“James…obviously you won MVP last year, but you didn’t win my “Best Player’ award. How does that make you feel?”
You are in the middle of one of the most epic scoring streaks in NBA history. What is that process like every night for you as you go out & put the streak together? I've seen it all. I've seen it all, especially on the court. I've seen double teams, I've seen triple teams, I've seen zone, literally guys trying to get the ball out of my hands. The scoring streak is obviously amazing but it's just something I had to do because of our situation. We had all the injuries, guys in and out of the lineup. I think the streak just started happening and now it's something to talk about but it's not something I'm really honestly focused on. That's something I have to do in order to give us a chance to win the game. Even in an answer about 'Hey, you're on this crazy scoring streak', you feel like you have to defend it. Why do you think, with other accomplishments, we don't hear so much criticism. With you, there has been "This isn't the right way to play to win a championship or oh he's selfish or whatever." I get praised like 22 hours out of the day and then feels like those 2 hours, someone will throw some negative whatever you want to call it and then they're talking about that. I take the good & the bad and I just push it away. You must be hearing it. Yeah, I hear it. It's hard not hear it, especially nowadays. [Plays clips of Stephen Jackson("I love him as a player but it doesn't look like he's focused on winning."), Kobe("I'm not a fan of it in terms of winning championships. I don't think that style will ever win championships.", Scottie Pippen("I don't think this type of basketball we're watching is playoff basketball. It's not even attractive basketball. It's not fun to watch a guy dribble the ball for 20 seconds.")] I try my best to block it out but it's kinda hard, especially when it's coming from ex-NBA players. Makes it more difficult but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I want to get back to my original question. It's a cool streak. What is like when you keep hearing yourself being compared to Wilt Chamberlain? First all, we can't compare that. He's on another level. Just being in that same streak & same records, setting those same records or the first person to do it since Wilt, it's like we're getting to something. That's what you work hard for. That's what you play for. Obviously play to win championships but it's pretty cool. You said you want MVP again. Make your case to me again. Why do you deserve it? What do you mean? Just look at all what I've we've had to go through. Put any other guy in the situation that I've been in, we probably wouldn't be here. We got a chance to get a top 3 seed in the West, which we know how difficult that is. Last year, every time I saw you guys, you guys knew you were on the same level as Golden State. We can knock off Golden State if we get there. You came very close. This year, you guys could barely get out of the gate. Very bad. We were very bad. Since then, obviously better. Have you gotten to last year's level (where we can knock off Golden State if we get there)? We haven't even gotten there but we will because we haven't been healthy yet. We've had glimpses. Hopefully after the break we can catch a rhythm. We just have to stay healthy. How will you manage your next few months in terms of fatigue & making sure your body is in a place that when you get to those key playoff games, you can be stronger. This year I've been doing a lot more weight lifting, making sure my legs & body will hold up. I've always lifted but this year, I've put more emphasis on it. 10 years in so I gotta make sure my body can last. People ask will he be tired? I don't think about it. I just continue to work. If you look your stats in playoff series, your best numbers are in game one. Have you looked back at the end of some of those series & thought I can fix that? Yeah, I have. Some of them have been great. Some of that haven't been. That's where our minds have to keep thinking we have to be great for an entire series. Every possession counts & find ways to be more impactful.
I really liked this interview. I love how self aware James is. He doesnt just live in a fog. And he's a humble dude from what it seems like. Something I dont like is that he hears dudes like Scottie, Jackson, Tmac and other people discredit him.
I've enjoyed Harden's level of engagement with his fans on social media, and his self awareness this season. He's so easy to root for. Really hoping for some more interesting questions outside of these. Honestly though, she lets Pippen, T-Mac, Jax sh*t on him on The Jump constantly without rebuttal and then it's all smiles for the interview. Harden's too nice sometimes...wish he could call these media types out every so often.
If you look your stats in playoff series, your best numbers are in game one. Have you looked back at the end of some of those series & thought I can fix that?
Good interview and nice to hear Harden speak about the streak and where the teams been. But to me, it's pretty clear these so called ex-NBA player analysts only ever watch Houston's highlights and read box scores and don't watch our games or realise the injuries we've had. If they knew how thin we've been, I'm sure Harden wouldn't be getting all the critisism. If Giannis (for example) was in the same position doing what Harden's done, there is no question the media would hale him as MVP.
The criticism of harden is whatever, but the guys doing it.. specifically Jackson and pippen are a joke. Pippen just said Lebron wasn’t clutch a year after saying he surpassed Jordan. SJax went on cowherds show and said he was better than ray f’n allen. Beyond that they keep playing that one sentence out of the Kobe clip. But they fail to mention he said I don’t think they can win this way because it’s too easy to focus on one player. When everybody comes back healthy they can win
Whether he gets his second MVP or not, I’m glad to have witnessed “Greatness"! I can see him getting robbed again though. The disdain for Harden is genuine and the root cause is primarily envy!! He generally plays at another level and that's why his name comes up often in haters mouths!! If Lebron/Curry/Durant/Westbrook were doing what the Beard is doing, sales of kneepads would've skyrocketed from media/have beens players already!! Rant over.... Go Rockets!!! ....... ....... .......
