I'm pretty sure Harden will add more moves shortly. He is 23. You don't add moves until your first few moves get stuffed or your body can't do your old moves anymore. It's just simple human nature to keep doing what works. I like the fact that Harden has been bottled up. It will only make him a better player in the long run. Just like Lin going through tough times.
Yes and no. Is he struggling? yes, bt the problem is teams are doubling him and he will probaly need a year of this kind of attention before he gets used to it. He needs a season like this to figure out how to beat these kind of defensive sets thrown at him.
23 and he couldn't get a call to save his life tonight. And Kobe was untouchable for most of the game, as usual. Harden will be fine.
I think Harden scoring less is a blessing in disguise. Putting up unrealistic numbers game after game got a little into his head and he started playing hero ball. A little shooting slump makes him learn to contribute to the game in other ways and makes him trust his teammates a little more and share the ball a little more. The passes he made to Smith toward the end of today's game were good signs. Do the right things, and good things will happen.
Well he has pretty much been milking the same 2-3 moves for points thus far. Im sure he will develop counter moves and take the next step.
His shot selection is terrible but at least he still contributes by getting to the basket to either score or draw fouls. That said, the shot is off. As terrible as his shot selection is, a good number of him he did shoot reliably early on and in OKC. Minutes may be getting to him too.
Have to agree with this. If Harden played like Kevin Martin, it'd be a different conversation, but he doesn't. Yes, he's been in a slump, a bad one, but he'll get out of it. Until he does, he's doing other things to help us win. Like tonight, when he keep drawing the Lakers defense, getting other guys open, mixing it up for 5 offensive boards to go with 10 total, along with 6 assists. That's contributing. People need to remember that he's only 23 and still learning, still getting used to being a starter and being the man. And he has another quality that he shares with the rest of the rotation. He desperately wants to win. That goes pretty far with me.
The minutes are probably getting to Harden. Harden has never had to play so many minutes before in his career. All of a sudden he's playing 40 minutes a game AND having the primary ball handling duties. His legs are tired, which would probably explain why he is missing his jump shots.
Not really in a slump. Harden just had a bad shooting night but the Rockets starters all had a bad shooting night too. Lin, Harden, Parsons and Patrick were all struggling tonight for some odd reason. I think Harden is still trying to figure out his new role and slowly growing into an 1st option in the NBA. But with Harden, even tonight when his shots aren't falling, he was still very important and effective down the stretch with his play making ability. But overall, last game against the Jazz, Harden did well, it was just he didn't have to score a lot of points for the Rockets to win because that night against Utah, the Rockets entire starting lineup was all on fire. Lin, Pat, Asik, and Parsons were all scoring well so Harden didn't have to go off offensively but was still effective and made the right plays down the stretch. Tonight's game on the other hand was probably Harden's worst shooting night ever. I think every young player will go through this type of game every now and then. That's the part of the growing process. But James Harden helped the Rockets win this game against the Lakers with other aspects of his game instead of scoring. We shouldn't worry about how many points Harden scored because the Rockets won the last 2 games and by winning, it doesn't matter how many points he scored or how bad his shooting percentage is. The most important thing is getting the W and it doesn't matter how it was done, as long as it was done.
Excellent point. The guy could use a day off. I was worried about all the 40+ minutes a games he was playing early on, and yeah, I think it's caught up with him, at least as far as affecting his shot. And this guy can shoot. He has a history of doing just that. Harden will come around.
Sure he struggled from the field but he was instrumental in the comeback win against LA and he also finished the game with 15pts, 10rebs, 6assts and shot 9-11 from the ft line.
We could probably bench him and our other starters on our next game against the Heat just to troll David Stern.
Not worried, although his drives to the basket is now predictable now that he has the attention of other teams (compared to when he was just a 6th man in OKC). 3 defenders converge to him whenever he drives to the basket. Even elite players will have a hard time scoring with 3 defenders on him. If he could pass to the open man while driving, though, I think he'll be unstoppable. It will make things easier for him.
He needs to watch tape of Kobe and increase his scoring repertoire. Right now he only has like one move.
Are you kidding me. In the first quarter alone I counted 3 flops, two of which received free throws. This happened throughout the game, the only thing that Harden needs to do is to STOP FLOPPING. It hurts his game and makes the referees think twice when a REAL FOUL does happen.
hes young and adjusting to being the man, adjusting to playing without durant and westbrook doesnt happen overnight, despite what his first two outtings may have led us to believe..
