James Harden morphed into Kawhi Leonard for one play and stopped the Spurs all by himself

James Harden has been maligned for astir of his profession arsenic a mostly mediocre defender.

At best, he wasn’t trying because of nan violative load he was taking on. At worst? He conscionable didn’t care. Defense ne'er seemed for illustration it was his problem. Unless, of course, he was playing successful nan post. Then he took it personally. Just ask Daryl Morey.

But connected Monday, Harden looked for illustration an All-World defender for once. It was almost for illustration he shape-shifted into his teammate, Kawhi Leonard, to fastener up Victor Wembanyama and nan Spurs each by himself.

Harden registered 4 different deflections connected this possession by my count.

Look astatine Harden present pic.twitter.com/oPhYPAQ7vl

— Brett Usher (@UsherNBA) November 5, 2024

That’s immoderate unthinkable defense. It didn’t really magnitude to overmuch successful that 4th — nan Spurs ended up dropping 40 points to commencement nan game.

Still! That’s awesome activity from Harden. And LA still ended up getting nan triumph contempt having to propulsion disconnected a 26-point comeback.