At the end of this serious I what Harden to take a full page ad apologizing to the city and saying it's "on me". Harden is not hungry for more than he is giving. Will always be an underachiever! Need to trade him now before stock gets any lower!
People are under the impression that another blow out will make this kid suddenly 'get it'? Lol @ your optimism folks, but he's laid eggs in numerous playoff games and series bigger than this one and he came back overweight with a coach killing attitude this year. Harden is not going to blossom in to a grinder, a defender, or a gym rat. He is what he is - a front runner, build around it or trade him.
"What does it matter? A lot of guys on this team don't like each other and it shows. Even Wilbon jumped us about it. This season is a turd. You don't want to keep a turd around. You might look at it for a second, but you gotta flush it, quick. Hopefully this summer we'll re-load."
Harden isn't a leader. I said that many times during the Clippers series yet everyone disagreed. Something has to change with him or we need another superstar to lead us.
Man, he must have been humiliated, and he should be. At the same time, I look at just how much Kerr does to get Curry free while we do nothing of the sort for Harden. Not enough cutting, not enough movement, not enough good screens. If we're building around Harden, we need to do more to get him free.
Dude you need to understand how the playoffs work. It is literally one game. You can't get down on yourself after one playoff game. You have to be mentally strong. The Rockets right now are hoping to steal a game in Oakland, that's the mission for the next game becausein the playoffs its one game at a time. Game one is generally about strategy, so far we know they're faster than us, they shoot better than us and they set a ****load of illegal picks. So how do we fix that? We have a team full of slashers but everyone standing at the three point line, why? Beasley's minutes being reduced have affected his play, how do they fix that? Dmo only played the fourth quarter, why? Brewer suck but plays more minutes than Beasley and Dmo combined, where do we hide the body? These are questions that need answers but to say its over after one game, my good sir you must have a short sports memory
So he flew back to Houston to go to a club and then fly back for practice? Ugh. I remember when haters were more creative.
Great minds think alike. Dirk said "it's only one game...so it doesn't really matter if you lose by 2 or 50" after the Mavs got killed in OKC. It's a true statement. I don't see anything wrong with it. What's he going to say..."we give up, we suck, and...even though there are more games to play...we concede defeat"? Now, once we're down 0-3, if he says "it's only three games", then it does ring kind of hollow. Well...it rings hollow anyway because we know the inevitability of the situation. One thing it is not is a false statement. It implies we haven't played our best basketball yet and I agree with that.
This. This team just stumbled into the playoffs and has no intention of making this a competitive series. They're just waiting to get done with four games, four post game interviews and be done with one another. Reload and reset....that should do the trick right? This team and organization hasn't given fans a SINGLE reason to care or invest themselves anymore.
Who cares what he says? Some of you act like he is breaking away from some amazing scheme to ball hog. We literally have no plays. No one on the damn team sets any screens or moves around even when he isn't on the floor. Then we have a moronic Coach/GM that refuses to surround him with players that can shoot. Harden may not be "the guy" but he is an amazing offensive talent. Our GM and coach are the real problem - coaching matters, accountability matters, a system matters. Until that is put in place, dont expect anything to change
Harden numbs himself to this so that he doesnt need therapy. Hes in denial. What else is he supposed to say?
Why on earth did Corey Brewer start for the Rockets in Game 1? By Josh Reese on Apr 17, 2016, 9:00a 42 42 Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports Still trying to understand why Brewer started, plus other takeaways from the Rockets loss to the Warriors. Everyone expected the Rockets to fall but few of us expected to see a 104-78 beating by the Warriors. The eight seed from Houston got a free schooling from the NBA champions and with the loss, they are three games away from elimination. The Rockets were straight up embarrassed on national TV, they were outclassed and the Warriors had the upper hand from the tipoff to final whistle. The Warriors led by double digits for most of the game and the Rockets starters barely played in the fourth quarter. Let this sink in, Stephen Curry played 19 minutes and the Warriors still managed to win by nearly 30 points. Here are my three takeaways. Why did Corey Brewer start? I mean I understand why Corey Brewer started, but seriously J.B Bickerstaff, why did he start?! The Rockets had not started a small ball lineup in a pretty long while, and yet the playoffs against the best team in the NBA sounded like a great time to dust off that strategy? "The last few weeks we've been playing traditional with D-Mo (Donatas Motiejunas) on the floor," James Harden said of the small ball lineup, "we just figure out how to get our movement with that small lineup, get guys in different spots to where they could be more effective." It would seem the Rockets might have outsmarted themselves on the game plan. The Rockets wanted to play small ball with the Warriors and match up with them. I am fine with that, but once it was clear Brewer did not have it Bickerstaff should have yanked him. That is Bickerstaff's thing, supposedly: play well and playing time is earned. Brewer's offense did not reward the 28 minutes he played, only scoring three points. He was active, causing some turnovers and even making some good defensive plays. But you needed more offense Saturday night and he wasn't giving it to you. Michael "All I know how to do is score" Beasley only played five minutes. You had absolutely nothing on offense but yet Andrew Goudelock played more? What... Why??? What the **** If you have followed my takeaways series in the past, you will know I rarely call out the referees. Usually through the course of a game, everything evens out and it's not really that big of a deal. Saturday afternoon was no such game. The referees were against the Rockets from tip-off. When they were driving on the offensive end the Warriors got to be pretty physical with them at the rim. James Harden even picked up a fourth foul driving to the basket, he had zero free throws on the night. You could count on one hand the number of games Harden had zero free throws this year and you would still have fingers left over. You tell me, was the game called fairly? Rockets never left the hotel Only a few players on the team managed to make it out of the hotel. The stars that were supposed to shine the brightest, flopped and looked like ghosts of their regular season selves (not to mention their 2015 selves). Whether it was the referees taking the team out of the game or the stage being just too big them, almost all of the Rockets looked lost out on the court. Harden after not getting his normal foul calls, he went into a shell and was not much of a factor, save for the brief third quarter comeback that brought the lead down to 15. Dwight Howard did not play with the fire that he had in last season's playoffs, he was slow and his hands were made out of bricks as he lost at least six (by my count) rebounds and potential dunks as they fell through his fingers. Patrick Beverley and Jason Terry were the only guys in my eyes that looked like they were ready for the moment. Beverley was locked in all game long, flying all over the place. He didn't score many points, but he left an impact with his fire. After going back through a bunch of different possessions, I came to realize Terry was one of the few players who looked like he knew what he was supposed to do at every moment during the game. The Rockets made it to the playoffs, but at this point they haven't really made into a playoff game yet. "It's one game," Beverley said, "had won by a buzzer beater or 100 points it's still one game, we won't let that affect us the next game."
a harden-led team and an nba championship... there will be no connection whatsoever b/w these 2 things. the minute one realizes it, the pain will start to go away. lol. as a fan, this is the only way i can manage my expectations.
I think Harden has the potential still. Players need to lose for a while to get it. That's true for good teams. This is not a good team. This is a team that was humiliated because of a lack of effort...in the playoffs. Not because of poor shooting, not because of mistakes, not because exploited weakness But a total lack of team effort and chemistry.
Yes, he has work to do. He needs to get his off season plans in order, hookups in place, travel arrangements.
sorry op but even if we go 0-4, Harden will say or think "it was just one series, im already over it". It'll be up to the GM to put other all-stars around Harden for him to succeed.
