I know we have been really dominant but..

jeez calm down, Harden is the best at turning the ball over. Are you happy now?

 

Pecking Order!
Turnovers!
Disaster!
The sky is falling!
Where's brewer!

 

Seriously, where is brewer tho?

 

Paul and Harden duo has been a overwhelming success till now and it was allways going to be that. Harden might be the best combo guard to ever play the game as he is elite as a passer/playmaker and a scorer so a transition period to playing with a guy like CP3 was never issue simply because James is a willing passer and unselfish.

 

i think you are really exaggerating the whole 1st and 2nd thing, a lot of these things are more or less organic and within the offense, you will see Harden or CP do more or less depending on opponents and how they perform. Hell you might see Gordon handle the ball more than both in some games because he's the hot hand.

They both don't seem to have an ego so I wouldnt worry too much

CP3 specifically wanted to be more off ball that's why he came here in the first place, and Harden has been chirping for 2 years about having another ball handler

 

Scoring the ball can also happen organically, feeding to whoever is open at the time. You can run that system all you want, doesn't mean there is no 1st or 2nd best scorer on your team, because every team has such order. And this becomes crucial in late game situations where you need to make a shot. Who takes the shot? The same issue will arise with the playmaking.





Call me crazy, but I'll go with a guy who can dish out 20 assists with 0 turnovers.

 

I think @brewer's goat is an engineer.

He wants to define each and every moving part in this offense. He doesnt seem to embrace your point how this offense is opportunistic and holistic. It’s too out of the box.

He wants to micromanage and label each cog’s role in an offensive machine instead of viewing this offense as a synergy.

 

Well that sounds nice, but when we're going against elite defensive teams, you really think we can play that style of basketball? And more than that, I don't think I trust Harden as the main ballhandler when the defensive pressure is high. His handles are just not as tight as CP3's, and also is more prone to making dumb mistakes. In a close game, that could really hurt.

 

Ya I also believe in Harden's greatness, just saying that in the small sample size we've seen him play WITH Paul at the same, he seems to be waiting versus attacking off the ball. Most of those stats came from him doing what he did last year while Paul was out, so there's no surprises there. But if we want to see him continue to dominate and perhaps even take it another level while being on the court with cp3 (especially against better teams ...), then I still think he needs to have an alternative mindset to pull out when needed. He'll get his regular season numbers easily with or without Paul, but I just think we need him to pull out something else when we'll need Paul on the floor against the best teams in the league in the playoffs.

 

I feel like the more they play together the more they will learn how to read defenses and have a feel for who has it going or who has an advantage over the defense that night. I’d call this concept “chemistry”

I view it as I view musicians who play a lot together learning each others style and figuring out how to accent each others strengths and knowing when to rise and release tension.

When you get too specific about assigning each players “role” then your offense can become uniform and predictable. The more unpredictable this offense is, the harder it is to guard.

I have confidence that they will have a better grasp than you or I of who should hold the ball on each possesion.

Those decisions are going to be up to harden, paul, and dantoni. There is no reason to assign each player an unflexible roll. The NBA is becoming more positionless.

 

to summarize, in blowout losses, complaints are:
turnovers
pecking order
waiting
not attacking off the ball

we need to get these info ASAP to MDA, Morey, Harden, and CP3 or else there will more more blowouts but they won't be 40 point blowouts because of above issues

 

you may be fat and you may be fashioning unfashionable haircut but your insight is AWESOME

 

I just checked his stats with Paul and it's 30 plus points and 11 assists shooting 40% plus from the 3 point like and 45 from the floor. Again he is playing just fine with Paul

 

in before someone creates a thread trading Harden for Reddick or Klay

 

Lmao! You win some you lose some.

 

yes, anyway a smart man don't need good looks, only dumb people need good looks...

 

@Mathrocker looks great.

SIL

 

Yeah. The only ego we need to worry about is the one with the injured calf.

Doin his thang with the Lakers.

 

does this mean you think hes not smart?

 

OK, I think this is a fair set of criteria to lay out:

Rockets win by 1-10. Some criticism is allowed, particularly b/c any win by 3 or less means that you put a team within 1 shot to tie or win.

Rockets win by 11-19. A bit of criticism is allowed. Sure, you can point out the lack of contributions from a single player, or a weakness in team play, but very little is really warranted.

Rockets win by 20-29. Very, very little criticism is allowed. Anything 20+ means the Rockets dominated, so any criticism is generally a very negative nancy move- OK, if there's a really bad individual performance, you can mention that, but really, you're grasping at straws.

Rockets win by 30 or more. No criticism is allowed. None. You have to get over yourself and say that, when a team dominates this thoroughly, the criticisms should be eliminated. I mean, really- just stop. You'll have plenty of games that fit under the first 3. For this last one, criticism should be withheld.