Regular season savior, invisible man in the playoffs? The league doesn t like you, and there are not many opportunities left to you

When James Harden faced the Nuggets' defense in the last moment of the first round of the 2025 playoffs, lost open three-pointers, missed free throws, and even was intercepted by Jamal Murray, the applause and ridicule of Denver home fans almost drown the hustle and bustle of the stadium. This scene is just another reenactment of Harden's career playoff miniature - the savior of the regular season and the invisible man in the playoffs. From the pioneer of the "magic ball theory" in the Rockets era to the "second leader" of the Clippers today, Harden's career has always been bound by an invisible shackle: he can carry the team forward in 82 regular season games, but always loses himself in the playoffs where life and death are determined. This torn image of a superstar not only makes fans feel uncomfortable, but also makes the league "treat" him in terms of salary, honor and public opinion.

Harden's regular season dominance is unquestionable. During the Rockets period, he averaged 30 points per game for three consecutive years, with 36.1 points per season, and his three-game scoring champion was even more historically. Even if he left the Rockets, his regular season value was still dazzling: he led the team in the East with a single core during the Nets, and Embiid's winning rate was as high as 73% when he was absent during the 76ers. Before the season, in the absence of Leonard, Harden led the team to keep the Clippers in the top six in the Western Conference. After Leonard returned, due to physical fitness, Harden made outstanding contributions to 21 games and 18 victories in the final stage of the Clippers in the second half of the year, and joined forces with Leonard to support the team in the fifth place in the Western Conference. Behind these data is Harden's top pick-and-roll initiation ability, historic foul-making skills, and the tactical value of the "own system". However, all this seemed to be cleared by one click under the high pressure environment of the playoffs.

Taking the 2025 series against the Nuggets as an example, Harden's performance showed a cliff-like decline: G1 scored 32 points, 6 rebounds and 11 assists, which seemed to continue the style of the regular season; G3 contributed 20 points, 9 assists, but his shooting percentage was less than 50%. By G4 and G5, he completely became a "transparent", handing out disaster data of 15 points, 11 assists and 11 points, 5 assists respectively, and even failed consecutive free throws in the final quarter and was intercepted by his opponent. This fluctuation is not accidental - in the past five years, Harden's performance in the "Battle of Heavenly Kings" can be regarded as a nightmare: 11 points in 2024, 7 points in 2023, 14 points in 2022, 5 points in 2021... Invisibility at critical moments has become a label that he cannot tear off.

Harden's dilemma is essentially a double backlash between lack of psychological resilience and technical limitations. On a psychological level, he lacks the "killer instinct" that is essential for a big heart guard like Brunson. In the 2018 West Western Conference Final G7, the Rockets made 27 consecutive three-pointers, and Harden, as the core, only made 13 shots; in 2021, he returned to the Bucks with an injury, and he made 1 of 10 shots and became a burden to the team; in the last moment of G5 in 2025, he chose to pass the ball instead of ending it himself, and these choices exposed his escape mentality for key balls. On the technical level, Harden relies too much on the dividends of rules, and his magic ball-based three-pointers + foul play style has plummeted after the referee relaxed the standards in the playoffs; his lack of running without the ball leads to targeted double-teaming of opponents; the "eye defense" on the defensive end consumes team resources even more. What’s more fatal is that Harden’s physical fitness distribution and injury management always have problems. Since 21 years of 2018, Harden's explosive power has dropped significantly, with breakthrough efficiency plummeting from 51.4% at its peak to 40.2%, and his three-point shooting percentage has also dropped from 38.9% to 34%.

Compared with superstars of the same level, Harden's playoff weakness is becoming more and more dazzling. Kobe averaged 30.2 points per game in 19 life and death battles in his career. Durant scored 49+17+10 in Tianwangshan in 2021. Curry scored 43 points in the 2022 Finals. Jokic averaged 30+14+7 in the 2023 Finals. In contrast, Harden has never truly become a god in the playoffs, but has repeatedly become a background board: he was reversed by the Warriors in the 2015 Western Conference Finals, missed a final victory in 2018, and the 11 points of the G5 in 2024 completely destroyed the Clippers' confidence. This contrast directly affected the league's evaluation of him. Although Harden's regular season data is gorgeous, he has not entered the top three MVPs since 2020, and the number of best teams has dropped sharply, making the All-Star starter even far away. In terms of salary, the 33-year-old only signed a contract of $70 million for two years, while Jamal Murray, the same age, won a maximum salary of $212 million for four years due to his key performance in the playoffs. To be honest, since leaving the Rockets, Harden has not been favored by the league! But behind this "differential treatment" is the cruel value logic of the NBA: the regular season is business, and the playoffs are the touchstone of legend.

Harden's tragedy is to some extent a microcosm of the evolutionary history of basketball. In the era of "data inflation", his magic ball style was once a model of efficiency first, but the hand-to-hand combat in the playoffs unveiled the disguise of gorgeous data. When Jokic reshapes the game with an all-round center play, Alexander defeats the key point with a middle distance, and Tatum carries the team with an offense and defense, Harden's "Big Core Holding" model seems increasingly outdated. What's even more sad is that Harden's career has entered the countdown. At the age of 34, he no longer has physical reserves at his peak. If the Clippers are eliminated in the first round, it is likely to be his last chance to win the championship window.

However, when he bowed his head to the player channel after the G5 game, the fans' inverted color voices and media ridicule once again stimulated Harden's nerves. On the NBA, the world's top basketball stage, the regular season MVP trophy is no matter how dazzling the regular season MVP trophy is, it cannot stand up at a critical moment in the playoffs. And those who cannot cross this gap are destined to be supporting roles in history. Harden still has a chance. G6 leads the Nuggets at home, and G7 teams up with Leonard to lead the team to achieve a big reversal. You must eliminate your own demons in order to go further in the playoffs.