It isnt rhetoric, it is using your best player to his maximum. Also, who the hell said anything about Harden sulking like Pippen? BTW the PLAY you are talking about was relying on Pippen as a facilitator, so he was still a huge part of the play. First, on a final shot they will never immediately double Harden, because someone would be WIDE open under the basket. So your situation is flawed. If that situation happened then you pass to the open player. I am not saying for Harden to chuck up a shot with teammates open. What I am saying is that the future will be with Harden either shooting the ball, facilitating or drawing a double at the end of the game..... the problem right now is that Harden is not to that point of realization at 23 years old. Concerning your position of living and dying by Harden.... yeah, we will, because if Harden isn't playing well we are not winning anything, that is why superstars are important. Also, no, Harden isn't MJ... but franchise players, especially wings, are deeply involved in the last few plays in a close game.... it has always been that way.
this dude attempting iso game winning jumpers like he's jordan or durant or lin...but he's only james harden
I don't know what is so hard for you to understand about this. You can be involved in the last play as a decoy, or a passer. You can run less isolation and draw a double team to initiate the offense. There is a difference between being involved in the play and holding the ball for 24 seconds. McHale and other players, and the media have criticized Harden for his last possessions. Harden is not following the game plan that was laid down for the players to execute. He is shooting less than 30% in the clutch for the season, which is one of the lowest marks on the team. And now he is being stubborn and vindictive about it.
It's one thing if Harden is being guarded by a scrub and not by Sefolosha. Or if he has been shooting well for the game, or the series, or the last half of the season..
That three Harden took was not good (even though he technically got fouled), but the very last play of the game was not bad. He effectively shook his man and got an open mid-range look. That kinda shot from your All-Star swingman is about the best you can realistically hope for in that situation. He just missed it. But regardless, his performance in the crunch has left something to be desired lately.
Exactly, Harden should attack whenever OKC switches Fisher, Perkins, or Jackson on him. However, McHale needs to call plays to set screens and FORCE OKC into these mismatches. Thunder are not going to switch defenders just for the sake of switching.
If Harden didn't play ISO ball, we could win last two games in regular season and ranked as 6th seeds and play Denver.
We don't win or lose depending on how one player is playing. Harden played like crap in Game 4 and we won.
Conversely Harden was pretty stellar in games 2 and 3 and we lost, albeit in close games, but losses nonetheless.
I don't think I want a 38% shooter taking a last contested shot. Because thats what he is at the moment.
I find that there is a lot of speculation going on on this board. "Harden doesn't respect Mchlale" ---no hard evidence, just speculation "His teammates won't help him off the floor, ergo they hate/don't respect him" --never seen this happen. Show some evidence. "harden isos prove he hates/doesn't respect mchale" --hero ball is a problem, but maybe he actually thinks its the only shot (i disagree, but doesn't prove his disrespect) "Harden is selfish, t-mac style player who only cares about himself"--other than the isos, he is very generous for a star with assists and getting his teammates involved In general, thanks to Harden we are in the playoffs. No dispute. harden is also a pretty good facillitator and gets his teammates involved. The one time he acts selfish are end of the clock shots where he dribbles out before an ISO shot, which frequently ends in a miss. I think this is largely attributed to the fact that he WANTS to be the leader/supserstar of the team and his actually THINKS what makes you a superstar is the ability to pull up, create space and 'get' any shot you want, especially when the game is on the line--ala Kobe, Durant, Melo etc. But when three consecutive ISO shots go up and fail, he HAS to alter the game plan and get his teammates involved, which it sounds like McHale is trying to get them to do. So while I agree that the fast ball style of play/plan shouldn't change in close games like Game 4 and Harden seems to be acting selfishly, I'm not sure he is trying to hurt the team like some on here imply--but is acting out how he thinks a superstar should--or what the mold of a superstar is..and that is the problem. There is nothing wrong with Harden creating space, then driving towards the basket with 10 seconds left on the clock and passing to get other teammates involved. OR they should let the PG or Parsons drive to the hole and look for Harden for the open shot--also an option. It doesn't always have to end in 20 seconds of dribble followed by a bad shot--and harden can still be at the backend of the final shot, which he clearly desperately wants. If I'm Mchale, at the end of games where it is tight, I have Harden inbound the ball and let some other player take it up, create and "look" for Harden or whomever else with an open shot--Harden isos be damned. Until Harden can prove during the regular season that his dribble dribble ISO shots will fall, the Rockets SHOULD NOT rely on that in the playoffs at end of tight games--thats not what a superstar would do, thats what stupid players do.
If we were to use that logic, then Denver shouldn't be in the playoffs. Nor Chicago, since you know, Rose is a superstar and all.
This is mind boggling. Some people here are claiming they're long time NBA watchers, yet they dismiss Harden as another flash in the pan, selfish, "never won anything" joke. After one season as the primary option on his team. I realize it's a "what have you done for me lately" society now, but this is nuts. There's no denying he's been making bad decisions. No denying that he's trying to win it all alone late in games, hero ball, whatever. Are none of those mistakes correctable? Should McHale, Parsons, Lin or whomever magically convince Harden to change his play style after it worked almost the entire year? When Harden was killing it and making those shots everyone (well, almost everyone) was happy with it. He was being labeled top 5 in the NBA, the next big thing, blah, blah. But now that he's struggling at the end of a season and into the playoffs he suddenly is garbage. Bench him. Trade him. He's a cancer. It's statements like this that make me wonder how many real, and I mean REAL NBA fans we have here. You can be critical when a player under achieves. I get it, that's why we're all fans. But to pile on hate on a guy with such venom, such conviction... I don't know. I don't think I could cheer for a team if I hated a single player that much. I wonder if some people just watch the games hoping Harden will fail just so they'll have ammunition for the GARM. It certainly seems that way. Maybe I'm expecting too much.
Yes because McHale benched him. He didn't have enough time to blow the game. But he still almost did.
I am guilty. But I have given Harden a lot of leeway because he has been great for this team. I honestly thought he was the best player after Durant and James. I don't think that anymore but what I do think is he is stilll very good. And I want to be clear the things that impressed me so much about him is his ability to get to the basket and score or get filed. McGrady never had that. He was missing that toughness that Harden has displayed. My problem with him now is that he is going away from that and just ISO'ing and jump shooting. But he has played so well before that I do agree it is unfair to just write him off so quickly. And I was biting my tongue mostly until that interview when he came off kind'a arrogant. But he is young and he is learning. I think there is still hope for him and the talent is undeniably there. So I will be less critical for now.
