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Through four games, the Nets stand at 2-2. Nothing to sound the alarm about, however in need of the dominance many anticipated. Maybe the most important shock of this begin is the workforce’s lackluster scoring, with a bottom-third offensive effectivity and solely a 95-point outing in opposition to the Charlotte Hornets.
Clearly, the absence of Kyrie Irving is a significant component, however Brooklyn ought to be tremendous with solely two of their stars. Drawback is, they’re solely getting sturdy scoring manufacturing out of certainly one of them.
James Harden assured Nets followers he was 100% coming into coaching camp and appeared in three of their 4 preseason video games, however nonetheless seems to be getting in control. He’s averaging simply 17.3 factors per recreation on tough effectivity numbers, and Brooklyn’s scoring 5.5 extra factors per 100 possessions with him on the pine.
What’s behind this sluggish begin, and is it any trigger for concern?
Many are citing the NBA’s officiating modifications, specifically the brand new emphasis on not calling among the unnatural basketball performs that despatched Harden to the road numerous instances in his profession. Head coach Steve Nash stated “he’s unfairly become the poster boy of not calling these fouls.”
It’s true Harden isn’t getting his straightforward factors on the line as a lot as he used to. He’s tried 12 free throws in 4 video games after almost averaging that quantity an evening in 2020.
Nonetheless, his free throw charge was already on the decline earlier than these rule modifications. He solely averaged 7.3 makes an attempt per recreation as a Internet final season, 4 above his present common, whereas his scoring has dropped by about seven factors.
On prime of this, most of his normal technique of foul-drawing are nonetheless completely in impact. When Harden has complained a couple of no-call so far, it was normally on a typical try and never him throwing his physique sideways or backwards in an unorthodox means right into a defender. It’s potential the slower-stepped, much less explosive Harden finds it tougher to promote these calls.
BasketballNews.com’s Nekias Duncan dove into some alternate causes behind the drop in free throw makes an attempt, comparable to Harden’s age, penchant for taking extra floaters versus at-the-rim takes, and fewer spacing round him. At greatest, the free throw capturing is half the story, and the rule modifications are half the story behind his drop in makes an attempt.
Look past the charity stripe and Harden hasn’t discovered his shot from wherever. He’s placing up 32.3 % from deep and 40 % from two-point vary, each career-lows.
It’s exhausting to determine why precisely Harden is struggling from the sector.
He actually doesn’t have all his explosion again, each vertically and horizontally. He’s been in a position to blow by guys, however his floater and layups taken from the dotted line aren’t as environment friendly as his at-rim bulldozing makes an attempt. As talked about, he’s favoring the previous.
From deep, he had a pair sturdy outings earlier than these final two video games. This included well-contested appears off his dribble separation, and different such deep-in-his-bag tries. The latter video games truly noticed him lacking many simpler catch-and-shoot or semi-contested pictures.
This ought to be a cut-and-dry wait-and-see scenario. Harden is simply too gifted to wrestle for lengthy, and remains to be contributing together with his elite playmaking potential.
Brooklyn followers ought to anticipate a bump in his free throw capturing ought to he look to prioritize at-the-rim makes an attempt, and his jumper and athleticism ought to work themselves out over time. If we’re nonetheless speaking about this 20 video games in, there’s actually one thing to fret about.
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