The CSL

The tweet tells you all you need to know. Harden is coming back after missing 20 of the first 25 games of the season due to a broken wrist suffered in the first quarter of the 5th game of the season against the Blazers, and he is not lacking in confidence. Harden claims that he is 100% and that he is fresher than most of his opponents, who are in the midst of a stretch in late December where fatigue starts to settle in. "My wrist didn't stop me from running, so I'm in shape and fully ready for anything this has to throw at me," said Harden to newly appointed Rockets beat writer Hugh Stone.

Unfortunately for the Rockets, the team is not exactly the same as the one that Harden played with six weeks ago. It's been eight games since second-leading scorer Thaddeus Young went down with a torn MCL late in a game against Phoenix. Young, expected to miss the season, had been averaging 19.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 2.4 steals on over 50% shooting in 17 games prior to the injury, in addition to his All-CSL caliber defense. Kenneth Faried his been huge in his absence, pushing his scoring average to 18.4ppg.

Harden knows that his teammates Faried, Iguodala, Marble, and Aminu are not ideal go-to options without him and Young out there, but applauded them for leading the Rockets to an 18-7 start with the best points per game average in the CSL. "These guys are resilient. They fought through everything to keep a top 2 seed in this conference. Now we've got 57 more regular season games to play, and 16 playoff games to win."

The depth of this Rockets roster kept them afloat during Harden's absence. After Harden, 8 other players are averaging double figures in games they played- an unreal statistic. Young (19.8ppg), Faried (18.4), Iggy (16.6), Marble (13.4), Aminu (12.8), Hawes (11.9), Collison (10.6), and Gortat (10.3) have all made the most of their opportunities on the court. Spencer Hawes in particular has been a real surprise. Hawes is playing 19 minutes per game and averaging a ridiculous 22/10 per 36 minutes after starting the regular season racking up DNPs.

As always, Harden believes he's the best player in the CSL, but he acknowledges that the ultimate goal is a championship, and that his teammates have to keep up their level of play in order to get there. "Facilitating has never been more important for us. We have Iggy and Darren, but I have to facilitate better- more assists, less turnovers is how I have to start approaching games, and hopefully we can keep having games where 7, 8 guys score double digits, even when I'm scoring well. If we can do that, we can beat anyone."

Good to see Harden back. Houston should fight for the top seed this season but injury to Young is huge come playoff time

This team needs defense now that Thad is gone. Allowing 107 a game during regular season is a receipt for losing when it matters most. Yes they can score but can they consistently do it against top CSL defenses?

Other than that, Harden back makes them very dangerous again.
If Biz finds a way to improve the D, this will be a very hard team to stop.

Marcos_Beck wrote:This team needs defense now that Thad is gone. Allowing 107 a game during regular season is a receipt for losing when it matters most. Yes they can score but can they consistently do it against top CSL defenses?

Other than that, Harden back makes them very dangerous again.
If Biz finds a way to improve the D, this will be a very hard team to stop.

Well, we're averaging over 114 ppg and have only missed out on 100 points once this season (the Boston game two sims ago) and 80% of those games have been without Harden. I'm still working out the defense, but I'm not concerned about scoring in the playoffs.

You'll probably score a lot but will concede even more come playoff time against top notch defenses and offenses.

So far every team who won had an at least decent defensive system.. Indiana was built around George, shooting and defense. Denver had good defenders everywhere (Beverly, JJ, Batum, Blake, McGee) and NOP had the best frontcourt defense to ever step into a CSL game (Okaro, Davis, Jordan) and McRae to defend the perimeter.

Again, no denying that your team can score. But when it's playoff basketball, you need to be able to stop teams who matches up well against your offense. Otherwise, your team will stop scoring and the other will just outscore you even by a bit.

Gonna be interesting to see how they surge when he returns.

They're playing at a high level now and imagine them being better with him back.

Marcos_Beck wrote:You'll probably score a lot but will concede even more come playoff time against top notch defenses and offenses.

So far every team who won had an at least decent defensive system.. Indiana was built around George, shooting and defense. Denver had good defenders everywhere (Beverly, JJ, Batum, Blake, McGee) and NOP had the best frontcourt defense to ever step into a CSL game (Okaro, Davis, Jordan) and McRae to defend the perimeter.

Again, no denying that your team can score. But when it's playoff basketball, you need to be able to stop teams who matches up well against your offense. Otherwise, your team will stop scoring and the other will just outscore you even by a bit.

Yeah this is where Young's absence hurts the most. I will be working on getting a bit more defense and making better use of what I currently have.

I missed this article, I really like what you did missing your best player (I'm dealing with that as well) but now that Harden is back the Rockets are that much more dangerous.