (FTAs).
The Rockets are way more successful, even against the best teams in the league, when Harden is getting to the charity stripe.
So what does all of this mean?
For James Harden to be the most useful to his team, he doesn’t need to shoot a ridiculous amount of 3s, he needs to shoot a ridiculous amount of free throws. For any normal basketball player, aiming to shoot 15+ free throws in a game would be unheard of. But for James Harden, that’s only 4 above his season average. He hit this number (or more) in 23 of his 78 games.
This is great news to Rockets fans (and anyone who hates the Warriors) because Harden won’t always have a great 3 point night. But he’s consistently demonstrated the ability to get to the line at will.
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Update: In game 3 vs. the Jazz, Harden shot 3-20 from the field (2-13 from three), but managed 16 free throw attempts. The Rockets won the game.