Coaches' Playbook: Breaking down Harden's poor Game 5 shooting

From long range, James Harden couldn't hit the broad side of the Toyota Center in Game 5, shooting 0-of-11 on 3-pointers and matching the all-time record for most 3-point attempts in a playoff game without a make. When asked about his struggles from beyond the arc at the postgame press conference, Harden replied bluntly: "Who cares?"

After all, the Houston Rockets still won 98-94, taking a 3-2 series lead over the Golden State Warriors. Apart from Harden, the team shot a passable 13-of-32 (40.6 percent) on threes.

"I'm just missing shots," continued Harden. "But we're winning, and I'm trying to compete on the defensive end and do other things to help my team win. But if we've got a guy like Eric Gordon making shots and being aggressive, who cares?"

But the story here isn't that Harden missed every 3-pointer he took Thursday. As always, context matters, and Golden State had a game plan. Here are Harden's 11 attempts from deep in Game 5, the type of shot he took, and his primary defender:

The Warriors did a good job of mixing up their repertoire; seven Warriors contested Harden's 11 3-pointers with no defender accounting for more than two contested shots. However, despite their range in size and length, most of the Warriors' defenders appeared to stick to a very basic plan.

Note Kevon Looney's positioning opposite Harden on this early possession:

Not only does Looney reduce the lefty's ability to put the ball on the floor, he's perfectly aligned to counter Harden's signature move: the step-back three, which Harden usually launches to the right. While the Warriors are conceding an easier opportunity to drive right, they're still funneling Harden toward ample help defense. For an isolation matchup between the presumptive MVP and a lightly used backup center, that's as much as Golden State could've asked for. Other long and athletic bigs Draymond Green and Jordan Bell deployed this tactic to similar effect.

Of course, Harden is still a transcendent force, and at least some of his ineffectiveness can be chalked up to bad breaks. With a size advantage over Stephen Curry and the Warriors leaving their star guard to play one-on-one, this should've led to a quality look for Harden:

And it did. After Harden forced the switch, Curry didn't take up the same emphatic positioning as Looney, Green, and Bell, leaving himself susceptible to Harden's step-back:

Clank.

That shot has been money for Harden all year. Curry knows it and doesn't even bother to contest with his hands, conceding the solid look and preventing Harden from drawing a foul in the process.

Certainly Harden's most improbable run of bad luck occurred in the second quarter when the Rockets tried their damnedest to isolate 37-year-old David West:

Harden tangoing with West with that much open floor should lead to a high-efficiency look every time - a lay-up at the rim, a lob to Clint Capela, a drive-and-kick to P.J. Tucker or Trevor Ariza in the corner, or a step-back three by Harden. Hardly inadvisable, Harden opted for the latter:

Clank.

That West was able to stay on the floor for 11 minutes against a team with so many perimeter threats is incredible; that he only finished a minus-1 in those 11 minutes leaves him just two miracles shy of canonization.

With the Rockets aggressively working to get A-plus defender Klay Thompson as far from Harden as possible, this is as good as it gets for the Warriors. The young, athletic bigs forced Harden to take tough shots or dribble into traffic and Golden State rode its luck when Harden located premium isolation matchups against Curry and West.

If the Warriors can execute that same game plan against Harden in Game 6 - and get a few more lucky breaks - the Western Conference finals will likely go the distance. At that point, it's anyone's series.

(Photos courtesy: NBA.com)