Dude...we aren't comparing players here. Differences between RPM vs NetRtg *when comparing the player against himself" is not worth debating. Trust me on that. One stat will track very similar to the other *when comparing the player against himself." But, I'm more than happy to use RPM to throw back into the face of your argument. Just point me to a site that allows queries for RPM by quarter and calendar ranges.
All of your posts are: "But I'm not sure (God, I hate Harden so much) what it says about Harden's (God, I hate Harden so much) last 10 games or so (what, I can't criticize? It feels good to criticize). He was absolutely crucial (what, I can't criticize? It feels good to criticize) for our team's success in the first (God, I hate Harden so much) 10 games, but after that (what, I can't criticize? It feels good to criticize) I'm not so sure."
James Harden vs Opponent with Top 10 Defense 25.2 ppg 37.4 FG% 27.0 3PT% http://basketball.realgm.com/player/James-Harden/NBA/1598/2017/By_Season/Per_Game/Regular_Season this is your MVP?
Obviously you rather win close games than lose them, but Morey is right that luck plays a HUGE factor. Games decided by last second shots are very risky.
I thought you were big on +/- stats, now your are going to cherry pick something else, and ignore how I proved you wrong about Harden's efficiency in the 4th Q. Stephen Curry vs Opponent with Top 10 Defense 22.6 ppg 43.1 FG% 25.7 3PT% http://basketball.realgm.com/player/Stephen-Curry/NBA/1600/2017 This is your MVP? And he has the advantage of not having to play against GSW (a Top 10 defense) Where exactly are you going with this? Obviously, your D'Antoni needs to talk to Harden thread wasn't an anti-jinx thread. You actually mean it.
"Top tier offensive player not as 'top tier' vs top tier defensive team." In other news, water is wet.
Right. I assumed that was your point and wanted to reinforce with an example to the anti-Harden crowd here. Lowe's tweet will almost certainly be read by Harden detractors that this is a Harden issue.
I found the following in Zach Lowe's article today intriguing. "Since Beverley's return, Houston has outscored opponents by 14 points per 100 possessions with Harden on the bench -- a huge margin. (Please do not be dumb and turn that number, or this snippet, into some indictment of Harden. He is probably the frontrunner for MVP.)"
You have to understand 1) this is a CONDITIONAL statistics. This is how we do GIVEN there is a a close game situation. If you want to argue we haven't blown out teams more often, a different stat needs to be looked at and this is not the stat you should draw that kind of conclusion from. 2) there are good teams in that opponent list. What counted as a close game for us counted as a close game for them too.
Yes, but we're simply not a great roster. The number of blowouts and wins we have is better than the sum of parts of this team. We shouldn't be comparing ourselves to great teams - i.e. teams that have great rosters, great coaching. We are a western playoff team that is performing above expectations and has a suspiciously high number of similarities with great teams and that's something to be proud of. If there were any avenue for this team to be improved more than THIS from a roster standpoint, we would have done it and we would have been great. Until that opportunity comes along, we need to appreciate how impressive this team is. Taking context into account, this isn't a bad thing. It's a great thing.
Well the Rockets have been blowing out a good number of teams. The Nets game was another one that came down to the last 30 seconds, although maybe not the last shot
