LeBron James: Have the referees turned a blind eye to foul calls?
By Ronald Agers
James Harden does not have this problem of drawing fouls. But is he the problem?
In this era of “free movement”, nobody has taken advantage of the rules more than James Harden. It’s almost like he took the NBA rule book home and broke down every single rule he could manipulate and use it against the other 29 teams in the NBA.
To be totally honest, it really is amazing what he does every single night. Just last week, the Denver Nuggets held (The word “held” is being used here!) Harden to 27 points, which is considered an off night. His 3 point shooting is awful compared to his recent seasons but man is he making it up at the free throw line.
James Harden leads the NBA with an absurd 14.4 attempts per game. That’s almost THREE TIMES the amount of LeBron James while taking just as many 3-point shots as free throws.
The Lakers (And possibly the NBA for that matter!) want to know why. Here’s an example.
Unlike LeBron James, he’s trying to bait the referees into making the call. Right here, you see Harden locking up Kawhi Leonard‘s arm while starting to flail getting the referee’s attention. Since the speed of the game is so fast along with the amount of bodies in the paint, Harden can pull the bait and switch to perfection and get away with it.
The limelight of all of this started last year with the Lakers. That was when James Harden made some big-time history. He became the only player to ring up a 50-point triple-double four times in NBA history. In 35 minutes, he destroyed the Lakers defense dropping 50 points, dishing out 11 assists and grabbing 10 rebounds on national TV.
Furthermore, he went to the free-throw line and put on a clinic hitting 18-of-19.
The next game, Harden had the Lakers so frustrated that LeBron James placed his hands behind his back in protest. By the way, they lost that game too.
James Harden was considered by many to be the NBA MVP and not Giannis Antetokounmpo. Something that Harden had no problems pointing out considering he scored 36 points a game last year and carried his team through Chris Paul‘s injuries.
What’s even scarier is he’s averaging more points this season. Some believe he can average 40 this season.
Maybe LeBron James can get some advice who made this phrase trendy these days.