I told you guys early. There is absolutely no outcome and no result in the Raptors series that a hater will consider as evidence that Harden/MDA are doing something right. Raptors win, Warriors win, Curry explodes, Klay explodes, Siakam explodes, Kawhi explodes, any of those guys lay an egg, doesn't matter. It all means James Harden cannot win a championship. They are struggling reading this to outline a scenario which would justify Harden/MDA's performance. They can't even come up with a hypothetical one. Save your breath. For them, criticism is not a by-product, it is the goal.
Well the argument has been that the rockets are a championship level team but the warriors (even without Durant) are an unprecedented dynasty that nobody could beat, but the rockets came close. Now it looks like the raptors would have beaten the rockets, and maybe the bucks and 6ers too. At minimium we can stop saying the rockets are clearly the best team after the "dynasty"
I agree, I think that there isn't a unique formula that wins the championship. It is about matchups. It's a team effort. Nobody is perfect, the goal is to build the correct team and have a coach who can get the best results with Harden as the main guy. And stop hating
He had 32 points in game 7 even with the refs taking away 10+ possible points. Ariza went 0-12, Gordon went 9/22, and the bench only had 1 FG.
No that was not the argument. The argument was that WE do not have the talent to beat them. But again, the key point here is: there is no outcome in the Raptors series that you would concede might alter your own narrative. Just between you and yourself. That's all anyone needs to know.
Who here think the Raptors will become a dynasty?!?!?!?!? I rather trying to win with a dynasty team than a 1 year wonder team. Enjoy a few weeks Toronto than Kawhi wil say bye bye.
I prefer dynasty over 1 championship too. At the same time I do prefer 1 championship over 0 championship,.
I’m not a hater. Just a realist. In both of the last two years there was a real feeling around here, in the media, and the locker rooms that the rockets were going to / could take down GSW. When KD went down this year that feeling was only amplified. We’re the odds in their favor at any point (the actual odds) no. But the feeling was real. Didn’t happen either time The Raptors were not the favorite and frankly I think the general feel was one of less optimism in taking down the Warriors then with the Rockets. GSW has been hit with injury... but still, Raptors have basically won or played even enough 15 out of 16 quarters. They have a no gimmick dominant on both end star, a coach that seems to be pulling the right strings, they don’t really on gimmicky offense, their GM made smart moves, etc. The Rockets meanwhile have a kind of gimmicky star and offensive system, we all complain about MDA in the playoffs and instead of drafting the Siakims of the world, our GM has been busy trading away firsts now for quite a while. Of course the Rockets have been doing some things right. They after all have. Been the near best shot at taking down the Warriors in 3 of the last 5 years. But it’s close but no cigar. Realism.
So you're asking what could happen in the finals that makes me thing harden is the best player in the nba?
It's not that no one on earth can beat GS. It's not that James Harden is/isn't the best player in the world. It's only about whether Harden can do more with what he has/controls. Who has done more with the same amount of talent on the bench? Durant hasn't won it that way. Lebron hasn't won it that way. Curry has arguably only done it against a team missing both Love and Irving for most of a series (and then lost to that team when it was healthy). Why would Harden be able to do that? No one can do that. It's rare in the NBA. Dirk Nowitzki is the only person in the last 10 years, and Hakeem the only other one in the last 20 years to win it that way. One guy and mediocre roster against star studded team. That's not the measuring stick for "Are you good enough to win a title?" That's a measuring stick for "are you an all-time great?" which is a totally different question. The one time Harden had a legitimate sidekick and acceptable depth, we were up on the Warriors 3-2 before Paul goes down. This year with Eric Gordon as our 2nd best player we still took them to 6 games. We don't lose to anyone else. We destroyed all 3 other playoff series these past 2 seasons. Decisively wiped the floor with out opponents. Were Durant, Curry, Lebron better than that before they won their first one? Or did they just receive a better talent differential than they ever had? With all due respect, everyone believes they are realistic. That doesn't make it so. What's certainly, objectively NOT realistic is to say that Harden must overcome a greater talent gap than 99% of championship franchise players in order for him to be considered good enough to lead a team to the title. Like I've said a ton of times: If he walked onto the Warriors, he would be a champion, same as Durant. If he walked into a team with prime Wade and Bosh, he would be a champion. If his biggest obstacle was the Cavaliers without Love and Irving for virtually an entire series, and with 2 All Star sidekicks on his side, he would win that title too. As for the Raptors, what if I pulled up a post in the first 20 games of the season where I said the Raptors would win the East and go neck and neck with the Warriors? The components are staggering. Six former 1st or 2nd team all defense. 2 former DPOY's and one future one. Defense is talent too. That team is stacked, and they went 17-5 without Kawhi against lower tier opponents, and took a Kawhi into the playoffs who had 22 games of selective rest. We can never do that. We have never had that. It's not comparable. What the media says revolves around flash. The Raptors were always clearly an incredible team, and so were the Bucks.
Harden doesn’t play off the ball and it is to the detriment of the team. You just simply can’t make excuses for it. If so, hold to a lower tier of stars as a standard.
Come on. Nobody thought the raptors were this good. This is revisionist to make harden look better Harden had plenty of help. But he had his usual lapses and they lost. Raptors were underdogs for two series in a row. Rockets were only slight dogs to the warriors and were favored in game 6 by 7.5 points
What on earth are you talking about? The Raptors won 58 games with their best player sitting out 22 games. Six former 1st or 2nd team all defense. 2 former DPOY's and one future DPOY. Serge Ibaka and a scorching hot Van Vleet OFF THE BENCH. Maybe you just value offense more than defense? I don't know what it is, but I don't believe you're being genuine here. Let's just get to the bottom of this right away: would you trade everyone minus Harden for everyone minus Kawhi? Yes or no?
Exactly. Prior to playoffs, same guys defending Harden would have taken: CP3 over Lowry EGo over Green Tucker over Siakim Capela over Gasol Now suddenly, Raptors supporting cast is all time great and Rockets supporting cast are scrubs. Kawhi plays basketball in a team oriented way that makes others around him better. Not to mention he leads the team defensively too.
Did you put money on the Raptors when they were underdogs to the bucks after barely beating the 6ers?
