During their 105-92 victory over the Clippers, Harden crossed up Wesley Johnson just inside the three point line. Johnson stumbled to the floor on the play, and Harden stepped back behind the line, admiring his work for several seconds, before hitting an almost uncontested three.
Here’s the play below:
After the game, Harden told ESPN:
“It felt good, man. It’s been in my bag all year. It’s one of those moves where I had to make him dance a little bit, and made the shot.”
“The Beard” is damn lucky he made the shot, or the gifs would have been a little longer on Twitter this morning.
Taunting in the NFL gets you a 15-yard penalty. In the NBA, it’s nightly behavior. The three-time All-NBA First Team selection (2014, 2015, and 2017) should be conducting himself better than a streetballer, especially since he’s the frontrunner to win the MVP this season.
I’ve called Curry a glorified streetballer in the past, for the way he heaves up shots, with most of his misses being cinder block bricks. Curry is a crybaby on the court, while his wife is one off it. Harden’s reputation is that of being a turnover machine, having set the NBA record for them each of the past two seasons.
Johnson could be caught briefly smiling while getting up, as if admitting he will be ridiculed on highlight lists the rest of the season. Not only should Harden have been “teed up” for taunting, but another Rocket player proceeded to high step to the scorer’s table parallel to Johnson as the Rockets transitions into the backcourt.
As is the case with most crossover ankle-breaks, Harden seemed to extend his off hand, giving just the little extra leverage he needed to get Johnson off balance. Kyrie Irving did it to Curry in the closing moments of the Cleveland Cavaliers Game Seven win in the 2016 Finals, a series where the Warriors blew a 3-1 lead, in case you ever forgot that I’m from Cleveland.
Pundits and fans are telling Johnson he needs to retire immediately. No, Harden needs to grow up. If Harden would have taken a moment to line up his shooting motion, I could respect this a bit more as a great basketball play. Instead, he took one hand off the ball completely when staring down Johnson.
The NBA has had this problem for years, where showboating is met with little retaliation, and even less discipline. NBA players have more freedom than any in the Big Four sports leagues to clown around like this. In the NFL you get hammered on the next play. In baseball, either you, or the guy hitting right behind you gets a fastball between the shoulderblades the next time up to the plate. In the NHL...see football, only it’s on the way back to your bench, or it’s your team’s star player on their next shift.
This is what makes the NBA unwatchable for most of the public. It marred all the other storylines in the game--Houston extending their winning streak to 14 games, the second time this year they’ve done so; and the Rockets extracting a measure of revenge for their loss at Staples Center last month, which was marred with several ejections in the closing minutes, and several Rocket players looking to confront the Clippers in the locker room.
You can bet I can’t wait to see Houston and Golden State in the West Finals if this is what’s in store. When the channel changes, the NBA will know it’s me doing it.
-JC24