The Detroit Pistons have forced a Game 7 in their Eastern semifinals series against the Cleveland Cavaliers following their 115-94 win on the road tonight.
Before the Game 6 win, J.B. Bickerstaff spoke to the media and addressed James Harden’s heroics from Game 5 that essentially put their backs against the wall. He recalled a story of when he coached Harden during their time together with the Houston Rockets from 2012 to 2016 to highlight the 36-year-old veteran’s unique ability to manipulate the rules of the game and actively foul-bait.
“He’s got an unbelievable ability to manipulate what the rules are. We were together for four years in Houston, and you could watch him. He and I played one-on-one, and he would foul-bait me, and I’m serious.”
“He would only get to play offense, and I played defense, and he would practice those things and work on them even when he was playing one-on-one with me,” Bickerstaff added while signaling Harden’s hand hooking move to draw fouls.
“So he has a great understanding of the rules and how to manipulate them in his favor,” Bickerstaff concluded.
And including tonight, Harden’s struggles against the Pistons have been masked by his ability to draw fouls and get to the free-throw line. Other than Game 3, where he only went to the free-throw line once, Harden’s points have significantly come from drawing fouls.
Here is a list of Harden’s scoring to free-throw percentage for the Pistons series alone.
1. Game 1: 9-9 from the free-throw line (out of his 22 points, 41% of his scoring).
2. Game 2: 4-4 FT (out of 10 points, 40% of scoring).
3. Game 3: 0-1 FT (out of 19 points, 0% of scoring)
4. Game 4: 9-9 FT (out of his 24 points, 37.5% of scoring)
5. Game 5: 11-14 FT (out of 30 points, 36.66% of scoring)
6. Game 6: 8-10 FT (out of 23 points, 34.78% of scoring)
This shows that, on average, approximately 32% of Harden’s scoring per game (41 points from the free-throw line out of 128 points scored) came from the free-throw line.
While some might suggest it is a sign of how good his ability is to generate points at will by drawing defensive attention, others may argue that it has a detrimental impact on the quality of the product that the game becomes for the crowd that shows up to support their teams.
Harden could not replicate his Game 5 heroics in Game 6, despite his 23 points, seven rebounds, and four assists in the game (46.2 FG%); the Cavaliers came up short and are now forced to go on the road to try to steal the series in Detroit.
Considering that Harden is no longer the primary scoring option on any team he has been on since he left the Rockets, it is debatable whether he still actively draws as many fouls as he used to. But if he has even involved his former head coach in the process of training and practicing to draw fouls, if we really consider it an ‘art’ today, then Harden has certainly become a master of that art.
