Here, ill say it for those who dont want to speak out

I would argue Lin has looked worse

 

this team has no support for Harden nor Lin. Those guys can't do it on their own. Teams adjusted. It's called SCOUTING!

Rockets jumped on their first two games and teams realize - hey - just pressure Harden and Lin and the team doesn't have anyone to pick up the slack.

What's amazing is that the last three games went down to the wire. In fact all the games have been close.

That's very encouraging.

I wouldn't get caught up on Harden's or Lin's shooting percentages right now. Not important. What's interesting is that despite shooting poorly and all the turnovers - we nearly won the game. That's scary and tells me this team can be good down the road with more time to gel and especially another star.

Best thing is for these guys to struggle. Let them learn now as starters, and let us suck so we can get a great draft pick!

 

He needs to develop a MID-RANGE game!

 

And I would respond that our problem isn't in the back court but in the front court. And I would be right.

 

Harden Exposed

Sure Harden had a historic run for the first 2 games scoring 37 and 45 points as a member of a new team. After these two magnificent games, some people quickly deemed Harden as the second coming of MJ and as their “franchise player.” The Rockets coaching staff quickly and fully bought into this philosophy by declaring him the best player on their team and making sure the ball was in his hands the majority of the time. The assistant coach of the Rockets, Kelvin Sampson, was quoted as saying, “You don’t want James Harden in a democratic offense. He has to learn to play in the flow, but shooting is not an equal-opportunity proposition. If you’re on a team (and) your best player is not getting the most shots, there’s probably an issue.”
This approach would be acceptable if the coaching staff were expecting Harden to have this type of insane offensive output every night and if Harden were a proven superstar. Unfortunately, the fact is that he is not. Proven superstars like Lebron James or Kevin Durant have proven they can sustain such offensive potency and efficiency regardless of the defensive schemes designed specifically to stop them, but can Harden? In the last three games, he has shown he cannot. Will he be a superstar one day? Perhaps. In the meantime, welcome to being a starter in the NBA.
The critical question is why were the Rockets so quick to pronounce Harden as their “foundational” player and “go-to-guy?” Did the Rockets think the transition from star to superstar would be so smooth and easy?
Most people were expecting Harden’s performance to eventually come back to earth. Obviously two factors were going to come into play: scouting reports and better team/defenders. Unfortunately, his level of play has not only dropped slightly, it has plummeted at an alarming rate. Harden has struggled in the last three games against better teams, shooting 33% against the Blazers, 33% against the Nuggets, and 22% against the Grizzlies. He has made 2 of 17 three point attempts in that stretch and he is currently second in the league in turnovers averaging 5 TOs per game. Despite these abysmal stats, somehow Harden is given a pass due to his accomplishments with OKC and his stint in the Olympics. His poor performance is brushed off due to the absence of a training camp and the lack of familiarity with his teammates. Surprisingly, both Harden and the Rockets coaching staff and seem unconcerned with his recent struggles and view them as an anomaly. As the season progresses, however, and Harden continues to be the focal point of team defenses, he will more than likely continue to have countless disastrous performances. With McHale’s current offensive mindset and strategy, the Rocket’s offense has become too predictable and lacks fluidity. In the end, Harden will be the person who suffers the consequences of such a limited and questionable strategy.

 

Nah, that's the worst shot in basketball.

Does LeBron James have a midrange game?

 

From your lips to God's ears. Maybe Kobe can help when the lake show comes to town.

 

oh yeah? and what was your reaction to his 37 points and 45 points? not so much the same as your reaction right now is it?

 

4 bad games - time to trade him!
Seriously we need to chill here on CFs.
We're certainly not title contenders this year, and acquisition of Harden and figuring out this teams chemistry will take more than 5 games. This isn't NBA2k12

 

I agree with this. Where is the coach then? Why is there no movement when harden holds the ball?

I blame this to coach.

 

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And that would be completely irrelevant to his point.

It's clear the rockets are running iso ball for harden

This reminds me of most of McGrady's rockets days. Especially under the jvg era. When Yao was injured the rockets offense would revert to tmac iso ball. For a good chunk of this period rafer was our pg. Tmac back then was obviously a lot better than Harden is now (still young) so the iso ball worked decently well. But a big part of this was that he was surrounded by good shooters he could kick out too.

The one exception being: rafer alston.

This is how I see the Lin situation right now. He's playing rafer to harden. The way he's being used is probably incorrect. Just as the way rafer was used back then was probably wrong.

The point is though it doesn't matter. When you have a player of McGrady or Harden's caliber you put the ball in their hand and let them create. The ancillary pieces should fit their game. You don't make their game fit the pg's game.

I can't speak of Lin right now because this story hasn't played out yet. On the other hand though I remember full well how the rafer situation went. Aaron Brooks was drafted and the Rockets looked like a dominating team when they finally got a pg who could penetrate at will, shoot the 3 extremely well, and distribute (he did avg 8 assists). Now some of you will say but brooks didn't become relevant till tmac was already done. The thing is, remember the second Utah series? Brooks being able to actually hit the 3 off of McGrady's dishes was a huge sigh of relief for many fans. Regardless, It's no surprise that the rockets finally getting to the second round coincided directly with Brooks becoming starting pg.

 

LMAO. You dudes say that for every possible scenario. If blah blah happens, I will be ecstatic. Ginobli never made 16 mil a year and was never the 1st option.

 

geezus it's not even 10 games into the season. Calm the eff down

 

Let's panic like the lakers and waive James Harden after 5 games.

 

you sir are an idiot. Harden was the 3rd pick in the draft for a reason...

 

yes, lebron has one of the better mid-range games in the league

 

Really. Jordan got trapped and triple teamed all the time and still dropped 30. Even people like Vince Carter and McGrady did. Great player find a way to get it done no matter what. Harden doesn't suck but you people need to stop making excuses. He isn't the player all of you put him on the pedestal to be.

 

hahahahaha I wish I could post a gif for this...PLEASE ARIZA hahahaha? Harden has done more in the NBA than Trevor has other than win a ring...Harden is a all-star trying to adjust...quit it c'mon with the over assumptions

 

So was Darius Miles, Mike Dunleavy, Ben Gordon, Adam Morrison, O.J. Mayo, Raef LaFrentz and so on.

 

Look guys, Harden has actually been trying to facilitate the offense a lot more so than in the first two games...he has to get his team confidence..that is what a leader does

-In the third qtr. I thought he wasn't playing great, but he was a part of every play in the 3rd while Lin was not playing well, until the 4th...Lin actually played well in the 4th other than a couple bad TOs, also Harden should have layed it up a couple times, but instead dropped it off to Asik who dropped it, and lost one out of bounds....

Look we got beat on the fastbreak KILLED last night...That is the ball game when it comes down to a close game...it could be any variable like that, rebounding, etc....oh and Harden did get to the line for what 10 plus free throws last night...He wasn't playing great, but found ways to get his teammates, or tried, to get them involved...