Harden is reminding me of LeBron in 2012, coming off one of the biggest playoff choke jobs by bulldozing his way though the league with the best season of his career.
man, SAS is so bad at defending Harden at times it's painful to watch. even tho Max Kellerman is clearly a Harden hater and rooting for Harden to FAIL, he does have some poignant things to say about Harden that are not entirely wrong. Yes, Harden has been somewhat disappointing in the post-season, and I do think it's partly because Harden's game is more about 'outsmarting' other players rather than outrunning or outjumping them, in some way it becomes easier to game plan against Harden when you have a disciplined defensive unit. But I also remember this Max guy saying that Russell Westbrook is his favorite player. Excuse me? Westbrook is averaging 41.5 FG% and 29.4 3PT% in the playoffs for his entire career, with way worse eFG% and TS% compared to Harden's. Harden also has higher WS/48 in the playoffs, and lead his team to the WCF while being the number one option on his team. It's also useful to remember that Harden's best teammate in Houston up until now has been declining Dwight Howard, who now we know is more of a net negative than a positive in modern NBA. We've never seen Harden paired with a true superstar as CP3 (although even he's at the tail end of his prime), unlike LeBron, Curry, or Westbrook. If the defense can't just key in on Harden to shut him down, then who knows how good he could be in the playoffs? At the end of the day, it's so easy to rebut the arguments of Max Kellerman, and SAS is not doing it right for whatever reason.
Westbrook reminds me of a stupid kobe, they both came into the NBA with a future first ballot HOF on the team, both ran them out of town thanks to a disastrous playoff series (Kobe 2004 finals, Westbrook 2017 WCF). They both were elevated to god-hood by a season where for once, they didn't have the entire all-star team present. Both got eliminated in the 1st round (Kobes best playoff series IMO, westbrook put up the worst 4th quarter performances I've ever seen). Now that they got half the all-star team on their roster again, Westbrook is incapable of reaching .500 more than a month into the season, at least Kobe rode the coattails of Pau Gasol and Kevin Garnetts bum knee to championships.
So Since November 19, we only played 6 games and between December 7 and the end of The year we'll play 14 games. They screwed us with this scheduling. Nene goin miss at least 5 games.
I believe a lot of media members share this point - "The Harden Aesthetic." - "tricks" "not a flashy dunker" "free throws" etc. Media wants "sizzle" and instead gets "efficiency." Media does not care about "efficiency." They want highlights for their narrative. The stat geeks like the efficiency, but there are not enough of them.
I guess this is who we are now. Shame. Should I now clarify, when declaring my Rockets fandom to someone, that I'm not one of the whiney ones?
i'm not whinin, i'm tellin it like it is. and i'm gonna continue to do this until Harden gets an MVP award. someone posted this BS yesterday too. *RW loses to Harden and Rockets in 1st roundd* Broussard: "It's a regular season award!!! Trip Dubs!" *Harden kills it in the regular season with no real threat* Everyone: "He ain't doin it in the playoffs so Harden doesn't deserve it." GTFO.
Man for someone who doesent really care about whining or hwo the medias bias is clear, you sure have a funny way of showing it
you again misunderstand me. I in fact DO care about the whining, because I HATE it. The world would be a better place without whining in general, but without James Harden's MVP chances whining in particular. Especially in November or December.
Morey: “James has always been great at switching, and so were switching a lot... ” Arnovitz Interupts: “Well, it’s easy” Morey: “This is where coach Bzdelik comes in; there’s easy switching and then there’s with a purpose switching. We’ve gotten to with a purpose switching. ... “ *Arnovitz pivots to Book question*
I always chuckle when I hear media types presume to know the intricacies of pro schemes. Five minutes in a film room would make their inflated heads spin.
LOL harden haters are the biggest f*n whiners in this site.. 1st seed in the west, best point differential and still can't STFU and how does thinking 7 wins in the west is more deserving for an MVP over 2 uncontested stat padding rebounds while leaving your man open make one a "whiner"???
