Meaningless but still at #18 http://www.nba.com/2012/news/powerrankings/11/05/week1/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt6c
It seems a lot of the national media doesn't realize that Harden was dead-tired and playing on a hurt ankle for most of that game. Guess they didn't watch.
"Held to 24 points" is my favorite. 24 PPG would have landed you in the top 10 of all scorers in the NBA last year...and we're dismissing it like it's nothing. If Harden were averaging only 24 ppg right now, I'd still be thrilled with the move.
When you're blitzing through competiton with 40+ppg, getting only 24 pts on bad FG% pretty much "being held to". Of course, it was not entirely due to the Blazers/Matthews' defense but fatigue also "held" Harden to 24 pts on 33% FG.
yeah...i don't think any of us expected him to continue averaging 40 ppg though. that's kind of my point. he's held to 24, and 24 in itself isn't awful. granted, he didn't have a good game on 8-24 shooting, to be sure. i just think it's funny because i heard the words "held to" and "contained" to describe what the Blazers did to Harden...and if that's truly the case, this guy is an MVP waiting to happen.
We're moving up multiple spots in the first week... and not 1 or 2 spots, but 3 and 5 spots. Those are HUGE moves considering Harden got here only TWO days before the pre-season. And before the Harden trade we were being slotted in the 25-28 spots. It should only get better from here. :grin:
I agree that we need more consistent scoring options than Harden if we're going to have shot at a winning record. Otherwise, it will be a long season and the pro-tankers will come out of hiding.
I expect him to average 31.7 ppg this season...my expectations are very high since we all know what hes capable of..