Harden should get a game or two off!

Maybe...after Dwight comes back.

The Western Conference is so ridiculous this year, it is going to be hard to take too many games off.

 

lol

Harden should be wrapped in bubble wrap and have a couple big booty ho's feed and care for him until he is healed.

 

Nah, just cut back his minutes. That may happen regardless if Dwight returns and the Rockets go back to destroying teams like they were earlier in the season(well, at least til the 3rd stringers come in and lose 10 points off the lead). Harden was sitting out entire 4th quarters back then.

The good news is the schedule the rest of the month isn't bad. They play tomorrow at home against the Nuggets, then don't play again til Wednesday(at Denver), then the following night is back home against the Pelicans which is their last B2B of December.

Plus there's a chance Morey pulls off a trade to bring in a 2-3 guy who can spot Harden a few minutes.

EDIT: I was wrong. They have one more B2B after the Pelicans. Luckily it's at home against Washington after playing the night before in San Antonio. Not exactly a lot of traveling to do there.

 

Once we get Dwight, Canaan and Papa back I would like to see this too. I don't think it will happen though.

We play Dec 20, 22, 26, and 28. Give him the 22nd and 26th off so he could have 7 full days with no games.

We play the Blazers and Grizz on those games, so I know it won't happen... but hey, if Dwight can't lead the team to a a big victory every now and then in Harden's absence then he isn't worth his salary.

 

Just get him some rest - the upside, is the national media have started to pay attention to just how good he really is...

DD

 

I agree, rest him against the Nuggets.

 

When Dwight is back, maybe Harden can rest the Nuggets game.

I just worry about the offense. Last year, we had Lin and Parsons to be ballhandlers. Really don't have that this season. Maybe if Canaan is back but both Canaan and Dwight are coming off of injuries so I wouldn't be a confident as I would normally have been.

But yeah, harden deserves some major rest. And Ariza too once Pap comes back.

 

Yea , if dwight comes back , he prob wont pushed too hard and wont play his regular minutes. He prob has get back into game-shape a lil , and dont wanna over stress that knee. So Harden wont get the full cushion of playing with Dwight for about 2-3 games.

 

First, I doubt that James would accept/want games off. Second, he gets paid a lot of money, a whole lot of money, to play...not sit.

I noticed last night that McHale was trying to give him more spot rest times. When we get back to full strength or near full strength, we will see James playing less minutes...but taking games off, nope don't think that is going to happen...nor should it.

 

He's 25 man. MJ was playing 40mpg for 82 games at that age. Play the game.

 

you should take a game or 2 off!

 

I sympathize with the concerns about him, but we are not the Spurs. If Harden does not play AND Howard does not play, we will lose again and again and again until Harden and/or Howard does play.

Let's just look at the positive side, Dwight is getting tons of rest.

 

MJ was also the greatest of all time and had the perfect build to log those minutes - he was built like a basketball version of a marathon runner. I really like Harden, but he's not on Jordan's level - at least not right now.

 

for $80 million, you get NO days off!!!

 

I agree with giving him a few games off before the all star break but also agree that the West is SO competitive that it's difficult for that to happen. If we can get Canaan, Jones, Papa, and Howard back I don't see why we couldn't at least dial back on James' minutes to low 30s for a stretch mixed with an odd game off here or there. Morey HAS to be monitoring this - the biometrics data seems to suggest that the injury risk is high for players past a certain fatigue level and we can't afford to push James past that point too often because if he is done, so is our season.

 

mchale is going to ruin his career

 

That is really not the point. Grinding players hard during the season is going to cost productivity down the road due to fatigue. You want your stars playing their best basketball in the playoffs not their worst. If it costs a few games to help make that happen then it is worth it.

 

No one deserves a break more than him.

DM needs to get another player to help him out as soon as possible.

 

With Canaan and Dwight coming back Saturday. We won't see Harden on the floor as much.