This was apparent before tonight, but I don't have a single doubt that this costs us every single game. Somehow, some way, we've been winning in spite of it. It doesn't fly versus the Spurs though. No, this isn't a Harden bashing thread. Harden is great. He's improved in every facet of the game this year. Even his dreaded turnovers are no longer that big of a deal. But this issue is a major problem still. This offense is so amazing. He needs to just run it every play. He does that, until the last minute of every quarter and the last 3 minutes of the 4th. To clarify: milking the clock is good. Starting your move as late into the shot clock as Harden does is not! It has to stop. Years of bad habits under McHale caused this. It really sucks. It kills all of our momentum when he does it. I completely blame McHale for this. James Harden, PLEASE stop playing hero ball! It kills this team.
Oh well ... after a loss to the best defensive and well coached team. Harden is fine with the way how he plays.
Heroball is the appropriate call when you are trying to milk the clock, sorry to burst your narrative.
^^ Agreed , but in general NBA basketball devolves into this at the end of games . The defense is engineered to make harden do this . I don't mind the hero ball at all IF ... He's taking it to the rack . He was getting hammered tonight with no call and that influenced his decision making . He is a willing passer , but our shooters just couldn't connect tonight man .
You can milk the clock and still run an offense in the last 8 seconds. He holds the ball until the 4 second mark before starting a move. His move starts way too late! It's unfortunate that you are completely blind and have the inability to see any mistakes.
My mind is still racing but could OP provide us some evidence that Harden played hero ball at the end of the game to the detriment?
You can run a play that correlates with how much time is left on the clock. I guarantee you that if the Spurs were in the exact same position, more than one player would have touched the ball on a final possession. Heroball is what happens when you don't know what you're doing on offense.
You mean when he literally held the ball for 20 seconds, then tried to shake LMA but couldn't for 3 seconds, and then jacked up an airball in the final second?
Slow it down, take your meds. I agree he should start the offense moving sooner. I disagree with your insults for no reason.
Incorrect, you can runs plays, but they are more variable when it comes to clock management and when or if a shot is going to get off. It also leaves your players in odd positions to be able to react and get back on defense if needed. Isolations, or heroball, as you like to call it, is the best way to drain the clock and is appropriate for late game close situations, such as what just occurred with the Spurs.
Milking the clock? When you have the best one v one player in the league, that would be a play you run. That's not heroball.
This is the harsh reality that some of you Harden homer are going to have to accept. Harden is not a good pressure ball handler. He dribbles high and lazy often. Patrick Beverly is a better pressure ball handler than Harden. Harden is a natural scoring guard. He's always going to be turnover over prone in pressure situations. If the Rockets accept reality, they would bring in a veteran pg who is used to handling the ball for these stretches where teams full court press in late game situations.
Please STFU. Harden damn near got a triple doubles and he is the one you blame. Meanwhile Ryno plays like absolute dog **** and you stay silent. Fukk you and the vagina you fell out of.
I have been been saying this all damn year but we have been winning close games so it's being swept under the rug. He's killing the offense late in the 4th and he's shooting awful. Hero ball doesn't buil is the leads team ball does. He's not Lebron or Curry he can't bully his way into the lane or make a contested 3s consistently do be doing this in crunch time. He needs to realize this and use his teammates.
He's our closer! So we have to accept it... It seems though that he does it more when we are up comfortably than if we're behind trying to play catchup.. Which is weird.. So I'd say, he has to improve his awareness of certain situations..
I've said this so many times! I hate the way Harden plays in the last 2 or 3 minutes of the 4th, It's sloppy, selfish, and slow.
Meh.... the Rockets shot sub 40% from the field, they shot 15% from 3.... they were playing without their starting center... and lost 102-100 to the Spurs. I am not worried about it. If anything this game only made me feel more confident that the Rockets are a good basketball team and not just on a hot streak.
