Let's be real: Replace Harden with Tmac and we sweep that series or at worst go 4-1

OP give it a rest.

You want to compare Harden to someone else fine, but it better be someone who's GOT OUT OF THE 1ST ROUND OF THE PLAYOFFS AT LEAST ONE TIME IN THEIR CAREER!!!

 

At least one graph would of been nice.

 

I'll say this: James Harden might have gotten further in the playoffs, but he has NEVER played as well consistently in the playoffs as Tmac. Tmac and Yao always played great in the playoffs, we just never had teammates around them. Harden has had these types of performances going back to his OKC Finals days. I don't hate him or want him gone. But I want people to stop excusing his poor performances because of what he did in the regular season or comparing him to Tmac because his TEAM got further in the playoffs.

 

Tmac on Harden last night

 

Lol im with @tinman on these ones. Tmac just wasnt efficient. According to my dad he could get open at anytime he wanted but he couldnt shoot that well.

Best moment ive read, seen about tmac is going up 2-0 on the mavs.

Harden has been runner up mvp twice in 3 years. He has gotten out of the 1st round twice in three years. He made it to the WCF once. He has a decent resume guys...

Ill tip jar bet ANYONE that harden leads us out of the 1st round again next year lol

 

It is the second round, TMac can only star there in the imagination of his nuthuggers

 

you should read all the old threads of that era
You'll see how we got to this place we are here today with the McGrady fans

 

Tmac always put up numbers in the playoffs. Not sure if this is a comparison

 

LOL. McGrady on this team would be like when MDA coached Carmelo.

 

I like the subject. It makes you realize how special Harden was this year

No way the rockets are a better team with a prime healthy tmac

He could never run the offense like this

 

let's be real, replace Harden with T-Mac and we don't even get out of the 1st round

 

deleted.

 

Go hide you been called out troll. no place for rats here especially disloyal ones.
Harden had the greatestoffensive season in history and took this team to the 3rd best record in the entire league. Season didnt end well but tmac cant touch hardens jock

 

Op, you mean the same Mcgrady that never came out of the first round of playoff?

 

First Ballot Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady. Something Harden will never be. Imagine if Tmac had the talent/teammates Harden has had at his disposal. Wow.

 

Your right about T-Mac putting up good numbers in playoff games.
But if you want to evaluate a players performance, you have to watch them play.

There were several criticism's leveled against T-Mac.
One of those criticism's was that he could not lead his team past the first round.
That is a valid criticism, but you also need to understand why this criticism arose in the first place.
You see, T-Mac would play well in the first half or first three quarters of a game and putter out in the forth quarter.
This is because T-Mac never really conditioned himself for the playoffs.
In the regular season, players don't play with as much intensity as they do in the playoffs.
With the natural athleticism that T-Mac had, he could always get by his man or shoot over his man.
Remember, T-Mac was a 6'-9" shooting guard /small forward so he was tall for his position.
As a result, T-Mac had a poor work-out and conditioning routine.
In the post season, with defenses tightening up, T-Mac got winded and he wasn't able to carry his team through the home stretch.

On a side note, a lot of people, myself included blame T-Mac's poor work-out and conditioning as a contributing factor that lead to his injuries.

As far as Harden is concerned, Harden is mentally weak and not what you would call a fighter.
Harden has had several episodes where he failed to perform.
- In college when he was at Arizona.
- In the finals against Miami when he was with Oklahoma City Thunder. It was either 2010 or 2011.
- In the first series against Portland when he was with the Rockets, Harden had a couple of poor shooting games.
- In the semi-finals series against the clippers a couple of years ago, Harden was a zero in game 6.
- In the conference finals against the Warriors a couple of years ago, Harden had like 12 turnovers in game 7.

I would argue that: on an overall bases, Harden probably gave you more in the playoff games he played in than what T-Mac gave you in the playoff games he played in. While T-Mac was more athletic and talented than Harden, Harden did more to help his team win. With that said, both players have faults that prevent then from taking there teams to the promised land. Although, I think both players could potentially take their teams to the promised land. In the case of T-Mac, if he had better conditioning and in the case of Harden, if he was mentally tougher.

What this team really needs is someone that is a fighter that does not back down. Someone that is as tough as nails as as well as having ice water in their veins. Four players come to mind:
Sam Cassell, Mario Elle, Vernon Maxwell, Bobby Sura and Ron Artest.

Last, if you replaced either T-Mac or Harden with Drexler, you have a team that would be expected to be in the finals every year.