George Karl says Harden is 2nd to Durant in scoring surpassing Melo. http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=10519425
Yeah, I didn't understand the headline. Sure, that's the question she asked, but then it's just 2 minutes of George Karl talking about how amazing Harden is offensively.
In all fairness, ESPN hasn't written headlnes to inform of content for years. They write headlines to get clicks.
Said this before and saying it again: Clippers and Thunders: Until they demonstrate the consistency in offense and effort in D to beat these teams in a best of 7 series, they are only contending for 2nd or 3rd round exits.
sometimes the other team isn't as good as people say, the clippers have just as much to prove in the playoffs if not more. They've had the same core for 3 yrs, brought in a championship coach got more talent then ever around there stars. They are not any more battle tested then the rockets. Last time I checked they went out in 6 games last yr in the 1st round. Now I agree we need to prove we can beat the thunder but to say we're not legit contenders is just false. We have a top 5 record in the league have the best record since the new year and have A top 5 player and the best big in the game. The rocks are just as much contenders as the clippers, if you count them you gotta put the rockets in the conversation. I'm not going to base 2 games played in the first 10 of the season, against a team that has been together for years playing a rockets squad trying to figure out how to play with Howard. I gaurantee the rockets don't get blown out tonight, maybe they don't with. But it will be a highly competitive game.
too early to tell. right now rox is almost entirely reliant on harden being healthy. no way hes gonna average 40+ pts a game... does rox have a solid harden backup? hmm...
I am not saying Rockets will lose if they play these teams. The current rocket with Dwight significantly more productive than beginning of season, can beat any team on any given night. However, they are not championship contender until they show (haven't yet) that they are consistent enough to beat OKC and LAC in a best of 7 series. And that's the important part because these are real and legitimate matchup they will need to overcome because barring some astronomical upsets, they are bound to run into at least one of these 2 teams in the playoff run.
IMHO the Rockets are definite contenders. Admittedly two months ago they were not. What has changed? Many months ago Morey predicted the Rockets would take the first half of the season to get everyone on the same page and should start to gel around the ASB. A typical Morey prediction that has turned out to be true. And the Rockets seem to be getting better every month, and probably will continue to improve throughout the rest of the season. The PF position has finally solidified. I really did not expect Jones and D-Mo to improve this much this season. D-Mo's defensive prowess is especially surprising. Who thought at the beginning of the season that D-Mo would turn out to be a plus defender? Howard has started to set solid screens on the perimeter. When Howard sets a solid screen out there his defender has to commit to the penetrating guard, freeing him up for an easy roll to the basket for a dunk on the wing that rotates onto him. When Howard just brush screens, the defending guard can recover after Howard's defender just shows to the penetrating guard. Big difference because Howard's defender can recover and no defensive rotation is required. There are certainly many other reasons for the Rockets improvement this season. Defensive rotations, PG solidified, better on court chemistry and roster rotations, and maybe even the acquisition of Hamilton as a 3 and D wing. But this post is already long.
WHAT.......??????????? what is backup have to do with a winning championship..? if you have solid role players off-the bench that can contribute, what difference it's gonna make. winning a championship requires leadership and playing good defense and offense for 48 minutes.
I think we still have some flaws 1-turnovers: we rank the #1 in turnover for 48 minutes 2-Playing defense consistently every game will definitely increase our chances of winning a ring, and that starts from Harden, although, I really liked what I have seen so far from the beard after the all-star break, I think he definitely increase the intensity on defense. 3- Leadership: Honestly I don't even know who is the leader of this team, someone has to take that role.
The Rockets' season reminds me a lot of those Spurs teams in the mid-to-late 90's. They were notorious for starting out really slow in November and December before going on a tear the rest of the year. A lot of that was due to constant changes in head coaches and player personnel. Once they all gelled, they'd start to dominate(at least til the playoffs). That year the Spurs went 62-20 and lost to the Rockets in the Conference Finals, they started a pathetic 7-9 if you can believe that. BTW, the game that turned around their season? A blowout win in Houston.
if we had a guy like ryan anderson who could strech things out at the 4. I would say we could win the west this year. 4 3point shooters around howard and a star (harden) at the 2, would be deadly. I think morey knows this and pulls off some kind of deal soon.
