What makes him think this team can survive a elimination game without him even attempting to score? Weird.
this is not normal. At this point, I kind of have to say something. Love the rockets for what they've done for me this post season, and James did have games where he was really damn good....but the greats don't just fold like he does. And it happens all too often.
When the stakes are at the highest, I feel like he just shrinks. I say that, and the team is in the WCF, but to set the playoff turnover record says something. Going 2-10 from the field says something. Unfortunate end.
He needs an Olajuwon moment. The kind of moment when Akeem changed to Hakeem. Harden goes through that he will be one of the greats. Right now he is all about Harden and party life. That is not sustainable. He will start to decline early in his career. For Hakeem it was religion. What will it be, if anything, for Harden?
Pretty disturbing. We need to face that personalities don't transform so easily. James Harden has a lot of questions to answer, starting next season.
Tonight was definitely Passive Harden instead of Aggressive Harden. I think I started a thread back asking what will it take to get him pissed off. WTF does it take?
Harden was fiddling with his thumb in the 3rd quarter I think that dunk dislocated/strained his finger.
It is perplexing. Harden is a great player who at times appears to be unstoppable. Other times it appears he has checked out. Don't really know what it is. If you want respect as a superstar, you cannot have games like this.
I'm not sure he's the guy to build around after tonite. He has superstar talent but his effort & mental focus isn't there
Despite this terrible game from Harden, he's shown flashes of greatness throughout the playoffs. The confidence needs to be there every night for him or else this happens. This playoff run no doubt made him a better player -- he still has room to grow at 25.
