[FTF] Harden made the right play, ridiculous to think he cost them

He made the correct plays, sure, but he’s got to get up more than two shots in the 4th. I don’t care how, get him running off a screen. Dude was 10-16, his best shooting performance in who knows how long. He needs to put up more shots when we are that close to victory.

 

I disagree.

It's like how Nick Wright broke it down. Of the last 6 possessions, there was a charge and Tucker stepping out of bounds where he made the 3. Neither one of these negatives should be on Harden. We were scoring efficiently and Harden made the right plays.

If there was a stretch where no one besides Harden could hit anything AND a non-Harden Rocket player kept shooting and missing, then we can criticize Harden for not being more assertive.

But that wasn't the case. Harden made the right plays, but we didn't lose the game based on Harden's perceived lack of aggression.

 

Oh we didn’t lose becsuse of Harden. I’m just saying your MVP superstar player needs to see that CP3 is off and will his team to victory, like we’ve seen so many superstars do. No matter right plays/wrong plays, he needs more than a freebie layup at the end of the game over the final 8 minutes of a playoff game. We will lose any close game where that happens

 

Warriors did everything they could to get the ball out of Harden’s hands and some of their non-shooters and scrubs hit some big shots.

 

GSW knew this too - that's why they forced the ball out of his hands. Would you want him to shoot it when draped by Iggy and Draymond? Keep in mind that the margin for error in this series is literally one or two possessions. If he does that and bricks contested three after contested three, this forum would explode with 'Harden is a bricklayer, he's Westbrook's brother' etc.

I actually like what I saw in the fourth. James has really matured as a leader and a player.

The Warriors defended better than we did and won that game. Hats off to them. Now we come out in the next game and get Capela to maul Kevon **ckin Looney.

That offensive rebound and kick out to Klay was the dagger. So was that foul on Steph on the offensive rebound sending him to the line. We grab those two boards and we likely win the game (momentum shifts etc). That's two freaking possessions

 

Winner winner chicken dinner
Give this man a medal
**** the right play..... THEY CAN'T GUARD YOU.... ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK

 

@cyberx , @ch44 , @Codman .... can any of u insiders tell us whats going on in the locker room? is any tension felt? Spirits between Jimmy&CP?

 

And it’s this ridiculous reasoning why, right now, Harden is considered by many to be a playoff choker. We excuse away his passiveness, we excuse away his lack of clutch time production, we excuse away his decision making, we excuse away his lack of determination and tenacity. There’s always something that excuses away Harden’s recurring disappearances in the biggest playoff games.

I’ve said it about 1000 times already - if not last night, in that situation, then when?? When can you expect Harden, Mr. Unguardable Tour 2K19, to assert himself and carry this team to a monumental win??? The way some of you excuse him for every shortcoming, the answer seems like never.

 

on defense, harden's closeouts were unacceptable all game. in that last 7min stretch he let klay score on him from the left baseline without even contesting the shot. then on the final play he lost track of klay and let him catch the ball on the way to the basket. on offense that last stretch he deferred to paul way too much. the biggest issue of course is capela. what a fuking pile of manure that p***y has morphed into

 

They scored 25 points after he came back with 7 minutes left.

 

Harden chose to not participate offensively, and also get roasted defensively.

He did not contribute in the 4th quarter. That is obviously a problem.

 

Whatever happened, we need to be ready to handle Harden double teams. It should involve running him off screens to get him open. In other words, CP, EG, and Rivers should be initiating the offense.

 

I love Harden but i’m tired of seeing him floating out by the half court line while the team is running a play and he’s not even in position to be available for a pass. Get in the game, spacing is good but having your best player as an option at all times is better.

 

The whole focus on Harden not shooting and scoring more in the 4th is silly. Why is this much attention being paid to it? It isn't the main reason the Rockets lost last night. Other players on both teams have been missing in action much longer than part of the 4th quarter of game 5.

More important for the Rockets to focus on getting rebounds, Capela's sub-par play, continuing to expose Curry when he's on defense, etc. Harden making the right plays, but not taking over for everyone else shouldn't really be high on anybody's list to discuss for game 5.

 

Nope I’m not doing this.

We lost this game because of CHRIS PAUL and nobody else but CHRIS PAUL. Maybe Clint too, but CHRIS PAUL is not making $40 million to go 3/14 in a huge game.

 

Lol tf is this crap?

He made the right plays to the right people, but those people messed up. Tucker's 3 should have counted, but his right heel was OOB. Chris Paul looks washed. Rivers and Gordon were terrible to start the game. Capela got some easy buckets in the 4th, but otherwise, was also a no-show.

It's blind posters like you that make Rockets fans everywhere shake their head. I don't understand how you're forgetting that Harden is one guy on a team that boasts its next two best players as Tucker and Gordon (Chris Paul and Clint Capela have been terrible this series), going up against a super-team on the super-team's home floor.

And we only lost by 5. Seriously, after Harden, it's been Tucker and Gordon as our second and third best players. Think about that for a second. Even with Durant going down, they had Curry, Thompson, a donkey and Looney, who has apparently turned into what we want Capela to be.

To your last point, Harden IS guardable when he gets double-teamed every possession. The onus then falls to the rest of the team because it's essentially a 4v3 at that point. If our team of professional NBA players earning professional NBA player money can't hit shots, this is NOT on Harden.

Harden's greatness has been nullified by CP3 and Capela, our usual 2nd and 3rd best players. Nene has outplayed Capela, consistently. Never thought I'd type that seriously.

 

double post

 

So was he not making the right play the first 3 quarters or did the warriors change their defense?