Everyone crapping on Harden. Try watching the last quarter and OT again. No one is moving him for him at all for long stretches of time.The number one thing that makes us so dangerous on offense is our spacing, ball movement and PLAYER movement. Also there were ton of times down the stretch and in OT that Harden would give the ball up early and players would panic and hand it straight back to him with 1.5 guys covering him. It ends up looking bad because he is the one who jacks up the desperate 30 footer, or turns the ball over trying to make something happen against a double team. Harden didn’t choke – the team choked. Lost their faith in their system collectively. Win as a team – unfortunately also lose as a team. We are better than those pricks. Not to say we will win the series from here, but if we can get back to what we have been doing all season instead of looking to James to close out, then we will be alright.
As angry as I felt - and still do - I'm not surprised it went down like that. Our system has not been tested in enough close games. Hopefully this serves us well in the near future.
We've seen them go ISO ball during the final minutes in previous years but I think tonight it was just fatigue. D'Antoni's 7 man rotation bit us in the ass. You have to play Decker or Harrell. Too many minutes tonight and they were hard minutes.
I don't even know what Harden is doing out there. If he is tired he gives up the ball then gives up on the offense and stands at the top of the key. Or harden will dribble for 22+ seconds and heave a 3 pointer. Standing around happens when you are the leader AND are considered an unstoppable 1v1 player. Everyone is waiting for instructions from Harden. I agree it's Lou and Gordon's fault for not taking the ball out of Harden's hands entirely when he goes into straight "get me out of here" mode. Don't even let him bring the ball up when he has no life in his eyes and no soul in his dribble. HARDEN CHOKED!
Steve Nash's Suns team would dominate in today's game. Harden might be a better scorer but he's nowhere near Nash when it comes to decision making.
Harden is so good he seduces coaches and players into thinking he is about to take over because they have seen him do it. They are all thinking Why would this time be any different from the other times?. I have never seen a player render coaches and veteran players useless with anticipation (well I have, but those players are in the HoF). They are all scared to take the ball from Harden, bring a defender close to Harden, or call a play for Harden because they think they are about to witness a master work. You can't bother a chef in the kitchen cooking, not with the gas already lit! When Harden goes into "My soul has left my body" mode, MDA and the other players need to recognize what is going on and save Harden from basketball f**kery. Take the ball and ignore this dude if you have to until he can locate his spirit.
Talent doesn't equate to leadership and passion. Harden has a lot of talent but in no way is he a leader and a killer on the court. I don't hate him for this and I agree with Dreamshook. Someone else needs to take over when he goes into that mode. I am glad to have him but we need to face the facts he isn't going to be a LeBron. He is Harden for better or for worse.
harden was ballstopping the entire 2nd half and walking the ball upcourt painfully slow. he would just pause for a few seconds inside the halfcourt line just about every time simmons checked him. instead of pushing the pace, he went full r****d like his adidas were fixed with stickum underneath
YOU JUST DONT't FORGET 4 YEARS OF BAD HABITS AND PATHETIC COACHING All the ball stopping you see is because of Kevin McFail and the absolutely **** job he did while he was here. He instilled bad habits and behaviors and when the going gets tough, the players freeze esp Harden and resort to going back to that style as the pressure mounts. That's why I keep saying, Milk Hair has done more damage to the Houston Rockets than what you just see.
Someone already did. When McHale sat him during our epic comeback vs. the Clippers in the playoffs and Josh Smith went nuts.
I think credit really has to go to Pop on this one. He made a late game adjustment by putting Mills and Simmons on Harden and just sticking to him like glue. He had absolutely no space with which to do his magic. Harden should have recognized this and got rid of the ball more often. I'm surprised Lou didn't get more PT towards the end with everyone gassed.
This is exactly right. Been waiting for somebody to recognize this. Everybody out there played their guts out.You can't say they need to play harder. Neither can the OP say player movement stopped and be accurate. Dude, this team is built on spacing and Harden knowing exactly where everybody is going to be at all times when he drives. When Harden drives and reads the defenders he's throwing the ball to spots on the floor where he knows a shooter is standing open. Harden doesn't want a bunch of player movement. In fact after he starts his move he barely wants any except for teammates within his forward vision. If anything, we had too much player movement last night, guys getting desperate trying to get open so Harden could outlet the ball. That's how good the Spurs defense is. We have played and are playing to our fullest capacity. Everybody is digging and giving all they've got to give. That's not the problem. The problem is we are constrained by a Harden-centric system. The whole system and the entire roster is built around one guy. Just one guy. Great defenses will always tear down offensive systems built around one guy. Every time. Your core offense has to have at least two guys that can run the show efficiently and create for the others. At least two guys creating offense if you want to win a championship.
