Harden has to pick it up. And if he does this could be a playoffs to remember for the Houston Rockets. This is the last 4 playoff series for him (including this one) shooting %'s. 2012 vs the Heat .375% 2013 vs the Thunder .391% 2014 vs the Blazers .376 % 2015 vs the Mavericks .321% His 3 point shooting has been truly abysmal. I have a feeling though this next game could be where he gets out of his funk. He is due that's for sure.
The Mavericks are very obviously dictating their whole defensive gameplan towards limiting Harden, which is why Dwight/Smith/Jones/Brewer/etc. are having a field day in the paint. However...yes, Harden does need to start getting it going from the field. The Rockets can beat the Mavs without him scoring great, but against the Clippers/Spurs/Warriors it will kill us. The difference between this year and past years is he is at least dialed in defensively and his playmaking is still great. Those things make his shooting percentages easier to tolerate.
He'll be just fine. People need to stop. He is not forcing the issue, still playing within the system, and making excellent passes. Once his shot starts falling and he starts mixing it up in Dallas we'll see the MVP perform at an elite level.
This is the reason why I'm not too ecstatic about tonight's win... with this level of performance coming from Harden, Houston has no chance advancing beyond the 2nd round, because at some point in time, the role players will not pick up the slack.
the eye test tells me he is missing shots that are his, it happens if he was passive and chucking I'd be more concerned
They are trying to shut down Harden. He is making them pay. Smith lob Smith dunk There is a reason Tyson is all by himself on those.
I think the role players are stepping up because Harden is deferring. Its not like 2014 or 2013 playoffs where he just kept shooting and tried to iso when he was missing. Now he's just passive. For better or for worse, its working so far.
Seriously, can we get off this bs? Harden has been amazing in game 1 and game 2. He's defending his man and, play by play, he is doing EXACTLY what the MVP should do when the opposing team ignores his teammates and focuses on him THAT much. He's had a perfect series thus far. You can have him try to force his way to a meaningless good FG% to satisfy the simple minded fans, or you can have him pull the rug from under the other team by passing the ball perfectly, doing his job on offense and protecting the ball against insane defensive pressure. If he were putting up his season averages, I doubt we are 2-0 right now. He's playing the type of game Greg Popovich would be proud of rather than ESPN and that's exactly what an MVP does. Carlisle is lost, dumbfounded. Has no idea what to do with Harden because whether he guards him hard or not, Harden is making sure the Rockets will win. I love it.
Agreed. Last year it was different. He was passive and looked almost scared of the moment. He looks like the usual Harden, just missing shots. One thing about Harden is that he's a streaky shooter. His shot is not consistent really it seems to come and go. He's Curry with the shot but the reason is he doesn't need to be because he can get into the paint at will which is why he still can get 24 points. I'm not too worried about it, he's still engaged and passionate and that's what matters most.
It's really not even him being passive, really. It's more him just making the right play. As you said, in the past, he tried to force the issue when it wasn't there. Not so much right now.
what struck me was how happy he was while Josh and Dwight were just dunking all over the gym. He is always crediting the team and I am not concerned.
wow man. did i say anything negative about the rest of his play? i focused only on his shooting. if we played a random team that played as well as the blazers did last year we would probably be 0-2 or 1-1 at this point. but that is one reason you do well in the regular season so you can get home court and a weaker team in the first round. as far as shooting it is not meaningless. for im looking at i think 19 games where harden is shooting 36 something percent. if you think that will beat the warriors, cavs, or clippers so be it.
His regular season TS% was .605 and through the first 2 games he is down a little to .583 So far assist percentage is way up and his turnover rate and rebound rate are better than his season numbers. He's making the right plays, taking advantage of what the defense is giving and relying on his teammates to come through and they absolutely have. Not worried.
The reason Dwight and Smith are getting all those dunks is because the mavs are basically putting 3 people on Harden in the p&r. But if they stop doing that to defend the lob, Harden is going to have a field day driving in the lane since they don't have anyone who can defend him.
Also forgot to mention that even though his percentages aren't pretty he's only shooting 14 shots per game thus far. Compare that with his average of 22.2 per game last postseason and it's easy to see he is picking his spots much better and not overly forcing things. As small of a sample size it is, of all players averaging more than 20 points so far this postseason, Harden is second only to Krover in points per shot.
This didn't surprise me. This is a guy that was cool coming off the bench for his career in OKC if they would have paid him. He's the ultimate team guy and unselfish player. This is a guy that at one point in his career had to be told to shoot. That's Harden for you. One of the most unselfish scoring leaders you'll probably ever see.
yup. very easy to root for the guy. im somewhat blind to the reason why he is not liked too much by other fans. his game seems somewhat similar to wade from several years ago. he shot a ton of FT's like harden.
