HOUSTON -- Denver Nuggets coach Mike Malone considers his preferred defensive strategy of double-teaming Houston Rockets star James Harden, sometimes as far as 40 feet away from the basket, to be a form of flattery.
"I know it's probably frustrating for him," Malone said before Tuesday night's game at the Toyota Center. "But he should take it as a sign of huge respect because people are game planning to get the ball out of the [hands] of the best scorer in recent memory."
Harden agreed that teams deciding that he needs to be double-teamed, often in areas of the floor that are virtually unprecedented for NBA defenses, is a compliment of him.