Harden and the headband
Sometimes here at Daily Thunder, we like to go inside the game. We like to dig deep, get inside the stats and understand basketball. Find the important things that can help you the reader, better comprehend the game on the court. And in that spirit, today I started thinking: I wonder if there is a difference in James Harden’s stats when he wears a headband?
And so I looked it all up. Through some exhaustive research, I’ve compiled this handy-dandy table and a chart to follow to inform you of such important things.
| G | PPG | APG | RPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| With Headband | 9 | 10.1 | 1.2 | 3.8 | 39.4 | 43.8 | 95.4 |
| Without Headband | 41 | 9.6 | 2.2 | 3.0 | 38.2 | 36.2 | 78.4 |
As we see, Harden turns into a sharpshooter when wearing the sweat-catcher. He jumps 17 percent from the free throw line and 7.6 percent from 3. He also goes up 1.2 percent from the field but in such a small sample size, I don’t think that matters. (I guess in reality, none of this matters, but alas.) And with the band, Harden gets to the line more (2.4 to 3.2 free throw attempts a game). Overall, with the headband, Harden is just a more productive player. And the most important thing, the team is 5-4 when he wears it.
More visual aid to hammer home a needless point:
Consider: He started wearing the headband in January. In games he wore it in January (seven games), he averaged 11.3 ppg, 1.6 apg, 4.3 rpg, was 37.5 percent from the field and 46.1 percent from 3. In games in January he didn’t (eight games), he averaged 9.1 ppg, 1.8 apg, 2.2 rpg and shot 38.7 percent from the floor and 40 percent from 3. So the headband proved worthy last month.
Does it look good? I think the jury is still out there. It does mesh with the beard for a pretty good ensemble on his head. Harden always has been one for flash, as he wore the t-shirt as Arizona State and the bow-tie on draft night. So he’s not afraid to toss on some accessories to try and spice things up. And as for style with the headband, I’d say Harden rocks “The Wayback”. Better than “The Earmuff”. When Derek Fisher donned that a few years ago, I wanted to kick something.
So in summary, what did we learn today? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. But I’ll be sure to follow this trend to the end of the season. Because I’m on top of things.
