'Houston’s shortcomings might have had more to do with mentality than pure talent'

No. We won games 3&4 with our backs against the wall and CP3 having an average game. It was a close series and we didn't have enough.

One of the games we won required Steph to play the worst game of his career. LeBron who has plenty of 'inner dawg' lost to these guys three times out of four in the finals.

It's like us getting upset for losing to Jordan and the Bulls in the finals. They are on another level defensively and offensively.

If Draymond didn't lose all that weight for the postseason we would have won.

 

Rockets had favorable refs. Both Curry and Draymond were in foul trouble.

 

Or maybe... We overachieved with a moderately talented roster, and when we played a team that our roster couldn't beat in a 7-game series, it looks a lot more like a deficient playoff mentality.

 

Nope. Harden doesn't get to decide how many minutes Capela and Rivers gets. That's MDA and the series loss is completely on him.

 

I was thinking of that exact same example...Harden when it sort of matters? Can and does incredible things on the regular. But when it matters the very most...put the last 5 mins of game 5,6 and that OT classic against GSW side by side and tell me it's not a chasm of a difference in sheer heart and want-to? It's almost like you should hire someone courtside to call him a b***tch or something right to his face to snap him out of it.

 

Because our coach doesn’t coach, like he stated PUBLICLY!

 

The harden hate is ridiculous

We have a guy in this thread saying he forced MDA to rely on him in the regular season . What a ridiculous take !!

If you want one example for harden being willing to do anything and everything for the team look no further than his defense . This series was the best defense I've ever seen him play .

MDA's system is give the ball to James and get out of the way . He jokes about that all of the time .

Meanwhile GS runs plays to get their guys shots . Not get them the ball at half court and hope they create something .

Frankly , it was our hustle and defense that made this a series . I know we couldn't stop curry at the end , but curry scored 0 !!! In the first half and we were tied . Our offense was sputtering all series . Some of that is because GS is a great defensive team with 4 elite man defenders to throw at harden . Some of that is because Harden/Paul ISO is basically our only offensive strategy .

Harden ****ed up at the end of game 6 no question .... but he was the only one that showed up in the first half and the only guy that consistently showed up games 1-5

The hate is strong (even on our own board)

Harden won't be appropriately respected until he wins .

I don't think MDA will ever win . Too apt to stick to his guns even when things are falling apart .

We had multiple chances to build a big lead last game and we would let the warriors go on a mini run to even the game back up . MDA never called a TO in an attempt to stop those runs .

IIRC those runs happened when we could not generate good shots and GS got out in transition . All it takes is for MDA to draw up the next couple of plays to "guarantee" good looks .

 

Here is the thing . . . . Harden is probably one of the most coachable players in the NBA
At this point he has been limited and freed by his coaches
DanToni did NOT put the team in to a position to win
PERIOD

Trade HArden with Kyrie . . .. . Celtics are in the Finals
Trade HArden with DeRozen and the Spurs are in the Finals
Trade HArden with GIannis .. . . and they still win 61 games and be in the finals
Honestly. . .Trade HArden with LeBron and the Lakers at least make the playoffs

Rocket River .

 

Its true, you can see it on our team faces all game 6. Like we saw on Game 7 last year, they never really believed.

We need a stronger coach and someone who understands and can lead and challenge Harden.

How many more years does he has to lose to adapt?

 

So D'Antoni should coach confidence?

 

How many times did this team blow a lead? They are soft and complacent. Harden is a great player, but he doesn’t have that Kobe Bryant/Michael Jordan killer instinct. I think you can win with Harden, but he’s not going to do it alone, and the supporting players around him just didn’t pick him up. This group can’t do it, they need a culture change and some upgraded roster help but I don’t see how they can pull that off given the current salary constraints.