I’m not saying he has the answer, I’m just saying he’s better at that kind of thing than people think. I went back to look at Zion vs Harden matchups in the last 3 minutes of the game:

Zion fumbles the dribble, settles for a midrange that falls short

Early double by Powell above the break, Zion passes out

Ingram sets a screen, Harden knocks the ball out of Zion’s hand as he comes around the screen, Jonas recovers the ball and Zion resets. Zion drives to his right, Harden slows him up and Kawhi is filling the lane so Zion passes it to the corner

Zion drives to the rim, Paul George doubles and Zion misses the contested midrange shot. This is when he pulls down the rebound and scores.

One thing I’d point out about these possessions is that the Pelicans only scored on the last possession. Small sample size, but my point is just that Harden’s only skill is staying in front of big dudes. Remember when he was stopping Giannis in the 2021 playoffs on one leg?

Post up, face up, Harden still does better stopping big guys from getting past him. You’ll notice down the stretch that Zion mostly settled for midrange shots over Harden