SPORTS.

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Play what now?

James not Harden “D”

Courtnie

Martin

Sports Reporter
r

ypically, athletes are

broadcast across media for
their talent and potential reign
over their sport. Michael Jordan
is possibly the best basketball
player of all time. Kobe Bryant
runs a close race against Jordan.
Ray Allen is admired for his
beautiful three-pointer, and
Charles Barkley is known as one
of the best posts ever, despite
having no championship to back
his claim. It is very seldom that
the league makes a mockery of
their very own.

However, this is the case
for the Houston Rockets’ James
Harden. His resumé includes
an NBA All-Star appearance,
Third Team AlI-NBA, Sixth Man

of the Year, All-Rookie Second
Team, Consensus First Team All-
American, Pac-10 Player of the
Year, and All-Pac-10 First Team.
He started his career by
being selected third overall
by Oklahoma City in the 2009
draft, but it was unclear just
how vital his lack of defensive
pride would affect their season.
Traded from Oklahoma City in
a jaw-dropping decision, this
six-foot, five-inch 220-pound
pile of lazy has been chewed
up by the media for his lack of
effort on the defensive end of
the floor. The claim may seem
rather harsh since the shooting
guard averages 25.9 points per
game and proceeded to take the
Rockets into playoffs, all while
being named by the general
managers of the NBA as the best
shooting guard in the league.
Still, his accolades are no excuse.
One could take a gander
at how true shooting guards
must feel about one of the worst

defensive players in the league
being ranked the best shooting
guard, but isn’t this generally the
case? Many athletes excel on one
end of the floor. However, most
of these athletes tend to work
extremely hard to even out their
skill on the other end. Harden
has been blasted for his lack of
effort. YouTube has hundreds of
clips of Harden “falling asleep”
on defence and allowing his
opponents to do whatever they
please on the court. The Rockets
didn’t do too well in their
previous season—trest assured
that was in part the result of
Harden’s desire to put the ball in
the hole, rather than prevent the
opposing team from doing the
same.

In their most recent game
against the Mavericks, the
Rockets gave up 123 points,
resulting in a loss by three. If
Harden had only known that
basketball is five-on-five, the
Rockets could have taken home a

“W.” Harden never put his hands
up and hardly
even knew

his man

was at the

rim while

he danced
around at

the three-

point line. If
this lack of
pride persists,
the Rockets

are going to
find themselves
missing the
playoffs on
account of a
“disease of
Harden.” His
blatant lack of
support on the
floor will eventually
rattle the cages of his
teammates—but then
again, you don’t need
to play defence to get
the ball!

  

James Harden | Photo courtesy of www:racking.si.com

 

Campbell not enough

Mens basketball
loses to Langara

Courtnie

Martin

Sports Reporter
i

laying second-place Langara

College on November 22,
the men’s basketball team knew
they were in for a tough one.
Though the Royals made a game
of it, Langara prevailed in the
end.

In the first quarter, Douglas
struggled putting the ball in the
hole. Langara shot nearly 50
per cent from the field, which
didn’t allow for a fast break or
defensive rebounds. Although
the rebounding was fairly
even across the board, Langara
shot an incredible 45.5 per
cent from the three-point line.
Grant Campbell led the Royals’
scoring in the first half, hitting
14 points of the team’s 33 points.

The Royals walked out
of the half down 15, but there
was plenty of time on the clock
to make a comeback. They
contested the three-pointers
much better in the second half
but began to leave gaps open in
the key. Langara capitalized on
every opportunity in the paint.
Campbell continued to play
an exceptional game and was
joined by his teammate, Andrew
Baron, who put up 17 points.

18

=

a

Unfortunately, the Royals lacked
any other double-digit scorers.
In the final minutes of the
game the intensity heated up
profusely. Ethan McKean was
hit, causing the referees to call

a flagrant foul against Langara.
The coach’s reaction resulted

in a technical in addition to the
flagrant. Campbell shot and
made all four; despite his efforts,
though—he finished with 36

points—Douglas took another
loss. The final score was 80-101.
“We had three things
defensively that we wanted to
do and we did a poor job of that.
Not to mention they hit mostly

 

Player of the game:
#5 - Grant Campbell

ra ra
Photo courtesy of Courtnie Martin

all their shots. But tonight
highlighted the three key
principles and it taught us what
we just can’t do,” said coach
Denis Beausoleil.