How many "in between/waste of effort" shots did Scola shoot last season? If you had the right players in that range open for the shot, they would gladly tell them to shoot the shot. However if you have players like Patterson or Morris who are just as efficient at the 3 point line, whats the point of them shooting 2's? Our offense right now in the half court is tough to watch sometimes because the perimeter guys just dont have anyone to play off of in the post, and it often is just like they are taking turns at penetrate and kick, penetrate and kick. At some point the Rockets are going to bring in SOMEONE that can really open up the offense in the half court. Until then, Harden, Lin, and Parson's efficiency will struggle in the half court. So push the damn ball in transition as much as you can for now.
The only problem with that theory is that he really started his downward trend after his first real break in a long time (All Star Game). Average days between games pre-ASB: 1.16 Average MPG pre-ASB: 39.5 Average days between games post-ASB: 1.26 Average MPG post-ASB; 35.5 So, he's been getting more rest and asked to do less since basically mid-February. Yet, his play has gone into the ditch.
Problems with Harden Let's get the obvious thing out of the way first: - He's injured, at the very least, not playing up to 100% of capacity. In game 3, he was limping around and still stuck around in the game. - His defence is....inexcusable. I don't care how amazingly reliant you are on offense, you should also buy into the team defence as well. The Rockets were way too lucky on the last possession by the Thunder, and this is going to sound like a complete Harden hater, but he failed on his defensive rotation twice: first he let Reggie Jackson get right past him to the rim (thank god Asik was there), second, he didn't help on the helper (block out Ibaka), which allowed Ibaka to grab the miss and nearly put it back in. IMO, offensively Harden is fine (despite his dismal three point shooting recently), but over the offseason, the Rockets need to show him tapes and tapes of all his missed rotations and poor help D.
He had what, the 1 or 2 days completely off during the all-star game (during which time he was probably partying, being the unofficial "host" and all...) But anyway, i think the effect is more cumulative (his leg problems etc) ; a slight reduction in minutes isn't going to help much.
I think we should sit harden when there is 4 min left in the game. Dude tries to give the game away every time. He hasnt been his same clutch self in over a month.
I was having twitches last night from Rudy T rolling the ball out and telling Moochie and SF3 to just iso. Then they'd dribble out the shot clock. ::twitch::
Uh neither of those were examples of missed rotations, Jackson got run straight into Asik and Parsons rotated to Ibaka and went mysteriously flying forward)
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-XoOI0b60do" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> I'm saying when Jackson picked up the loose ball and started driving to the rim (0:03 in the video), Harden was indecisive between shadowing Sefolosha and helping on to trap Jackson, and the result was that Jackson managed to go right through the two to the rim. Asik then rotated over, and Harden should've gotten went down to block out Ibaka (0:04).
Harden has screwed up in clutch time lately. He's made bad decisions. However if we have a lead with 2 minutes left in the 4th, Harden should again have the ball. I'd rather run some plays at least on some possessions than just the ISO but even ISO late in the game with the lead isn't a bad option. The only other players on the team that could possibly create their own shot or one for teammates would be Lin (if he was healthy) or Beverly. That's it. The defense would be able to stick to those guys more and wouldn't have to worry about helping off of other players like they do with Harden. Harden even with his poor clutch play lately still has the best chance to score in those situations. Even if that wasn't the case, this is the first time in his career where he's the go-to guy at the end of the big games. He needs to learn to play with that pressure. These playoff games are about getting experience and learning. We're a young team, and hopefully Harden learns from his mistakes. The only way to do that is put the ball in his hands when the game is on the line. He has the best chance of scoring or getting a teammate open of anyone on the team.
I find the quote of McHale essentially suggesting that Harden just threw the playbook they drew out the window and did his own play worrisome at least. I'd agree he's kinda tired though. then again, that should apply to most of the team as well, (well outside of Beverly.) we barely made the playoffs and that took a lot of effort. so it's not too surprising that pretty much all of the starters sucked for at least 1 or 2 of these games to different degrees.
Harden needs to take more accountability for all his dumb decision making and not just laugh it off as a joke. Im sure his teammates on the bench are feeling the same way.
Give him a bit of a break. The team wouldn't be here without him. He got dead legs this series and has since 3 games before the playoffs. He hardly rests.
Harden tries too hard to be a hero, he wants to show OKC what they gave up. Right now OKC is looking really smart, but we saw what Harden could do for most of the season, and it also seems like he may have some type of undiagnosed injury. Either way the offense has been flowing really well when Beverley, Brooks, or Parsons have been running it, then Harden gets the ball and ruins the flow. He just stands at the the three point line with the rest of his team standing around the perimeter at his command. He needs to realize Sefalosha isn't a chump and he should try to exploit the miss-matches Parsons has been getting (they put Fisher on his ass last night!)
IMO That is a great thing for us and Harden. Do you see how he is driving in now? He is not even looking at the rim anymore, just looking at the nearest defender to run into and get a call. When was the last time we saw the euro step? Im actually glad the refs are not giving him all those weak calls. BTW: For people thinking this is just another "_________ sucks" thread started by a LOF, you are absolutely wrong. Im actually a LOH with the way he has played recently (even before the injury). This is just to discuss what could be the problem with Harden because he is our franchise player and is almost single-handedly costing us games down the stretch.
