Kerr: Harden forcing teams to try 'innovative' defenses

Houston Rockets star James Harden was held to 24 points - 14 below his league-leading average - in his club's 116-104 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day.

Opposing teams have thrown a variety of defensive schemes at Harden this season, which influenced Warriors head coach Steve Kerr's mixed use of one-on-one coverage and traps against the All-Star guard.

"James has basically forced the whole league to reconsider how to defend," Kerr told reporters postgame, including ESPN's Nick Friedell. "Him in particular, but even how to guard pick-and-roll, with the number of 3-point shooters people have. So I've seen a lot of innovative stuff out there.

"Toronto did something interesting with him a few weeks ago. Luke Walton ran a box and one the other night against him in Sacramento. That's who James is. He's so good that you have to try to do your best to keep him off balance."

Harden was often immediately double-teamed in the Rockets' matchup against the Toronto Raptors in early December. The 2018 MVP still managed to score 23 points but was held to season lows in field-goal attempts (11) and 3-point attempts (5). Harden averages nearly 13 attempts from the charity stripe but was limited to just six free-throw attempts against the Raptors.

Forward Draymond Green agreed with Kerr that Harden has forced teams to search for innovative ways to limit his production.

"When a guy's averaging 40, you can't keep doing the same thing," Green said. "You're going to get the same results. So I don't think there's anyone in the league that can cover him one-on-one. ... So you definitely have to switch up the way you guard (him), and we was able to do it successfully tonight."