From a technical point of view alone, Irving has always been an underrated singles player, Irving's speed, the coordination of the ball, the sharp breakthrough, are all the top of the league, and the old Zhan in the Cavaliers to win the two years, is Irving's singles peak so far, the Finals 41 points is the best proof.
Irving's singles can't beat Harden? No, from the point of view of scoring efficiency, Irving in addition to the Nets this season, the number of shots in the previous seasons averaged about 18 times per game, scoring about 24 or so, in contrast, Harden in addition to last season, the number of shots in the first few seasons was about 19 times, scoring about 30, the scoring gap seems to be very large, but in fact, Ha debuted on the free throws hit about 9, and Irving hit 3 or 4, so the reason came out.
This explains why Irving is an underrated singles player. Aside from the free throws, in terms of efficiency, Irving is not behind Harden. So let's talk about free throws.
To talk about free throws, we must analyze the technical characteristics of the two men. Irving is a typical traditional player, more like Iverson, by turning around and shaking the defender's position, pulling out of space, either shooting or cutting into the basket with an aerial pull bar to dodge the basket defense to hit the ball in. Why say tradition, his singles characteristics are summed up in one sentence is always trying to avoid the interference of defenders and hit the ball, this feature is a too typical traditional feature. Specific to Owen, it is a swinging lever. Why this feature appears is the reason for the physical condition. Height and height, so that the shooting point is low, easy to be interfered with, whether under the basket or outside, small weight, insufficient physical confrontation, easy to be seriously affected by confrontation hit rate. This is not surprising. Irving is not because of physical conditions and singles can not work, on the contrary, Irving is not physical conditions to maximize their advantages, height, ball control ability top, physical coordination top, determine irving to take the traditional defender play can maximize their own advantages, dribbling change direction to turn around and shake people in the air trolley is all in the avoidance of interference, all of which will play Irving's advantages to the fullest. This also explains why Irving breaks through more and is less fouled. Some people think that there are more breakthroughs, and the number of fouls should theoretically be more, which makes sense, and it is applied to Harden.
Harden's technical characteristics are very distinct, withdrawing shots plus breaking through and creating fouls. Harden's withdrawal shot and breakthrough combine seamlessly, first of all, lower the center of gravity crotch dribbling, if the opponent's center of gravity is lowered or want to take the ball, Harden immediately retreats, pulls away a step away, the defender will immediately jump or take a step forward, no matter which way can not interfere with Harden who has jumped to the highest point. If the other party does not lower the center of gravity the first step is easy to pass, the latter I myself have tried and failed in the field, even if I am very slow. The contradiction of this breakthrough is that when the defender is still judging whether you are a left-handed or right-handed protrusion, you have already stepped out, and the position is leveled with the defender, and the defender's center of gravity has not been lowered, and the speed cannot keep up.
Harden's breakthrough is very sharp, and the most important thing is Harden's physical condition. Harden is heavy, his arm strength is top-notch, and it is easy for others to hit the arm foul if they can't cut it. You often see Harden call Capela's outside line to block, after passing the defender is not in a hurry to rush inward, but waiting for Capela to go down, Harden puts his defender behind the ass, and then forms a local two-on-one, and the opponent's inside line is easily teased. Meanwhile, Harden has a commonly used outside block to create fouls, quite clever!
Why smart? Harden took advantage of the conditioned reflexes of professional basketball players, and his first reaction was to violate the conditioned reflexes of ordinary players. After the demolition of the defensive player out of place, subconsciously stretch out their hands to block, if the average player or fan will choose a non-dribbler to block a pull to break through the past, the same, even if it is non-blocking, the defensive player in your breakthrough when you extend their arms to interfere, we will choose to use the non-dribbling or body to block not let him take the ball, and Harden in the opposite way, just show the ball out to let you cut, stop urgently, choose to shoot, the defensive player is difficult to pull the hand back in time, because this violates the common sense of playing, Violated the conditioned reflexes of offensive players. That's where Harden's cleverness lies.
The summary is that the economic base determines the superstructure, and the characteristics and methods of Irving and Harden's singles are determined by their own physical conditions. Harden is tall, has strong upper limbs, is not afraid of confrontation, and deliberately seeks confrontation to get free throws, while Irving chooses to avoid confrontation and use his flexibility to play. Irving is a typical play in the traditional small backcourt, and Harden's retreat, double retreat, and breaking the rules have changed people's perception of basketball, and the original basketball can still be played like this, leading the league to change the rules. Harden is the pioneer of basketball play, harden to the extreme of the retreat of this inexplicable way of playing, put forward stricter requirements for the defense of defenders. Harden represents a type of singles player, using his own unsolvable technology or characteristics of singles to tear up the opposite defense, or attract the bag clip, the representative has no difference in pulling jumper Durant, fast three-point Curry, etc., Harden is the only one in this type of player, because Harden's playing style is extremely controversial, but there is no doubt that he has opened up a new field of modern basketball for us. Another type of singles player, represented by Owen Paul and others, uses their strengths to avoid weaknesses, and it seems that there is no solution to any technology, and the technology is not high enough to be indiscriminate singles, but they use their advantages and surrounding environment (using tactics, teammates, etc.) to always put the ball into the basket.
Technically, Harden and Irving are two diametrically opposed players, but their playing style is the most suitable for themselves. Irving's singles are not less efficient than Harden's, but harden is stronger than Irving in terms of singles effects and impacts. Harden can always change his playing style, make himself stronger, from developing a step backwards to shooting, to retreating three-pointers, double retreats, making fouls, small throws, and a surge in organizational ability, and his choice is undoubtedly the most suitable for himself from his current performance.