Harden is a phenomenal skilled/talented player. But that mindset is not there where he wants to rip the other team's throat out, he seems passive in some stretches and gets discouraged...those are traits of a Number 2 superstar...which is who he is. Harden can carry you to the playoffs i dont think he can take you to the promise land as your No. 1. Hes not that guy
Yeah like maybe keeping Lin. Who knows with that guy. Maybe he hits like 8 straight 3s like thst one Philly game. Plus, decent defense.
13 "IF WE DONT GET OUT OF THE FIRST ROUND, ITS ON ME" <iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hk__kWf2kXQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The main problem with Harden is that it is either feast or famine. 3 excellent games and two horrendous games.
yeah, he's really inconsistent. hopefully he can continue to improve. until then, every season we'll have "playoff harden."
I'd agree with this. That's the next step for Harden. It's fine not having stellar games all the time, but avoiding the real bad ones.
There you go! Now, you have to find the reason why he has such inconsistent games. Mental weakness would be my guess. It's correctable.
It's still amazing we were in the WCF to begin with. It was a great season HOUSTON. Thanks James! I ain't even mad now
Nothing about excusing, but something about demonizing. Look, you saw what happened to T-mac. Guy played his heart out and through injuries and when his body started failing people turned on him. He gave us some great performances but wasn't good enough along with the often injured Yao to carry this team beyond the first round in the stacked WC. Today you have guys like Tinman ridiculing him in threads that have nothing to do with him - just look here! Don't start on this path with Harden. The guy is 25. Let's not forget that neither Jordan nor Lebron had a ring until 27. Harden is still maturing. Lebron had games where he disappeared and people ripped on him too. Fact is outside of stephen curry and lebron james - whom would you rather have as a perimeter player for this team? Who? I guarantee you that outside of those two guys, any team would trade any guard for James Harden. You got the 3rd best player in the league on our team. Did he have some bad games in this run? Absolutely. Might his work ethic and approach to the game (clubs) affect his performance? Perhaps but no one knows for sure what he does on those nights so it's all speculation. People dont realize how enormous pressure it is to do what they do on repeated nights. Basketball is mentally demanding as it is physically. Confidence is everything. Have too much and you are set up for a fall. Have too little - even a bit shaken, and you will play like crap. Harden is 25. There's no rush here.
Oh this thread has nothing to do with Tmac? Let's make a $100 tip jar bet on that. Let me give you a hint.. look at the poll choices. Want to retract your statement ?
lol at somebody posting he isn't a #1 option. what have you done for me lately. i save the wall of text, but Harden's problems with feast/famine are primarily system based. We run a system centered around 1 player with a bunch of 3 point shooting and marginal to average 3 point shooters. its crazy how you guys can watch harden give you Michael Jordan esque numbers with 50/40/90 efficiency, giving you near triple doubles and see his entire party crumbles on a couple of bad games from him... then watch Lebron put up a heavy volume of 40/18/90 efficiency. lol at 18% shooting from 3 or watch Curry/Klay put up duds against the Rockets and still blow us out.. how can you watch these teams, their stye of play, and not see a clear problem with our system. harden doesnt have to score to be effective, and he's really a great play maker/facilitator. but when you play against the best, at some point, playing a checkers style offense won't fly against a team with a superstar playing chess
