They already meltdown if he shoots more than 0 FTs. Wouldn't be surprised if twitter breaks lol Yup. Unless Harden is super prolific for a night and, like Simmons says in the podcast, gets about 35-40 in the first half, it's not going to happen. - Must be super prolific for a night (35-40 in the first half) - Must be a relatively competitive game going into the 4Q or with about 6 min left in the 4Q
"Harden goes for 85 pts vs *insert random teams*." In the article: .................and he goes 37-46 from the FT line.. TWITTER CRASHES!!!!!
Yep, it sucks. This year's playoffs will feature no calling of fouls when they dont give him room to land on 3s. I hope i am wrong
Unless he had some unbelievable shooting night, 17/20 from 3, a perfect layup and free throw night to boot, I think that 60 is kinda the peak number for him if he's really playing basketball. If he goes full shameless mode and the team supports it, in a quest to get his name in record books, so be it. I'll watch. I'll enjoy. I'll praise. But that's shameless statwhore mode. Purposefully throwing a game away to get Harden an MVP he's already practically won. The thing that is so unbelievably incredible about what he's doing right now is that he'll go for 60 because the team needs it to win. If he doesn't, they don't....but he is and they are. Doing what the team needs. Still a team player, still a team effort, still not a shameful display of statistical depravity. It's greatness because he's meeting unbelievable marks to WIN. The importance is still on the double you.
I don't think Jordan could defend Harden with 90s rules or today's rules. The only thing separating them are epic marketing campaigns and rings. Harden will never be able to capitalize on a marketing campaign like Nike had for Jordan. For the rings, Jordan couldn't do it alone. He needed Pippen and Rodman to win. He was also lucky that Seattle was allowed to play illegal defense at the time otherwise Hakeem and the Rockets would have destroyed them in the Finals. Harden would have 1 ring already if the CP3 hadn't hurt himself last year, then he'd only need 5 more which at his age would be possible.
This a 100 times. I used to be dismissive of Harden as an elite player because he did not play defense hard enough or show enough effort. But in this season, you can tell that his singular focus is on winning every minute he's on the court. He does not care about personal stats, heck he doesn't even care much about winning MVP. With a leader like that, and once the roster is healthy, I believe we have a great shot at the championship this season. We were the best team last season (as far as I am concerned the GS championship has an asterisk attached), and we can get there again and then shove it up the refs' rear this time.
If Harden is gonna go for 82, the final home game is the perfect opportunity. The opponent is the Phoenix Suns.
Wait. It wasn’t until this season you accepted that Harden was an elite player? Also Harden by his own words cares a good deal about winning MVP. But lucky for us he isn’t Westbrooking out there to get it.
BAsically . . .. if NBA rules became NCAA Rules in the playoffs . . .and people were fine with that Rocket River
I watched a video yesterday that really made think more about the Jordan-Harden comparison. This one: Now, Jordan's the GOAT, of course. I just never knew much about his 80s play, having been drafted into the world mere months before Jordan was drafted into the NBA. It was interesting to learn that he was basically singlehandedly keeping the Bulls afloat in '89 against better-structured teams. And they switched him to point guard which he wasn't sure about, but it was massively successful and he ended up becoming much more of a facilitator on top of his incredible scoring. Now, if you redacted all the info about who and when and put it all in a vacuum, one might think you were about talking about recent and current James Harden.
I don't think the numbers have to be as outrageous as you think, it certainly wouldn't take anything like 17/20 from 3. Here's an example statline that would give Harden 82 points 24/40 fg, 11/21 3pt, 23/25 ft
I accepted Harden as an elite player two seasons back (he should have at least two MVPs, obviously). In his first 4 years with the Rockets, Harden was in the mold of a Carmelo or T-Mac, great offensive talents, but hard for me to like. As far as his caring about winning MVP, when's the last time you heard him campaigning for himself in interviews? He won an MVP last season, and he was a few dirty refs away from the championship, and it shows that he's only focused about the latter this season.
I'm gonna quote this because I predict your example will be just like how Harden does it. Probably with another 8 rebs, 5 assists, and 5 steals.
As D’antoni recently mentioned, Harden is a point center, not pg or sg. Harden is just a positionless player and can fill any roll offensively or defensively. Previously, Dray was the poistionlesss player but Harden is completely on another level in all, if not many, aspects than Dray.
Article posted 1/2/2019 https://sports.yahoo.com/james-harden-winning-mvp-season-im-going-get-001337963.html On winning MVP again.... “ I need it. I need it for sure. And I’m going to get it.” Lastly No need to debate it but you are crazy if you think even in Hardens first 4 years he was just a Melo type. It’s been clear since year 1 he was different and by year 2 he had cemented that fact.
Slow your roll. Draymond may be a hateful donkey, but he's a much better defensive player than Harden is.
