Real Talk: The Rockets are Held Captive by Harden's Mood Swings

Harden sulked his way to 37 points and 8 assists. He got torched by Hayward's 29, of course. I guess he is also responsible for Trey Burke's career high. Harden also let Alec Burke shoot 7-11 and allowed Favors to hit all of his shots. If Harden's mood were better, maybe he could have inspired Terrence Jones not to absolutely crap the bed. Maybe a cheerful James Harden gets Dwight Howard to snag a defensive rebound down the stretch. Oh, the prison of James Harden's mood swings!

 

blame this one on Howard not harden

 

Legit thread.

Howard is just as bad though. (Maybe worse). We lost this Jazz game because Howard essentially stood around doing nothing. Favors out played him on both ends.

This team is playing like they are waiting for some of them to leave. They were very detached tonight.

 

Harden D was its usual bad, but he gave the Rox 37 and 8 tonight. I'm disappointed with Howard more than anyone tonight. He didn't impact the game enough and didn't really look into the game at all out there.

 

look at the texans

contender one year, then become the worst team in the league the next.


if anybody is going to do it, mind as well be houston right?

 

People need to calm down. It's Utah. That's just how it goes.

Utah, Toronto, Philadelphia, Dallas... only terrible things happen in these forsaken cities.

 

it's not really his mood swings, it's his defensive awareness/effort. Too many times, TOO MANY TIMES, is he losing his man, watching the ball, and not even making an effort to recover. It's frustrating because he had this problem last season, so you'd think he'd work on it but he hasn't. It's something that should be easy to fix but he's just giving no effort. it's pathetic

 

Yea I didn't see any fire in howard tonight, under teh basketball he just got pushed around...maybe it's because harden is not including him as part of the possessions? Maybe howwrad feels under appreciated in 4th because he no longer becomes part of the offense and is there for defense. he needs to love and embrace the defensive role and play hard - but harden also needs become a better leader, isntead of yelling he needs to provide constructive feedback

 

and forgot to mention, howards mood swings are whats worse. if things dont go his way he gives no effort on EITHER side of the floor.

 

How about the prison of James Harden's (lack of) defense which gave up 17 more or less uncontested points to Hayward in the 1st quarter, digging a hole that Houston spent the rest of the game trying to overcome? Yeah Harden ended up with a nice stat line when the game was done and Hayward didn't drop 68 points on the night, but the damage was done. Harden wasn't the only one who didn't show up tonight but to say Harden had a good game just because he put up 37 points...smh.

Don't know why people get their panties in a wad whenever someone calls Harden out on obvious shortcomings that he should, and very easily CAN, fix with greater effort. Dude is the face of our franchise, god forbid he play on both ends of the court. He can be brilliant so many times during a game, but he is prone to have complete brain farts way too often.

 

lol no, we aren't talking about his offense. We usually know what to expect from him on the offensive end. It was his lack of fire to grab those crucial rebounds that killed us. Don't worry it was the jazz, he will step up his hustle in the playoffs

 

I just found this forum last year, but was it this bad after losses during the Kevin Martin years or worse lol

 

He did not have his best game - but blaming the 3rd stringer when your lead dog passes the ball to the other team for a dunk is not looking at the full picture.

DD

 

Thanks for posting this in the game thread and then starting a thread on it - this is first rate analysis.


Will read again, 6 stars.

By "lead dog" you mean Aaron "Alpha Dog" Brooks, right?

 

Real Talk: Clutchfans.com is Held Captive by Clutchfans' fans Mood Swings.

 

I honestly can't stand everyone blaming everything on Harden.

He outscored Heyward 37-29 and put up 8 assist. You can blame Harden all you want for his defense but the fact is he outplayed Heyward. That means the rest of team has to step up.

The lack of defensive rebounding and help defense is what is killing the Rockets. It's not all about Harden.

 

really despise when he dribbles around trying to get a shot but when the clock goes down and he gets nada he just passes it off to somebody to deal with taking a bad shot with a few seconds left. its like hes not going to get his so its not his problem, you chuck it wth a dude on you...im entitled.

 

I don't know about mood swings, but he does need to focus and move his feet more consistently on D. I feel like I could have hit a few jumpers on him tonight, and I'm 5-9.

 

what you ask for??he's got 37 points and 8 assists. other people have to stand up.

 

You are so focused on that one play. That one play wasn't the reason the team lost the game.