re: James Harden has done it. 50 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists

quote:

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Maybe Harden gets to the line so much because players can't defend him effectively.

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This is correct. Here are still images of every foul called that sent Harden to the line. If you notice, nearly every single foul is because he has beat his man an the players who were beat reach in in desperation to stop an easy lay-up. None of them are in good defending position:

Foul #1, 7:01 1st Q. Obvious reach-in:




Foul #2, 4:01 1st Q. Nobody in front. Players hacking:




Foul #3, 3:00 1st Q. Hard to see from the bad quality of this pic, but nobody is in front, and players are just reaching in and hacking him:




Foul #4, 6:18 2nd Q. Weird random reach-in by Ty Lawson:




Foul #5, 2:53 2nd Q. Harden beats his man, and his man reaches in from behind and hacks him in desperation.




Foul #6, 0:41 2nd Q. Harden gets wrapped up to stop his fast break.




Foul #7, 6:33 3rd Q. Harden's man can't stay in front, and hacks him once again:




Foul #8, 5:41 3rd Q. Neither man is in front, and they use their arms to defend and hack him:




Foul #9, 1:01 3rd Q. Blocking foul on Jameer Nelson on a fast break. You can see by their legs that Jameer is not in front.




Foul #10, 0:04 3rd Q. Nobody can stay in front of him, and all they can do is grab an arm:




Foul #11, 4:55 4th Q. This one was questionable. Faried does get him with his body, but the contact was slight.




Foul# 12, 2:55 4th Q. Again, nobody can stay in front, and they resort to hacking.




Foul #13, 1:02 4th Q. Harden's man can't stay in front and a blocking foul is called.