This was Gary Harris‘ breakout game
First off, as a whole, the Nuggets defense last night was outstanding. Sure, there was some over helping and they were slow to get back out to the three-point shooters at times, but they held one of the NBAs most explosive offensive teams to 85 points in their own building.
Whatever Michael Malone is doing, it’s clearly working. But if there’s one person who stood out more than anybody, it was Gary Harris.
Harris may have only had five points, but his defense on James Harden was superb. And it’s not like Harden wasn’t trying; he took 21 shots on the night, six more than anybody else on the floor, but only converted 29 percent of them.
Really, I’m not sure what else Harris could have done. He looked more like a Snuggie than a shooting guard the way he was blanketing Harden all night. And though he only took seven shots, he looked good in those, too.
Coming into the season, it was a question whether Harris deserved the starting two-guard spot. After the first game, we have our answer.
