Harden didn't show up in 4Q when it mattered the most. Also, his last half-assed, ref-baiting three point attempt against Roberson was absolutely horrible which pretty much gave the game away. The common theme here is Harden struggling when the refs decide to swallow their whistle. TS% is not useful in this case because Harden's numbers are inflated by his free throws. This wouldn't be an issue if not for the fact that refs can at any time screw Harden over by not blowing their whistle, which is happening more often this season. Harden simply needs to shoot better against the better perimeter defenders in this league, otherwise we're going to struggle a lot against such teams as OKC. Relying on the refs to save his poor shooting performance is getting more and more difficult by the day.
looks like you prefer wb or harden if they switched okc wins with harden being the hero wb had more help last night than harden clear as day now if we had a healthy cp3 and lma it rockets get the win for sure unless you don't trust your savior cp3
Better than Harden. And this is with CP3 spending a lot of energy trying to defend Curry, unlike Harden who typically gets hidden on defense.
apples to oranges compare klay to harden and wb to cp3 when's the last time cp3 beat curry & gsw? before he played with harde
Why? GSW usually throw their best perimeter defenders at both CP3 & Harden. As the numbers show, Harden struggles far more than CP3.
Both Roberson and George are good at defense. But OKC yesterday bent their entire defense towards stopping Harden. It wasn't so much of "Roberson shutting down Harden" OKC consistently would double and trap Harden an over the three point line while sagging Adams back in case he split the double team. They were basically committing 3 players to stopping Harden. Roberson is a great defender but don't give him too much credit. I'd like to see them try to do that when CP3 was out there too
Part of the problem is Harden lets himself get trapped way too easily. He doesn't move well without the ball, and even with the ball he can't weasel out of the traps like CP3 can. Being kinda slow for a guard with not exactly best ball handling (pretty good for a SG, but for a PG nothing special) is the real issue. Harden as a main ball-handler and playmaker is not as good as we think he is. He's very good for his natural position (SG), but for a full-time PG Harden's potential is limited.
Without CP3, it was still a close game and Harden had an off game in my opinion. Yesterday's game shouldn't even be a measuring stick because we all know what the Rockets can accomplish with just Harden. CP3 needs to be healthy in the long run. We win this game if CP3 was playing. No way they can trap both Harden and CP3 for an entire game.
Any player would struggle when being double teamed by all-nba defenders the entire night. Especially, if they have to facilitate the entire offense by themselves. That's why every contender has at least 2 offensive all-stars and why CP3 needs to be healthy if we play any team that has good defensive players.
How can you say that his freethrows are inflated when he shot so many freethrows against OKC in the playoffs last year. Read your own stats in the op. Not only did they not swallow their whistles in the playoffs they gave him more than when he averages in the regular season.
Harden's reliance on FTs becomes a huge issue at the end of close games. It's not a problem if we blow OKC out (very unlikely), but because refs are known to swallow their whistle in crunch time (and especially against Harden this season), Harden can't depend on refs bailing him out when the games are close towards the end. If Harden is unable to make big shots against Roberson or other elite defenders in this league, then that's on him. No excuses.
You do know that the Rockets played the Thunder in the playoffs and Harden and the Rockets won 4 games to 1. In fact the Rockets were one questionable call away from sweeping the Thunder. Keep trying.
OP needs to stop trying so hard. You keep stating the obvious like harden doesn’t move well without the ball, harden has average handles for a pg, etc. We all know that. But on top of that you say something stupid like he’s easy to guard, predictable, no mid range or post game. Totally untrue and ridiculous. He doesn’t have the physics like LeBron or kd but he’s the best at what he does which makes him the best iso player and number 1 in scoring. Seems like you have a different agenda because you try so hard proving cp3 is better while they are both on the same team. They are very very hard to stop as a team when both of them are on healthy.
I actually agree with all that; but the bolded part I disagree, he has a very good mid-range game and actually a damn good post game when he utilizes it. SIL
Roberson didn't defend harden by himself last night, okc was clogging the lane last night and double teaming harden all night and harden was still able to score 29 points, harden was being passive last night trying to get his teammates invloved which is understandable because he went off for 2 50 points game against the Lakers and clippers and we still lost, if harden wanted to go for 40 points last night he would've got with ease. P.s am not trying to defend james, we all know james can go off anytime he wants no matter who is guarding him.
