...McHale, please stop playing Harden so much. This guy will need two oxygen tanks when we reach the playoffs. "Only Nikola Vucevic has played more minutes (than Harden) so far this season." Recipe for disaster/injury if you ask me.
So you know there are injuries but want Harden to rest? lmao he has to play it sucks that he gets so many minutes but we need to continue to win.
he only played 28 minutes last night. what more can you ask for. 21 points in 28 minutes is uber efficient.
Is Harden really playing that many minutes compared to last season? McHale seems to have it set right now where he rests about 4 minutes to start the 2nd and 4th and maybe a minute late in the 1st(and obviously additional time in the 4th if the game's been decided). Frankly, that's a pretty good routine to have given how depleted the roster is at the moment. Once Dwight and the rest of the players are back from injury(and if Morey can swing a deal by February for some additional help), then we'll hopefully see Harden's minutes reduced. It's not like he had to play all that much when the Rockets were at full strength blowing away opponents early in the season.
I have news for you: You have to win a lot of games to make the playoffs in the west. If Harden doesn't play very much we won't win many games.
Harden is 9th in MP and 6th in MP/G. He is out on the floor when needed. McHale has been pretty good about benching the starters in blowouts. This is a non-issue at this point.
That article was poorly sourced. As of now Harden is tied for 9th overall in total minutes played and 6th overall in min per game with 36.8. Interestingly, Ariza is #8 with 36.7 min per game
Exactly. Right now Houston is 6-2 with Jones, Howard and Bev out. And much of that is Harden. With a little help from team defense and D-Mo.
Lock up that playoff spot ASAP and then there will be plenty of minutes for rest. Also, he had to play. This was the easiest part of our schedule and we cannot afford to lose to a lot of these scrub teams which we would have without James.
We just have to hope Dwight comes back soon and the Rockets get more blowout wins so Harden can rest some 4th quarters. Maybe Morey can trade for a couple of good rotations players so Cisco can permanently sit and Terry's minutes can go down to keep him fresh the whole season.
I can't think of many reasons to give Harden more rest now, we have to win games. But what would y'all think about giving him major rest time once we secure a playoff spot? Sacrifice seeding for rest. Getting a lower seed would hurt, but Harden sure looked drained in the playoffs last year. I would hate to see that again.
Some of you guys are acting like Harden is 37; he's 25! I blame the Spurs and Pop. Ever since Pop started resting his players for crazy amounts time, people started thinking that ALL players should be coddled and massaged. He's young he should play. I still remember that clip between Pop and Tony Parker. Pop wanted to sit Tony and Tony complained that he was only 29, he didn't need that much rest.
Harden is young, he'll be fine. Plus, we have no choice. With 4 rotation players (3 being starters) out, you play your best guy as much as you can to make up the difference. Harden played 28 minutes last night, I think. Games that we put teams out early, he'll play less, games that they hang around, he'll play more. That's the NBA. McHale can't expect us to win games without Harden when everyone else is out.
He's not 35 or something. You can play a young guy that's only 25 around 37 mpg throughout the season. Look at how many minutes other legitimate MVP caliber players play, Durant's career MPG: 38.2 Lebron's career MPG: 39.5 Hell Duncan early on in his career played 39 mpg (40.6 in 2001-2 season)
Kobe is usually at the top in minutes played too, but that is irrelevant. Why? Because not all minutes are played the same way by each player. Harden being at the top of the league in MPG is troubling because of how much punishment his body takes because his offensive game relies heavily on getting to the rim. Unlike Durant or Kobe who can play strictly on the perimeter and shoot over the top of defenders. Harden has to work harder to score than those guys do, so heavy minutes will certainly have a more profound effect on a player like him as the season goes on.
McHale mentioned during that Roundtable session w/ Ackerman & Joel that he's been making a concerted effort to have Terry & others take the ball out of Harden's hands until they really need him to turn it up so that they don't tire him out too much. So there's obviously some awareness of the need to keep him fresh & try to manage the burden he's carrying. But yeah, we need him to win. I think they're doing what they can.
