Nick Wright reacts to James Harden dropping career-high 61 pts vs Knicks

Just makes me wish Rockets had more deadeye shooters around Harden. Last night when Gordon hit that 3, no one was near him because they were all draped over Harden. It was the least contested late game 3 I've ever seen that didn't result from some fancy play.

 

Over the last month, Nick Wright is thankful he has a desk to hide his persistent boner from that camera.

 

harden taught me how it must have been to watch wilt play back in the day / Nick

 

I would be interested to see number of SHOTS taken in there as well - I know Harden has been amazing, but I think him dominating all the shots like Westbrook did a couple of years ago will ultimately hurt the team.

Everyone needs touches.

I know it might be temporary because Clint and CP3 are out, but having him shoot this much will make the Rockets much easier to guard.

DD

 

Knicks have been trash for many, many, many years, but no one has EVER marginalized a big game in The Garden. You go to MSG to have big games! Now all of sudden, Harden puts up big numbers, It's no big deal. When Curry and Lebron had big games in The Garden this sh-t was celebrated ad nauseum.

 

Huh?? I haven't seen anyone marginalize Harden's performance last night whatsoever. Quite the opposite in fact. Every major news outlet that covers basketball is talking about what Harden has been doing over the last month+, including last night's performance in the Garden. Harden is the biggest story in basketball right now, and rightfully so.

 

i know korver can't play a lick of D but it'd be nice to have him off the bench as a RELIABLE shooter. we have shooters (Gerald/Gordon) but they are very streaky .

 

Does it?

The Rockets are #2 in the NBA in offense. They're something like 16-6 since Harden began this stretch he's on. Is it really that easy to guard?

 

Chris Carter at the 2:40 mark goes into the spiel about the Knicks not being good and not thinking this was one of the greatest games in The Garden. Shannon and Skip also talked about it wasn't an efficient night diminishing how this adds to Harden's legacy undercutting the accomplishment. I have NEVER heard ANYONE talk like this after a HUGE night at MSG. NEVER. Every bad moment is usually swept under the rug in an effort to celebrate what happened at MSG.

The basketball world is always "talking" about Harden it's time to "celebrate" him too.

 

Unfortunately, Harden doesn’t have the luxury to keep passing the ball to his team mates. He could of have at least 10 assist before the 1st half was over but everyone kept missing. What’s going to be better soon is that not only will Harden be getting his numbers, his assists are going to jump once CP3 comes back and especially when Capela rejoins the team.

 

Eric Gordon leads the league with 4.8 WIDE OPEN threes a game. NBA.com closest defenders stats, where wide open is no one within 6+ feet. PJ Tucker is 8th. Gerald Green is also in the top 50.

The Warriors by comparison only have 1 top 50 player there - Steph at 7th.

The offense works. The math works. Milwaukee - where Bud simply came in and said stand in these zones, only take 3's, layups and FTs, spread the floor - also has 3 of the top 50 guys.

If I change it to closest defender as 4-6 feet, Harden (1st... getting himself open with a step back, lol), CP3, Gordon and Tucker are all in the top 50.

Now, if I go to closest defender within two feet - defined as VERY TIGHT, there are still 4 Rockets in the top 50. Which makes sense. The Rockets just jack threes. HOWEVER, bear in mind, EG is the highest on this list, shooting ONLY 0.2 3's a game this tightly contested. We're talking small numbers here. Kemba leads the league with half a game.

Similarly on just TIGHT, which is closest defender 2-4 feet, yes, Harden leads the league here by a wide mile at 5.4 threes a game. The next Rocket is Gerald Green at 1.3 a game.

So aside from Harden, not a single Rocket is taking more than 1.5 guarded threes a game.

They all get open shots... they're just not all the greatest shooters.

 

So you'd be okay with James passing more to teammates during games when they're not hitting their shots? And you don't mind the couple extra losses we'd have, and our lower seeding come playoff time?

 

I hate people like him.
When your superstar is carrying a bunch of scrubs night in and night out...you got people here complaining about getting everyone involved. WHO THE FK CARES!?!? We are looking for wins! This is not YMCA participation ball. Geez.
Ask me if I give a damn if harden took 100 shots and scored 120 by himself. NOPE.

 

DD has long held a bit of an anti-Harden slant. I think it's because he likes old-school effort guys who bust their ass every play, regardless of tangible results. I don't want to waste time digging through old threads, but I'd bet he was a big Ryan Bowen fan. Because Harden used to play defense sporadically, DD still holds a grudge and seems determined to find fault even during this historic, unprecedented (except for Wilt) run.

Harden at times seems to be coasting on the court, but he probably exerts more effort during a typical game than anyone on the team, with the possible exception of PJ.

 

man I wish we had a Steve Novak now...

 

Don't fall into the DaDakota Trap
If Harden passed it more and we resultantly lost more
He would be screaming about Harden doesn't take the lead
and is passive .. . not willing to take the shot

blah blah blah

Rocket River

 

I would like to argue that this stat line is misleading since most of those teammate minutes are happening at the same time that Harden is scoring 1.36 pts/minute however the eye test tells me that literally no one on this team can seem to manufacturer a reliable shot so the stat may be true. Harden EASILY could have had another triple double if his teammates would not airball wide open shots.

 

I would be curious as to how many of the teammates points are assisted

Rocket River