James Harden Now Complaining About Touch Fouls On Defense Is Very Funny

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Last night we were treated to Suns/Nets in what some might consider an NBA Finals Preview. Kyrie and Harden were back so it was a nice test for a Suns team that was looking to push their current win streak to 11. As you can imagine, they succeeded

Devin Booker was awesome to the tune of 35 points on 13-23 shooting

Chris Paul did more of his usual Point Gawd shit with 20/2/14 and just 2 TOs. Mikal Bridges chipped in with 27 of his own on 10-14 shooting, you get the idea. The Suns basically did whatever they wanted offensively. As awesome as all that stuff was, for my money it was not the best part of this game. That came afterwords with this James Harden quote

I'm sorry, but that is just too perfect. I say this as a well known James Harden guy that dates back to our ASU days together. I've never had a problem with how he plays. If you don't like it, figure out how to stop it. Baiting fouls is part of the game and few players on the planet do that better than James Harden. 

But I mean come on man. Of all people to make a comment like that, hearing it from JAMES HARDEN is very funny. You know, the guy who had defenders using this approach

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because you literally could not breathe on Harden without committing a foul. The lack of self awareness is so crazy I think I have no other choice but to respect it. Welcome to what 99% of NBA players have had to deal with while guarding you James. Not so much fun now that the shoe is on the other foot huh? The other funny part about this is you could make the case that officials have been letting players be MORE physical defensively this year. They aren't giving the bailout fouls like we saw just last year. Obviously that has made an impact on Harden as well as other foul baiting players. 

In this game, there was a 27-19 foul difference and a 31-21 FTA disparity. You know what people would say when a Harden team had that? Defend better without fouling. The Nets gave up 121 points on 55% shooting. In no quarter did they hold the Suns to under 26 points. In the first quarter when the Suns went up 39-29, the Nets had doubled up in FTA 10-5. So maybe the reason they lost has little to do with these touch fouls and more to do with the fact that the Nets defense has been complete dogshit since KD got hurt.

Which brings me to my overall point with the Nets. They are in an interesting spot with KD being out and Kyrie being a part time player. They currently sit in the 6th spot in the East and have lost 5 in a row. Essentially, once KD went out this team has fallen apart. Since Durant's last game on 1/15, the Nets are 3-6 with the 26th ranked defense in the NBA. They are giving up 115 points a night, which is good for 25th. Maybe the issue is they just stink defensively right now and not that they are victims of some bullshit officiating.

The question is, what should the Nets do? Should they just sit everyone and get as healthy as possible heading into the All Star Break because that's all that really matters come the playoffs? Should they play for a non top 4 seed so Kyrie can play in more postseason games? Is it possible this team actually drops into the play in? 

It's not as if their schedule gets any easier, they've already benefitted from having the 21st easiest schedule in the league to this point. A quick look at their next 6 weeks is littered with quality opponents 

You would think they are in no way going to rush KD back given his history and how important he is to their success, but I guess it will all depend on how drastic things get.

But what I do know is nobody is feeling sorry for James Harden or the Nets that they might not get the benefit of the whistle on any given night. It's how the rest of the league has lived trying to defend James Harden for years. I didn't hear these same complaints from Harden when he was being awarded the fouls, so that line is pretty lame in my opinion. Funny, but lame.