Milwaukee Bucks: The formula for defending James Harden

Countering Harden’s tendencies

There are multiple components to Bledsoe’s unorthodox defensive approach.

First, he stood completely parallel to Harden’s left hip, barely even in a defensive stance, daring him to drive into the lane with the confidence that Brook Lopez would be waiting at the basket to contest the drive.

This does a couple of things. It encourages Harden to leave the three-point line, where he’s at his most lethal. Additionally, if Harden does opt to side-step to the right and shoot a three, Bledsoe is in a better position to contest the shot than he would be by defending him straight up since Harden shoots with his left (which would then be on the defender’s nearside).

The second component to this approach is the positioning of the on-ball defender’s arms. Bledsoe stood with his arms straight out at his sides, preventing Harden from being able to hook him and draw reach-in fouls.

This takes away a very dangerous part of James Harden’s game. He is perhaps the best in the league at baiting opponents into fouling him.

By taking away both his ability to draw fouls and making him uncomfortable behind the arc, Harden was forced to drive with his non-dominant hand into the paint and attempt to make plays for his teammates on kick-outs, or finish over a much larger defender at the rim.

When Harden opted to drive and finish at the rim, Bledsoe had the quickness to stay close enough to contest his shots from behind.

Here’s a couple of examples of Bledsoe chasing down and blocking Harden’s attempts at the rim:

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