Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight, because that's exactly what Harden does. Never passes to his teammates. Welcome to ClutchFans, Will Cain!
Lol I don't believe that's what he does everytime. You don't have to be condescending. Don't you think Harden should focus more on getting his teammates involved? When he does that, it clearly makes the team better on both ends. I know he isn't getting much help, but that doesn't mean he has to play ISO ball most times. Didn't expect that arrogance from you. Cheers.
Why are there two threads with the exact same wording from two different people on the same dumb topic
Very sorry, haven't had my coffee yet. Harden is among the league leaders in assists. I honestly don't think what bugs some people is a reluctance to involve his teammates, it's that when we're not playing well, those missed 3s really seem to stand out. But even so, it's not like the system we play involves a lot of plays called for the other guys. It's an ISO-heavy system to start with, so Harden (and CP3 if he ever gets untracked) will end up with a lot of plays where they dribble a bit, then either attack the rim or shoot. Ok, coffee time!
The streak does need to end. Capela gets four buckets a game off Harden's passes so there's that. I do think this streak has been on his brain but it has to end. Those assists have been going down, down (again, Capela's absence doesn't help). I'd like to see more "pedestrian" numbers; stop thinking about the streak (and MVP, because now it will be about winning games, and the media has probably already anointed Giannis anyway).
You're acting like the other players are getting barely any shot attempts a game, despite being efficient. You're also only cherry-picking one or two games to try and prove your point. Green is averaging 11 shots in his last 5 (6 of those shots being 3s) and CP3 is averaging 12 shots in his last 5 (7 of those, 3s). Players are getting into the rhythm, and players are hitting their shots, sure. But when Tucker averages 5 attempts a game and hits only 1, or when Shumpert averages 6 attempts a game and hits only 25% of them, it's the ball going to them but them not hitting the open shot. With Harden, you at least have consistency with volume. With Green and CP3, they're pretty streaky in their last 5. With Shump and Tuck...they just suck from behind the line.
The streak will end as soon as the 160mill dollar man returns to form, when EG has fun again and when Capela returns.
They are giving up many long rebounds for easy transition buckets for the opposing team because of the brick fest from 3 the Rockets go through during entire quarter stretches.
That isn't really the issue though. We are 12th in the NBA in fastbreak points allowed per game and we are 13th in the NBA in offensive rebounding percentage. Basically slightly above average at both. Where we are bad: -22nd (higher number=bad lol) in opponent's 2nd chance points -21st in opponents points off of turnovers -30th in points allowed in the paint -29th in defensive rebounding percentage So basically we don't rebound anything which allows the opponents to get a lot of 2nd chance, easy points in the paint. We don't defend well off of turnovers at all. We can't defend the perimeter against attacking guards which lets them get easily into the paint and either get easy points or pass off to a big for easy points. There is no rim protection to make up for that poor perimeter defense. Additionally, we play so slow. It's dumb to play this slow. Playing this slow let's teams that are worse than you turn games into coin flips.
It's ok. I'm no Harden hater, I actually think he is the best player in basketball, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have his shortcomings. I understand his teammates are playing like G-league scrubs, but I don't think the defense will get much better (at least effort wise) unless the other players are a little more involved. Maybe we will have to wait until they start making some of the open 3's so Harden feels more comfortable passing instead of ISOing all the time. What I want to make clear is that Harden is a brilliant player, but has his flaws. He's so close to being an all-time great. I don't understand the hate I'm getting from some posters, it's not like I'm hating on Harden or saying he's unselfish. We've seen his full potential when he works those picknrolls and dish out assists.
11 or 12 shots a game is half of Harden's 24.5 average . You talk about Tucker taking 5 3's and hitting only one, but what about James taking 6 3's and hitting only one two nights ago in the first quarter!! I just don't like a one man show, and think we do better when everyone is more involved on both offense and defense. Maybe I'm the minority here, but its not as much fun to watch as last year's team.
I guess there are a couple ways of looking at this: 1. The streak is simply an indicator of Harden's great run. Whether it continues or stops will not affect how Harden plays or should play, nor how the teams plays or should play. Either way, he needs to be dominant for us to be at our best. 2. The streak is actually a positive, because it keeps Harden motivated to stay sharp and dominate. Since a dominant Harden is a good thing, the longer we can keep the streak going the better. 3. The streak has become a negative, because by creating an incentive for Harden to score as many points as he can, the team may miss better scoring opportunities in the flow of the game (e.g. last night on one play, Tucker was wide open in the corner, Harden had a clear pass to him but strangely didn't deliver him the ball).
Three is not a couple. (Just like taking a 3pt shot and counting it as a 2 isn't right. ) I think most people would agree that the steak came out of necessity because of the state of our team. (Whether one believes that it's mostly due to injuries, or mostly due to a faulty construction, is irrelevant in this discussion.) Most people would agree that a one-man show is not a good thing for the team. It is not a criticism of Harden. Someone accused me of distorting the facts when I pointed out the Harden shooting 22 3s was not a good thing. That poster probably thought I was criticizing Harden. (Harden fans are too sensitive sometimes!) What I wanted to say was that a team relying on one guy to shoot 22 3-point shots in a loss could not be a good thing. Is Harden's steak a distraction? I don't know. It's just your speculation. I did think that two seasons ago, the MVP thing was a distraction. I really didn't like fans whining about how Harden was robbed and how the media kept bringing up the MVP race. It could get to the players' head. I just wanted the team to win.
I got flamed for saying something similar. I'll refrain from posting anything that can be considered "hate for Harden". I don't think this is good for the board, we have to be able to have discussions like this without getting called "Will Cain", "Dwight" or "a fool".
The streak isn't the problem. In fact you could make the case that the streak has Harden even more engaged to be better than he ever has. That is what got the Rockets out of the 11-14 mess they were in. The streak isn't the problem. The problem is DEFENSE. The problem is REBOUNDING. That FOUNDATION that the team needs. That is what carried them last season in the ups and downs. They need HEALTH. But they can't control that. They NEED guys like House and perhaps Morris to give depth to mitigate health issues. They NEED CP and EG to hit OPEN SHOTS that they should be hitting. The Streak is not the problem.
Shooting 22 3s,should only b considered bad if it was inefficient. He shot it at 36%, idk about your thoughts but many posters here and reddit r using it as a negative that Harden only doing it cause hes a ball hogger, going for the streak. This irks me bc many haters including some on here probabaly didnt even watch the game to know when Harden reached 30 points and just assumed he was chucking the entire game to get the streak or they just outright assume hes a ball hog.
