Last season, the Nets paid a lot of asset transactions to get Harden, formed a big three with Durant and Irving, and became a strong contender for the championship. Despite the impact of injuries, the Nets played the most efficient offense in NBA history, and they were unfortunately out after seven bloody games with the championship Bucks.
Before the new season, the Nets are regarded as the hottest candidate for the championship, and even if Irving's moth is out, it is still considered to be competitive enough to impact the championship. However, after losing 93-106 to the Heat, the Nets' record reached 2-3, and the offense ranked only third from the bottom of the league.
In addition to Irving's absence, the biggest reason for the Nets' new season is Harden's downturn. The former regular-season MVP averaged just 16.6 points and eight assists in his first five games, shooting as low as 49.1 percent from the field and averaging the league's most turnovers at 4.6 turnovers per game.
People can't help but wonder, what happened to Harden? What caused his downturn? Let's explore.
1. Rule change
The rule change is the obvious reason for Harden's poor performance, as an expert in the league's foul-making free throws, scoring at the free throw line accounts for a large proportion of Harden's scores, and it is also his usual way of playing style and adjusting rhythm. In the 2019-2020 season, Harden averaged 11.8 free throws per game.
However, in the offseason, the NBA issued new rules to restrict abnormal foul making. Harden found that he had lost his habit of whistle, which directly caused Harden's number of balls per game to plummet to an average of three times per game, and his offensive efficiency plummeted.
In fact, this is a very normal thing, a player has been playing in a habitual way for a long time, and the actions and ideas on the field will be solidified to serve the habit. Habits are deeply ingrained and take time to change.
When Harden plays in the habitual way but does not get the result of the habit, he will be angry and confused and argue with the referee. The new rules not only lower Harden's score, but more importantly affect his game rhythm and mentality.
The new rules affect not only Harden, Trae Young's average penalty per game has dropped from 8.7 to 4.4 and Doncic's 7.1 to 4.2. At the same time, the number of free throws on the entire NBA team is decreasing, and the number of points is decreasing.
2. Injury and illness effects
Despite the rule changes, Harden is one of the greatest scorers in NBA history, and Harden doesn't just have a free throw as a means of scoring. His perfect combination of skill and body breakthroughs, no dead angle shooting ability, difficult to prevent backward shooting and creative assists are all big killers on the offensive end.
The main reason why Harden is not as good as before is because of injuries, he is not as healthy as before.
"I'd love to get back to 30 or 40 points per game, but I can't, even if I want to. Last year's injury was really tiring, and I'm still slowly recovering and have to keep up with the injury. Harden said in a recent interview.
Since the rise of the Rockets, Harden has been one of the most durable Iron Men. However, last season suffered a hamstring injury, and despite the return of the playoffs, the impact of the injury declined significantly. Harden has been recovering all summer, unable to go to the court to stay in shape, and can only do strength training on the injured leg in the gym.
That's why Harden seems to lack explosiveness in the game, and the pace is slow. Injuries are the main reason for Harden's slump, and the new rules only make it harder for Harden to recover well.
Regardless, Harden is a great player, no rules can kill his excellence, and a short-term downturn doesn't get in the way of his greatness. Great players always adapt to the rules by adjusting the way they play, and smart beards are no exception.
More importantly, as the season progresses, Harden slowly recovers his health and finds the state of the game, and Harden will still be the superstar we are familiar with. At that time, whether Irving is there or not, the Nets will be a strong force to be reckoned with in the East.
Note: This article was written on the evening of October 29, 2021, and Harden scored a game-high 29 points against the Pacers before the press release.
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