The 1881 oil painting titled The Thin Red Line depicts stoic determination of 500 Scottish infantrymen against five times as many advancing Russian cavalrymen during the Crimean War. A few decades later, Rudyard Kipling spoke of the “thin red line of eros” in his familiar poem, Tommy, on the same subject (Tommy was a generic way of describing a British soldier). The detached coolness of the soldiers praised in the painting, the poem, and later in the novel and film of the same name about the American campaign on Guadalcanal during World War II, could pass for the indifferent face of the Rockets star . James Harden. Yet no player considered an MVP has so divided fans, journalists, pundits and referees since Allen Iverson shied away from NBA standards at the turn of the millennium.
Harden’s signature beard, boss nickname, and shuffle celebration (we’ll ignore his silly nosebleed move after a dunk) may not come close to the cultural significance of AI, but his style of game does it. His approach on the field covers multiple disagreements about the contemporary game. It acts as a proxy for the split between analytics and eye tests, which heavily influences Basketball-Reference’s Play Index and complaints about actually watching games. Even among League Pass fanatics, Harden can quickly oscillate between the fun and boredom of a baseball game (the most scathing pejorative for hoops). But it’s not just fans who suffer whiplash from the thin red line of Harden’s style. The NBA’s zebra-clad scorers walk this line several times per game.
When Houston’s scoring savant throws his hands up in desperation during a drive to the basket, or a well-defended jumper from beyond the arc, it forces the referees to make a choice between blowing the whistle or not. This thin red line angers fans and puts the NBA on the defensive, like when he certainly took another step in his step back against the Warriors. Or when he looks like he was shot by a sniper after a foul call in the lane.
The referee’s balance along Harden’s thin red line was noticed just minutes into the first half of the Rockets’ 125-113 victory Monday night over the Western Conference-leading Nuggets in Houston. After Gary Harris committed a questionable foul on PJ Tucker, the dialogue between longtime Rockets player Bill Worrell and analyst Matt Bullard was a microcosm of the conversation many are having about the fairness of Harden’s game :
Worrell: Smart offensive players always make contact on shots like that.
Bullard: Yes.
Worrell: And so I guess you have Gary Harris to thank for taking advantage of the rules. When you’re one-on-one in open court – I know Harden does it, Chris Paul does it – they create contact.
Bullard: Yes, the rules are set up so that the offensive player has a slight advantage over the defensive player, so you have to take advantage of the way the rules are written.
Worrell: Everything favors the offense now.
Bullard: And I like that. I like to see – you know the other game where the Rockets beat the Warriors, 135-134, that’s the kind of scores I like to see.
While famous local commentators praised Harden’s intelligence, the Houston star fired another trio of foul shots. He took over from Clint Capela and scored a 3-pointer while his defender, Torrey Craig, had his hand on his hip. In this case, the referees did not side with Harden’s Rockets’ thin red line, but the Nuggets were already in the penalty box and he got two free throws.
