never plays in May In the regular season plays every other game Has mysterious injuries no rockets doctors can verify Only played 20 total playoff games as a rocket No olympics And always goes fishing early on TNT
Pretty much true for Yao Ming, too, another former beloved Rocket. (Minus the olympics). Harden has great endurance and durability - sucks for all of us that other stars didn't.
I forgive Tmac for all his transgressions against this city, but I don't get the love he gets from some. Harden thus far has shown to be every bit as good as Tmac was, but has been dramatically discounted by so many around here.
Harden can't quite endure for a deep playoff run but effortlessly fails. He puts no effort in critical moments... That or Les has put out instructions to quit early. I think it might be the latter. First owner in sports history that has clearly instructed his team to quit because he didn't feel like they should continue. (I made enough money time to throw up the white flag guys, it's over alrite.)
Recency bias. Harden's transgressions are still fresh and hot. Tmac's are old and stale. Is this founded on any evidence?
TBF, the farthest we got with Tmac was the year we lost in the second round to the Lakers and mac was injured. Again, look at usage and help. The narrative that Harden is surrounded by snipers was dispelled in this series and shows how much work he actually has to do 82 games a season. Not that James has turds around him either, it's just it takes work. We need another star, I would say a good big or wing, to help improve. Mac had Yao. Jesus, Yao and Harden would have destroyed the NBA. Durant would have come to Houston after they swept OKC with a Harden and Yao connection.
Revisionist history. Basketball takes a lot more than just two stars. It takes the right balance of a lot of factors, including opponent matchups. The team that took the Lakers to 7 had Brooks, Landry, Scola, Artest, Battier, etc. Earlier iterations of the Yao-TMac Rockets were giving major minutes to complete zeroes on offense. What do you know about NBA spacing that makes you think ANYONE could score with Luther Head, Chuck Hayes, Dikembe Mutombo and the corpse of Bobby Jackson on the floor? Those godawful Jazz teams of the late 2000's had the perfect guys to harass, flop, and run circles around Yao (Okur, Boozer) and the right guys to hack/harass/tackle everyone else (Kirilenko, Harpring, Fisher) which is how they were able to bounce the 2-players-deep Rockets but get smashed in later rounds. The 2005 Mavericks series had infamously suspect officiating adjustments and prime Dirk Nowitski being guarded by Ryan Bowen while Dallas could throw Dampier at Yao and run circles around our guards. It's silly to sit here and just simplify things so much. Sometimes crap just happens in the playoffs. To this day I think the Chris Webber Kings should have a ring (if not for some shady Lakers stuff), the Steve Nash Suns should have a ring (if not for some shady Spurs stuff), the Rockets should have a ring if not for injuries to Mac, Mutombo, and Yao at the same time. But it's dumb to waste any time sitting here saying "should've done, could've done." It happened. Harden's epic OT + elimination game meltdown happened. Time to write off another season and look forward to whatever comes next.
It's a great day for McGrady fans Because their jealousy of Harden is strong I'm sure they are holding hands with Lin fans dancing away the night and singing karaoke to hits by Miley Cyrus
Nostalgia is a powerful drug. Don't worry, if you're a Harden fan 15 years from now people will be dogging the current Rockets best player going "He wasn't Harden! He'll never be Harden!"
The thing about Harden is, like Tmac, I could argue both the positive and the negative side. Harden has otherworldy talent but fatal flaws. The reason so many fans complain is that they want to see the flaws addressed. We Rockets fans know how short and fleeting careers can be. We can't ever just take a playoff run for granted.
McGrady was an all star before he came to Houston and had lots of loyal fans When he joined the rockets his fans invaded Clutchfans This is the same thing as what happened with Lin except Lin sucked and his fans were like roaches The McGrady fans hate Harden It's just jealousy Same way they felt about Kobe Bryant
Lol when did tmac leave the rockets? Year ago right? Well if those fans of his are still here then it means they are watching for the Rockets because he's long gone right? Maybe we Rocket fans deserve better and had higher expectations from our superstar who we know for a fact can play better! No excuses!
No excuses for Harden And no lies and fake scenarios for Tmac fans And I hate Harden Only Fans Hakeem was never obsolete in elimination games
