he can have mvp for all i care but what do fans of rockets want from him? a championship.. and last time i checked. defense wins games.
I think we are all just beyond frustrated at this point, ok so they are 39-22 not the end of the word and upper 25% of the teams in the league record wise, but seriously brother do you really think the way Harden is playing is going to win us a championship ? It’s hard to stop watching when you’ve been a fan all your life and frankly I know you know that I am a big Harden fan but this version of Harden is hard to support because he’s not making any sorts of changes to his game the last 10 weeks (except deferring to Russ in games he’s had it going on strong, I’ll give him that) to warrant believing that James is going to be able to deliver. As many have said he looks out of shape, slow, head not in the game, content to settle for shots that aren’t high % for him, sloppy with his handles, careless passes, and downright lazy at times when they aren’t rolling to double digit leads (which we haven’t been doing much of that lately even during the winning streak). I want James to win a ship’ here in the worst way truthfully i do but the way he is playing the bulk of the last 10 weeks give me zero confidence thats gonna happen this year. I would honestly put my money on Russ carrying us over Harden rift now and Russ isn’t half the offensive player Harden is or rather was ...
Except Harden hasn't been garbage. That's literally an overreaction. Yes, his 3pt shot has been garbage and inconsistent for 2 months now.... but to say he's been garbage is stupid. He's still being efficient with his layups, floaters and dunks. He's still having a good number of assists, steals, blocks.... and he's still getting a good amount of free throws, and he's hitting those free throws at a high rate. Not to mention, his defense has been pretty good on most nights since January. The only thing that's missing is his 3pt shooting. And he's still been averaging around 30 points a game, with 7 assists and 7 rebounds since January. And that's with having Westbrook being our main ball handler in that time. You guys are overreacting so much. If his 3pt shots were going in like they normally did, you wouldn't be using words like garbage or that he's trash.... and you definitely wouldn't be nitpicking his style of play. The only difference I see is Harden's maybe not wanting to shoot the 3pt shot all that much, simply because his confidence is probably low there. Oh, and he's giving it to other teammates more quickly than he used to. But I feel that's most likely down to the double teaming and the attention he's got this year. Other than that, he's still averaging over 30 points most nights. And you're not going to blame his teammates because they're on way less money than Harden is? What kind sense does that make? Harden is on that kind of money because he's earned it for his time at the Rockets. Maybe if Rivers, House and McLemore weren't performing inconsistently like they have throughout their careers, they would have had a much higher salary than they currently have. Can't blame Harden for them underperforming most nights.
Wasn't there a rumor going around that Harden was pissed that we had a deal out for Tristan Thompson and then said no to it to avoid luxury tax. I think he knew that the team still needed a big man when Russ sits down. This new offence without helping Harden get to the hole is killing his game. I also think he is just saying the right things but has sort of given up. Honestly I don't blame him.
Stopped reading here. He's shooting 38% in 2020 while proclaiming himself the best player in the league. That is garbage for somebody of his stature in the league. And that's just the statistical element. His body language hasn't been great either. I think he'll bounce back, but we are at an *extended* period of subpar play. Maybe he's hurt. Maybe he's just regressing. Either way, he hasn't been an elite player for a while now.
And the last time I checked, you still need a supporting cast to win you championship. And our defense is only a problem because we're playing small ball. It's always going to be a problem.... because their big man can bully a much smaller guy on most possessions. Also, small ball demands a lot of energy and focus on the defensive end. I actually believe our main problem at the moment is our 3pt shooting..... and we're probably giving up too many free throw points. Like we gave up 5 more points from free throws tonight. They also shot 47% from 3pt and we shot 33%. If they shoot as badly or we shoot as good as they did, we comfortably win the game.... especially if we match them with free throw points scored. I honestly believe that's been the reason why we've been losing games recently.
What about February? And his field goal % is only like that because of his missed 3pt shots. Using that field goal % is not a valid argument when his inconsistent and poor 3pt shooting will clearly make his field goal % go down much more. If he hit the 3pt shot like he normally does, it wouldn't be anywhere close to 38%. It's his 3pt shot that's been off and not everything else. I guarantee if you go back from the start of January till now, you'll see his layup, floater and dunk % has been pretty good. Heck, if you give me enough time to work it out.... I'll happily prove you wrong. Like I said, it's purely an overreaction. Shooting badly from the 3pt line doesn't constitute to playing poorly overall. But I guess because it's Harden, it must mean he's trash for 2 months straight.
You, I'm not talking about bro. I always get you. You are here for the bad and the good. And I agree, he's looked not good, all of which you said is true, he looks lazy and his defense has been bad. He was the reason we lost tonight and the last couple of games. I dont know whats wrong with but I know he can get it together. Yea he hasnt come through before, but all he needs is one good playoff run and we can win the chip. I believe in him. You may not agree, but I think we can pull through. The only thing I really disagree with you about is that he looks out of shape, that I dont agree with. .....or should I say, I dont think its something anybody really knows.
You are right in saying we are overreacting I agree. To me it’s an entitlement of being a long time fan, the emotions of getting excited when they are playing well are tempered by the disappointment when they play awful and they have played awful as a team for three straight games. As for Harden saying he sucks is sorry of a relative thing, compared to the bulk of players out there in the league does he really suck ? No, but for him and his place in the game and amongst the best players in the league has he sucked lately ? Yeah comparing him to the James Harden I knew and love yeah he has kinda sucked quite a bit lately As for the rest of the team, seeing as how only RoCo and Green (off The bench) contributed anything its hard not to say anything other that they were beyond pathetic, and seeing as how it’s not the first and likely won’t be the last time they do this it’s very troubling and kills any great hopes I have that this team has a legit shot at a title. I recall early in the year thinking this roster was a dumpster fire, then it leveled off some, but maybe the play of Harden in Nov/Dec and Russ in Jan/Feb was covering for it because it’s been exposed again during this 3 game stretch badly.
The second he steps into the lane now They all fall back like they were shot And he gets offensive fouls Rocket River
True he isn’t running around with his shirt off and we aren’t getting BMI weekly updates, so I suppose I’m succumbing to group think there but he just seems slower afoot and less confident in his own athleticism lately not nearly as cagey... I hope you are right that he does get it together because without him at or near optimum James Harden we just aren’t winning much, even a series I truly believe that.russ has been awesome but he can’t carry this team on his back given his skill set, we’ve got to have Harden at close to peak and it’s been a long time since we’ve seen that guy game in and game out.
You are probably right but it sure seems like he is getting blocked or a hit with a lot more charges on drives to the basket than ever before. I can see where the lack of a lob threat may affect both these factors, but I’d be a little surprised if his over all %s weren’t down as a result. As for your last point, look he set the standard high no doubt so a slump is acceptable but it’s a lot of the other little things he doing and not doing that really concern me.. of course Harden isn’t trash but he isn’t playing that well by the standards we’ve come to know and expect and frankly for this team need him to play at.
Harden has had 521 FG attempts since the Atlanta game. He's 206/521 from FG attempts. He's 86/291 from the 3pt line from attempts. So he's 120/230 from FG attempts without 3pt shots. He's also averaging over 7 assists a game, close to 7 rebounds a game, close to 2 steals a game, close to 1 block per game and he's making around 87% from the free throw line. And he's averaging around 30 points a game. This is just proving my argument. It's his 3pt shooting that's letting him down. You wouldn't be complaining if he was hitting them like he normally does. You had no problem with Harden shooting the amount 3pt shots he normally did back when he was hot.... because he was making them. Any other player would be getting praised for those type of stats.... but not James Harden. He's apparently been garbage in the last 2 months.
Westbrook has always been alpha dog to Harden. Harden might be doing a little mental sabatoge. He’s looking more like post-season harden... better now than post-season.
Ok I’ll take your word for it the stats because I’m too lazy to look this numbers up but kudos to you for doing so. Yes his 3 point shot has blown badly and if her were going 3/9 or better 4/9 we wouldn’t be b****ing but his game doesn’t look or feel the same lately ... but I admit some of this is reactionary frustration ... wish he would stop taking the 3s that he sometimes settles for but it’s ingrained so that’s not changing so ... I hope he finds his shot, not feeling confident he will though at this point Wait he’s really down to 29% on 3s ? Yikes not good ... wondering is he still drawing the same # of fouls since the SA game? That’s when it seemed like he just want getting the same amount of FTs as he had regularly ... I’ll have to hunt that down
There are some good suggestions here, but you do realize that the step back 3 gimmick offense achieved 39+ PPG on 64% TS right? Then after January, they started double teaming him. And more recently, they have been doing the Box and 1 on Harden. Give him and D'antoni a game or two to adjust, they will figure out a solution to get the offense going and I am not at all mad at Harden for not magically figuring out the Hornets set up on the fly. I'm sure people will hate on this because they are upset and want to be mad at someone (Harden), but I'm confident things will change when Mike D figures out a counter and then all the doubters will suddenly jump on board.
Yeah... he's roughly shooting around 29.5% from the 3pt line since the Atlanta game back in January. But he's around 52% from the FG without 3pt attempts. I do think he's been way more hesitate from the 3pt line in the past 2 months. He just looks a little low on confidence from there. I do feel when he gets his shot back that'll hell be back to his best. He's lost a bit of his swagger with his dribbling leading up to the step back 3pt shot.
That box and 1 is a concern makes penetrating difficult and if we aren’t hitting outside shots we are stuck especially without Russ tonight who I think would have made a difference offensively. Defensively though another game we gave up a high 3 pt % to teams that aren’t known 3 point shooting threats. Ironically the 3 has been what’s been beating us the last couple games
