I think Harden is in a shooting slump.. and he will snap out of it. If he's tired due to playing more defense, we're screwed. He'll have to sacrifice some defense for offense which will likely yield a net zero.. or worse. We need another ball handler. How often do you see any player doing as much fancy dribbling when trying to get a defender off balance? Not very often Harden has great handles. He doesn't lose the ball several times a game. It might happen once every other game. Maybe it seems like more because it looks bad when it happens.
I completely agree with this assessment. Also I think it's easier to point out the negatives when our team as a whole plays like shizz. A lot of times when the star player(s) on the team don't play up to what the team needs to succeed, someone else inevitably steps up to pick up the slack. We have no one to pick it up for us when Dwight or Harden are in a funk or when the other teams defense is primarily focused on them. Therefore we are forced to see what James Harden is not doing rather than what he is doing. On top of that every player has his ups and downs throughout the season. I for one am glad he's hitting his low at the beginning of the season. This last game he played good, not great. I think he was a bit too passive in the first half. Other than that I like what I'm seeing this season from Harden.
He shot sub 40% in the playoffs too and he didn't have to play defense. Struggling is shooting 41-42%. 37-38% for this long of a stretch? That's something else.
big harden fan here. he's in love with that jump shot. he's gotta turn a few of those missed jumpers into plays where he attacks the basket and creates. we're fine - it's early.
No, Harden's not 100% physically. He played all through the summer. He is going to need at least one stretch of reduced exertion this season.
I don't think we have chance to win this game. So i think it would be a good idea to rest harden. This game literally means nothing. We play them 3 more times.
If Harden was shooting 50 percent and 40 from three and continue playing above average D he would literally be a perfect player.
With Harden's defense being so much better than last year, I have no complaints. He has no help out there with the playmaking responsibilities, and he still does very well. Truly a great player.
At least we know who is ready to step up and who chickens out! Harden is the leader and injured too, but playing through it! Howard needs to understand this is not his team and he should not try anything funny.
Swag champ!...I wish dwight will play more like Brendan wright..as weird as that sounds..no more howard post ups. Harden just isn't involved in the offense when we go to dwight. Play pick n roll and clean up the boards.
LOL... Wasn't going to quite say pregnant, but a gut accompanies those thighs. Funny commercial, too. Harden wasn't trippin on poking fun at himself because he knew he was about to ball defensively this year. Keep up the good work, bro.
