Harden on Giannis: “I wish I could just run and just dunk. That takes no skill at all.”

i dont understand ... Harden has career playoff averages of 22.9 ppg/5.4 rebounds/5.6 assists?? Why do some guys still hold onto the one or two bad games (the SA game and the LAC game) as normal? Even crazier to have it come from a "Rocket Fan" ???

Hardens Houston Rocket Playoff averages??

28.2 - 5.7 - 7.0 and last year he was scoring over 30 per game

The lies need to stop among our own fans first. Shame on you.

 

Preach!!

let Harden play the majority of his games against these garbage EC teams and he might really average 40 a game

Harden in 19 games vs the EC this season: 40, 7, and 8 on 47/40/89 shooting splits...66% TS...a 126 offensive rating

Harden could EASILY drop 50 on the Knicks tonight if he wanted

 

I know people have always made this point but I've never seen the stats against east teams only. That's pretty incredible. ATTN @hakeem94

 

What they really mean by physical attributes is roid.

 

his schedule is a cakewalk so he can load manage and really focus on the games that matter and imho he prolly needs to play more minutes or play better vs western teams thus the boxscore numbers are higher vs west

 

Not to mention, he's been more efficient in the playoffs than Koke ever did. But because it's Harden he chokes in the playoffs.

 

the Bucks beat EC teams by an average of 14.5 ppg...Giannis doesn’t have to do sh*t against them, and he gets to play all those tanking teams and way below .500 Magic and Nets that are currently the 7th and 8th at least 3 times each

meanwhile, he only has to play the WC playoff teams twice each...he rests up against all that EC garbage so he can really bring it the few times he gets to play a good WC team

the Rockets are currently 15-4 against the East, and will be 16-4 after we demolish the tanking Knicks...that is a 66 win pace

The Bucks and Rockets play in 2 different NBAs...1 is a struggle, and the other is a cakewalk

 

I think both have skill and size. Harden may have more skill and Giannis may have more size, but let’s not read too much into this “beef”.

At the end of the day, Giannis is long and kind of skilled while Harden is thick and quite skilled. There is no right or wrong - either can be effective depending on the circumstances and perspective.

Some people like that Giannis can simply hammer it inside with his length. Others prefer how Harden flirts with it on the perimeter before drilling it. The fact is that both dudes can make it wet. It just depends on preference. I, for one, enjoy watching these dudes go at it in their own ways. I can’t wait to see them go head to head.

 

There are two posters in these threads you guys should just ignore. You know who I'm talking about.

 

If Harden could run and dunk he would of made that layup he missed to put us up by 1

 

Codman, thanks for this post. Please post more often, I miss your stuff.

Question, where is DeMarre Carroll in the rotation? Rockets recruited him...and now he rides the bench. I mean, his energy and length should be key items to add to an unstable bench. Last night vs NYK Rockets could have used Carroll's energy.

 

even nick wright either purposely or ignorantly ignored that g-anus in postgame presser claimed the game strategy was to attack harden, right after harden had just shut his entire lineup down in the final minutes

 

I notice you left off his shooting %’s. Go look at those, look at the decrease from regular season, then it will make more sense why some say he underachieves. Constant decrease in play + big choking moments.

 

his shooting %s are bad because his supporting cast has been CHEEKS in the playoffs ALL OF THEM up to and including CP3. Ask Russ about having to carry that type of load. Im looking at ouput in win or die games and contrary to popular belief James has shown up for every single playoff game save about 2.

MJ had Pip/Toni/Rodman/etc. etc. ... Kobe had Shaq/Gasol/etc etc

Who has James had again??? But hes supposed to carry teams with no help right? Its pretty hard when a defense makes you the sole focus, and yet Harden has still been Harden ,. even when getting double teamed at the half court line. Shrug.

Strange Days.

 

thinking that james harden has played well in every single playoff game besides 2 is just false. There's no such thing as a player doing so.

 

It’s the same supporting casts he has in the regular season, when he looks like one of the most efficient players in league history.

 

Yeah but the refs stop calling obvious fouls and his shooting percentages go down. I mean those three times Klay tried hurt him in game 1 should have all been flagrants according to the rules.
Every other super star has their attempts go up in playoffs except James Harden. Tell me the NBA doesn’t have an Agenda.

 

right and Hardens throughput drops by about 8 points while the rest of the team always seems to forget how to shoot come playoff time. It’s why Russ is such a great fit and I knew it the minute we got him. He attacks relentlessly. When shots don’t drop Russ and James can 2 man us to wins now. First time in the Harden Era he’s had a legitimate contemporary on the team with him.

just wAit for the playoffs. James will get his 28/5/5 and he will still be under the microscope WHY? GOAT STATUS. Hard to fight the slander when it starts at home - just sayin. He’s had bad games I might be stretching hyperbole by saying 2 GAMES but his bad games aren’t as frequent as you might be implying. He needed more help vs that Warrior Dynasty and never got it. Still the only player/team that pushed them to the brink. (Minus Lebron and Kawhi i know)

 

The matches for Heat vs Bucks was valuable yesterday, it was a good reference for MDA. They use 3 people to guard Gianns and cut his passing ball route. I think MDA should take a look with this.

 

i'm not gonna pretend harden has been a stellar playoff performer (though i refuse to believe he didn't have a concussion against the spurs), but does it really matter if your numbers fall off if they're still good? in his last 2 playoffs, he's played 28 games. 13 have been against the defensively elite super-team warriors and 10 more were against utah, who was #2 in defense both years. and harden had a 25 PER. a fall from the regular season? sure. still pretty good. yeah. even better considering the competition was as elite defensively as you will find? yes. the average playoff defense isn't warriors/utah good. it's like #10 in the league or something (and before someone points on last year's warriors were something like #11 defensively, i think it's pretty clear they didn't give a damn about the regular season).

the one bad defense we played (minnesota), harden didn't even rack up big numbers so it's not like he padded that 25 PER with cupcake games.

and we were inarguably at least the 2nd best team in 2018 (maybe the best if not for cp3 injury) and arguably the 2nd best team last year. harden/we are doing pretty well in the playoffs of late.


edit: and not to bring it up, but the dropoff in harden's free throw rate in the playoffs when compared against nearly every other star's free throw rate going up in the playoffs, besides being suspicious, no doubt hurts his playoff stats.