They took away the drive. The refs aren't calling fouls. We play a game that is not favored by the rules of NBA. Their playing style is more favorable, jump shooting galore with a very very good shooter. This is the big picture. I want George Karl.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/coCuOjGnTAY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> ^Truth.
All was correct until you said Harden has a "loser mentality". I think that's a little extreme. We are talking about someone that was IMO the best player on the floor 2 years ago for a star studded team that went all the way to the Finals. You're also talking about someone who for probably 90% of the games this year, was very reliable in the clutch. That same guy was nowhere near as good in late game isolation's the prior year when he also took criticisms. Now that being said- Harden is the star player, and deserves to be criticized just like any star player would. However all of these people on here labeling him in such ways need to slow their roll here for a hot second. Now lets criticize Harden for what he did wrong- -Defense. You CANNOT take plays off in the playoffs defensively. If he's too tired (which is playing a ton of minutes) he needs to say something to the coaches, or mgmt. if he knows he's hurting the team defensively by playing tired. -Sticky ball movement- Yes, there is alot of offensive creativity that is in the hands of Harden and leads to criticism both from the public, fans, and even Harden's coach Kevin McHale. That's a product of 2 things- A. Harden is taking the burden on himself to produce late in games B. This is a product of the system that they run late in games which is a very minimalist iso-centric system which only on occasion produces a pick here and pick there. Is Harden to blame for the end of game execution or should the coach be to blame for putting together a system to only produces plays that promote sticky isolation plays. IMO both are to blame. I think being critical of Harden is completely fine, but I dont share into the notion that Harden has suddenly become soft, or mentally weak, or a loser who collapses in crunch time. If that's what you want to label him as, you really haven't seen much James Harden, and are commenting strictly based on about 8 different playoff games in his career.
he pretty much nailed it. 1) Harden play some @#$%'n defense 2) Play the in and out game 3) let your specialist do his damn job and light them up from 3 1+2+3= WIN!
Calvin Murphy is so right. In the 2nd half, the team let off the gas. They became tentative. Afraid to take open shots. They take a lead and suddenly they do these two things over and over all the time: 1- starts to play to not make a mistake and yet 2- make higher risk plays instead of simple one. This team cannot stop being aggressive. For an OFFENSIVE geared team that can't guard, you cannot play passive. You got to continue to scores. Maybe they should play like they are down 10 every possession. On Harden defense, it has been like that all year. Improved in the playoff (effort improved, ability not). He probably needs to lose some weight to gain some lateral quickness back.
The lead was built with the ball moving, especially finding Troy Daniels for the layup three. Then the Rockets went Harden ISO, with Lin using shot clock to get the pass to Harden, who then played ISO streetball for a bad shot, or ran into traffic losing the ball, etc. The whole team was spectating the two guards as they tried to get Harden into his ISO. No movement, no screens. Meanwhile, Portland passed the ball rapidly around the perimeter finding its shooters.
TD continue to impress. He has shown that he just need a sliver of light to take a shot and make it. Why not a few screens to free up him. He doesn't hesitate and will make it.
Part of the reason for Harden ISO is on Harden, but the other part is everyone else became tentative. A large part of this is on the coaching.
They were daughters that he didn't have anything to do with because they were born out of an affair. They had previously tried to sue him for money but lost. Then a few years later charged him with sexual assault.
If you father kids you have nothing to do with, you're still a super-huge scumbag to me, so f him. I don't want him on the coaching staff.
so only one guy has the balls to say that? It was pretty ****ing obvious. What a b****made coaching staff and organization. Same **** in the 4th for 4 games now.
He hasn't even been playing offense. He is currently averaging 32% from the field and over 4 TOs per game.
McHale lets Harden do whatever he wants. I think at this point, even if Harden wants to play D, he can't, because he's just not a good defender. McHale had all season to get him to work on the D, but he fails. McHale's value is his leadership and motivation to players, but if he can't lead or motivate our best player, he's at most an assistant coach. And let's not talk about his in-game coaching...sigh
