“Seen James Harden take that stepback left? No!”: Pat Connaughton reveals to Duncan Robinson how the Bucks swingman approaches elite guards as a defender

Pat Connaughton was lately on a podcast interview with Duncan Robinson. He believes that permitting James Harden to go left is a sound technique.

James Harden might be the world’s single greatest offensive weapon in basketball proper now. There isn’t a single offensive state of affairs the place Harden isn’t completely downright deadly for opposition defenses.

It is a man who can rating 60 in your group, however James Harden can also be the identical man who can drop 20 dimes in the identical recreation. He very practically did that in his barely plausible 53/16/17 recreation just a few years in the past.

Guarding James Harden and making him go left feels like a job that’s positively simpler stated than carried out. However Pat Connaughton believes that he has the personnel who enable him the posh of doing this.

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Pat Connaughton expresses excessive confidence whereas explaining how he blocks James Harden and co

Pat Connaughton and Duncan Robinson have been bosom mates for a very long time, all through their basketball journey. The chemistry they share grew to become instantly obvious the second Connaughton received speaking on this podcast look.

Among the best components of this episode of the Lengthy Shot was when Pat Connaughton broke down his method to protection. For the 2021 NBA champion, most of his job is about understanding his personnel, as he defined in the video:

“I feel that for me, I’m attempting to influence profitable. And it occurs to be seen extra on Duncan (Robinson) than some others as a result of now we have the identical AAU coach who loves posting stuff about us.”

“The humorous half about it’s that I do it to numerous guys. Lots of guys I learnt guarding CJ and Dame in follow the primary 2 years. Like, you’ve gotta discover methods to recover from a display screen.”

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“I simply attempt to discover methods to be efficient, whoever I’m guarding, whether or not (it’s) James Harden (who’s) a lefty. Properly, he likes to take that stepback proper.”

“Guess what, have you ever seen him take the stepback left? Not likely, when he goes left, it’s all the best way to the basket. So for us, I do know I received two timber again there in Giannis and Brook. I’m not gonna be forcing him proper, I’m forcing him left, which appears counterintuitive as a result of he’s lefty. However he loves that stepback proper. So simply understanding your personnel has all the time been part of my MO as a defender.”