Portland plays competitive games with the Warriors. The same cannot be said of the Rockets. Team > Hero
Portland have none of those guys and they are still winning games. I mean seriously, if anyone of you can come out with a quote from 2015 offseason that you predicted Portland to do this well, then you win the internet. Nobody thought Portland had a good team coming into this season and suddenly their supporting cast are all rockstars and the returning players on a WCF are all scrubs.
Apparently Lillard led the team by shooting 7/24, below 30%, and being selfish in clutch moments, ignoring CJ's hot hand.
You can argue about who is better all day long (I dont think Lilliard is close to Harden at all) but I can guarantee you THIS: Lilliard wont get killed in the media like Harden would. Lilliard was way too selfish this series and he took alot of ill-advised shots (even if some of them went in) and his defense wasnt any good either. All you are gonna hear tomorrow is how they lost 4 guys in the off-season lol nevermind that they brought in Aminu, Harkless, and Ed Davis. But who wants to have facts get in the way of a great exaggeration, right?
WTF? Have you watched LaMarcus Aldridge in San Antonio, dude is practically doing everything for the Spurs, and Kawhi is helping Matthews still doing a fine job in Dallas while Batum has helped the Hornets tremendously Major losses Portland is a myth, they lost so much and are still pretty competitive against one of the best teams in history!
Yes u can absolutely credit Harden for his clutch makes in many close games which the rox should have lost. I remember many of those... Com'on, winning like 66-60 to a hapless thunders? Tons of moral losses which turned W last season gave them the carpet to the 2nd seed, and then WCF. Also, whenever ppl spew rhetorics like Harden carried them to WCF, I always roll my eyes because Harden was the one who GAVE UP in the penultimate quarter of an elimination game. Josh, Pringles and Howard were the ones who won the series back from a blow out. Rox got lucky to face the immature attitude of the clips. Crawford just admitted recently they were looking at the next round instead of the rox at the time. This was the lucky team last season. But the dubs were lucky to not face clips or Spurs. They ain't even that good.
Mentally, yes he's better. As a player, no, not yet. But mentally strong players with talent seems to have more playoff success rather than only talented players like Harden, Melo, Ellis vs. When they're both retired, I think Lilliard will be more respected. He has more hunger for the game, better killer instinct and very talented.
Lillard is already more respected now, esp after this series. Also, Haren's defense highlight reels don't help. I forgot which player/teammate was asked about whether the social media Haren reels affects how to play Haren, the player's like we don't need those YouTube vids, we are the first ones to watch this **** in team film sessions... It ain't any special secret bro. It also seems like some of the main subjects in the player only meetings had to do with addressing Haren's D and/or lack of movement in offense. If his own teammates don't respect the man that much, even showing strong body language on the court about it, any hope for the man's legacy is pretty grim.
Lillard is better than Harden simply because he wants it more. Frauden climbed and climbed the mountain, almost reaching the peak before finding a bunch of big booty Eskimo strippers and A1 steak sauce. Now he's just rolling his fat *** to the bottom
Yes but Lillard led his team to getting waxed by the Warriors in 5 games WITH DIGNITY. It's different
It's definitely different. Rockets competing against a 70 win team last year 4-1 was reason for hope. Rockets getting blown out without curry this year 4-1, let's blow up the team. To pretend it's not is just dumb.
Lukewarm hot take - I give you only 5 fireballs out of 10 - that's basically half-asleep Mike Fratello rather than full on Bayless. You can do better, try harderer.
In the 4Q of yesterday's game, Lillard 5 Points FG 1/7 (14.3%) Mccollum 16 points FG 6/10 (60%) Guess who didn't trust his teammate and jacked up the last crucial shot only to miss
Anyone see CJ McCollum GO OFF against a top tier defensive team in the 4th quarter? Let me know who outside of Harden is capable of doing that for the Rockets. Probably Michael Beasley? Lol
