Not to pile on Harden, but this is a bit unbelievable

Man I get on Harden for his D and stupid shot selection at times, but this is going a bit overboard. Im sure he'll bounce back in game 3.

 

Honest question – does James Harden wear blinders?

I’ve never seen anyone have less peripheral vision.

And what is he day dreaming about out there?

Will someone give him a checklist before the game so he doesn’t stop halfway through the game to wonder if he remembered to shut the garage door?

If he could just check it off before the game, maybe he could focus more on the game.

Call me crazy, but his “stand around and watch the ball” defensive strategy won’t catch on in the NBA.

It’s a bold strategy, but I just can’t see it paying off.

 

Calm down and grab a drink. Rule #1 of being a sports fan: Don't care more about the team than the players on the team.

 

1 post in and the word "LOF" already popped up.

you're pathetic

 

Why is Uncle Nate, the exiled Turtle of Manziel's little College Station entourage a remotely trustworthy "source?" He's not even the source. He heard from a guy *he* "trusts" that Harden partied over the weekend.

 

Say it's finals week, as in college. What are you doing the weekend before? Partying like crazy? Or studying like crazy? Something tells me the stakes are a little higher here, but that's just me.

Oh, and the students who studied like crazy during the weekend prior probably did a lot better than the ones why partied their hearts out. Just saying.

i've been a Rockets fan for over 30 years, but if a player isn't going to take the game seriously, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. It is what it is. We're 0-2 and our star player isn't mentally prepared. If this doesn't change, there's the Astros minor league teams to root for.

 

So much guessing and speculation from everybody without actually knowing a damn.

 

Durant shot 10-26 last night and had his worst out of paint shooting game since 2009...he must've been clubbing!

So this speculation is only about reputation. Harden is our guy, we should give him the benefit of the doubt until it's actually proven otherwise. Come on

 

Hate to break it to you but Harden's shown a pattern with this all season.

 

He began the season not taking D seriously, and finally stepped that up after the Rockets were continuously losing games against teams with losing records.

He also blamed his teammates for losing the first two games (not making stops), and refused to take responsibility for not playing well the first two games. IMO, he's in denial that there's a mental preparation to the game as well as shooting in practice. Like I said, studying for your college finals is ALL mental.

This is the same pattern all season. My guess is he wasn't partying last night like he would have probably done had they won because NOW it's SERIOUS. As in, NOW we REALLY have to win. As if one should play any less seriously in game 1 or game 2?

If you don't see what's wrong with this picture, then maybe you don't see it in other facets of life as well. It's called excellence, and it's why Jordan won six NBA titles, pretty much in a row not counting his retirement years. It's why Parsons was a team captain in only his second year, and why trading him away will be more costly than people think.

Put it this way, Harden... striving for excellence... doesn't go together. Hopefully that changes.

Put it another way, if they win or lose, is Harden going to be very emotional? Probably not. But you can bet he'll be partying that night either way. It's the Rockets fans that have to suffer.

 

I don't know about that. Midway through the FIRST quarter of 2nd game, he had a clear lane for a layup with one defender that wasn't a big that was sagging off (so basically a wide open lane if pre-playoff Harden showed up), but he chose to pull up for a jump shot at the FT line. I honestly thought to myself "oh crap" when he did that.

 

But the pattern is speculation. The chances of his poor play being due to going out and partying are the same as his poor play being due to just inconsistent play.

 

Damn you Hardin!

 

Since 2009? That's impressive. If Harden had shot 10-26, we would've won at least one of the games and this thread wouldn't existed.

Harden prob shot worse than 8-28 no less than 10 times this year. It's a common occurrence for him.

 

Pretty sure that was the first time in his career that he's missed 20 shots. It is not at all a common occurrence.

 

Unless you're a Lin fan...then you must care about the team more than the player, or you're a LOF.

 

I don't like the "he carried us during the regular season, give him some slack" argument. He is the ace, paid a great deal of money to carry Rockets on every game including playoffs.

However, extensive bashing is not getting us anywhere either. He is still the person that is supposed to carry us. Too early for Trade Harden! cries. We will have plenty of time for that IF we lose the series. Now is the time for "Get your act together, we are still behind you!"

 

The reason it's only these last two games that he's had TWO of his worst games of the year is because everyone else stepped their game up. It's NOT a coincidence.

 

Something isn't right with Harden in this series, and I don't think it can be attributed to drinking or partying. He's had plenty of games this season where he came out lackadaisical in the 1st half and then turned it on in the 2nd half. But it looks like he's completely disengaged out there for most of the first two games. Almost as if he doesn't want to be there. That doesn't happen just because you might have a hangover.

We'll get a better idea of how serious it is if he plays this way the entire series. It's not like the Blazers are doing that much to stop him. Sure they're running lots of defenders at him sometimes, but Harden isn't even trying to set up his teammates with good open looks. He seems content to hang onto the ball and run down the clock. If he keeps having shooting nights like in Games 1 and 2, it's because he's not putting in any effort.

 

My mistake for not adding shooting percentage, not number of shots missed.