With the Rockets playing just one true center, Nenê, against the Lakers' trio of seven-footers on Saturday, Rockets guard James Harden spent most of the second half defending in the post. It won't be the last time.
This is nothing unusual for him with Harden's strength defending in the low blocks one of the motivations for the Rockets' switching defensive schemes, though his scoring binge tends to overshadow anything he would do defensively, including Saturday when in addition to scoring 48 points, he had four steals. But Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni took exception to the criticism of Harden's defense that ignores that strength.