Harden really needs a stand out performance in this year's playoffs..No excuse

. . . . for?????????

Rocket River
Trading Harden is stupider now than when OKC did it.

 

Ricky Rubio or Spencer Dumbwiddie or the Maker of Thongs

 

It's a joke man....But still, without harden playing like he played in the regular season, we will never ever see a ring here...He has yet to average his regular season on any playoff years.

Great players should always elevate his plays in the playoffs, so far, harden havent done jack crap.
.

 

Wow so many bloggers are taken the OP way out of context. He is not talking down on Harden's playoffs resume. Just saying he wants to see him take it up a few more notches and kill the unexcuseable turnovers.

OP i believe Harden will take the next step. Finals here we come.

Lets go Rockets

 

I am not gonna lie. Tracy McGrady and yao ming, though injury prone, you always felt their presence on the court in the playoffs similar to Jordan, kobe, and hakeem. we came back against the clippers with harden on the bench

 

Agree 100% we will need everyone including the coach to bring their A-game every night.

 

Hard to elevate your game when you are 29/11/8.....

 

As another poster in threepointshot pointed out Harden was ill before the game six against the Clippers.When will people start understanding this.

 

I read every post in here. Ya'll all led me to believe one thing:

I feel like winning will answer anything people have a problem with. I personally think your team is most dangerous when it's unpredictable. When you're attacking from all angles. This means that James does less attacking so that his teammates are better. James is such an amazing talent that people will guard him no matter where he is on the floor. I think he needs to use that to his advantage to prove to doubters who he is. It's time to step up when the team absolutely needs a basket and to feign inaction when his mates are rolling. This team is built around James' ability, so use them. Prop yourself up on others.

 

His game doesn't translate well to playoff basketball. Too many turn overs and not enough foul calls that he gets in the regular season.

 

Homers gonna Homer... Harden has been largely disappointing in the post-season as a Houston Rocket. There is no argument.

 

There are so many ways james can win, he is such a great player. I am going to boil it down to the following for argument's sake:

When it is winning time and the game is tight (4th Q under 6 minutes)

Will he:

1. fall in love with ISO dribble moves and force either himself or our shooters into bad, contested shots.

2. Move the ball OR start his ISO package relatively early and attack decisively , while avoiding costly turnovers.

Hopefully it is the latter. In which case, even if we miss shots, they are the shots we want.

 

Harden is a 27 points 6 boards 6 assists playoffs player as a rocket. I expect him to average 30 points 12 assists 8 boards in this playoffs campaign

 

I remember him vs GS hitting like 7 straight mid range shots at the end of the game ... that's the best I've ever seen him.

 

I disagree with the overall conclusion about James and the playoffs. In past years he would send pass after beautiful pass to the bricklayers who would usually miss wide open threes. When for instance Trevor, Brewer or Josh Smith would occasionally be on, things went well and we were petty even with the Warriors for instance.. If James came out of the game for a five minute rest there would be a 10 point swing against us so he would get no rest. James would have to try to win the game almost by himself. Often James would be doubled teamed on the perimeter especially when his outside shot was on so he would be forced to pass to the bricklayers. When he switched to driving to the basket mode they would pack the paint on him, combined with tiredness this led to more turnovers than usual especially at the end of games..

 

He shoots poorly in the post-season during crucial times. He needs to fix that.

 

I see what you're saying, but your concept can easily be defeated. You have to attack from all angles to be dangerous. If Harden isn't helping achieve that because he's trying to do it all, then we'll fail for sure. Gotta depend on teammates.

Me thinks you thinks like Tracy McGrady and not like a champion. Hakeem didn't reach the promised land until he trusted his teammates. It's all about team. Team team team, never get tired of it. It's all that matters.

Only time Harden needs to push for himself is when his teammates have gone cold.

 

If I'm being objective, the Thunder are really good defensively and Roberson is very good at guarding Harden. I can't imagine Harden will put up even his average scoring numbers.

What I expect to see from him is a significantly higher assists/possession (anywhere around 12-13 assists per game in a non high scoring game), same rebounding, better defense, less scoring. And imo that's how a leader would determine how to beat this particular opponent, rather than focusing on arbitrary flashy stats.

If Harden puts up:

22 points on usual TS%
13 assists and 5 TO's
7 rebounds
2 steals
Plays slightly better team defense

We will discard them in 5. I know everyone is dying to play to the narrative and talk **** to friends and people on social media, but the reality is we have better offensive talent than OKC so Harden doesn't have to put up the simple minded offensive stats that Westbrook does.

Harden will have to carry a greater offensive load in the second round. But for this series, I don't know if it's tactically wise.

 

Harden just needs to get back to his mid-range game, show up in the Clutch and stop choking in the biggest moments. Even in 2015 he wasn't all that great. I expect a different Harden now, to back-up the MVP campaign. YOLO put it best, much props. I'm looking forward to Harden vs. Kawhi more actually, that will tell me if he's really the greatest. Westbrook is more hype than substance.