There was nothing special about the Denver Nuggets in an attacking sense on Wednesday nights clash with the Houston Rockets. But, Nikola Jokic admitted that the team were largely focused on their defensive game plan, and much of that depended on them stopping James Harden.
They did precisely that in their 105-95 success on Wednesday night in the NBA. The tactic may not have been the prettiest, but it was certainly effective.
Defensive Game Plan Pays Off
The Denver game plan was centred around Harden, and in particular, smothering him every time he got in the game. It was the best way to beat the Rockets, who went into the game on the back of an eight-match winning run.
Harden himself is no stranger to the attention by the defenders, but this particular game plan from the Nuggets completely stifled one of the best players in the NBA. That is no easy feat, since Harden has been the target of multiple defensive strategies over the past couple of seasons, and none of these have stopped him.
Speaking after the game, Denver coach Michael Malone said: “You have to have rules against James Harden. You can’t play him with your standard defence. Great player defence is required for great players.
“He is a master at drawing the foul, Malone said. “They changed NBA rules because of James Harden. He is one of those guys that when you’re watching film, it’s like watching a horror movie. He is that talented.”
Denver did try everything in order to contain Harden, that even included placing the 7ft Jokic on the Rockets man. It was mainly the variations of tactics that did the trick in the end, and that worked down Harden to ensure he looked completely off the pace.
Harden Struggles To Maintain Form
Harden did end the match with 27 points, which for normal NBA players would be a good return. However, the Rockets man failed to maintain his hot-streak of scoring at least 36 points in his last eight outings. Furthermore, he scored 8 from 16 on the floor.
That ensured that the Rockets failed to score at least 100 points for the first time this season. Before the game against the Nuggets, they were averaging the leagues best 119.5 per game.
“We were locked in,” said Jokic, whose team is 7-0 this season when keeping an opponent below 100 points.
Still, Jokic found it funny that his team were being ridiculed for their methods.
“That is crazy when a guy scores 27, and it’s bad,” Jokic said. “We know he is going to score. He is going to be aggressive. Just make it harder and try to be there. Just to give them different looks.”
Harden, however, was less than happy with the methods used, and he still believed that the Rockets should have done better. After the game, he said: “They just double-teamed every possession. They got lucky. They got away with one. We didn’t execute how we needed to.”
