Wekko sounds like the most miserable person on the planet. When Harden puts up a stat line like that, there are no "buts" about it. Just f$&king enjoy it.
There were 6 games with 12 teams playing last night. Harden led all players on all 12 teams in points, assists and rebounds (tied Noah with 16 rebounds). Harden also tied the Cavs and Kings (the full rosters) with 17 assists each.
Let me guess, you get to be the arbitrary judge on what unnecessarily means? In other words, you can be defensive about defensive stances you've taken in your 5000+ posting career? Also, do you have legs?
Except that he took 25 shots to get 29 points and Harden took 26 to get...fifty ****ing three. It's really not even close. Offensively, Hakeem likely created about as many points as Harden personally scored, let alone created, and defensively 10 blocks doesn't erase the Gulf.
If you'd like, you can be the arbitrary judge. I'm confident that I'll win the tipjar bet b/c I thought Lin was a terrible player when he was with us. Why do you think I set the bar so low? 5 posts in my "5000+ posting career".
What's your point? Harden shot 54% from the field. Olajuwon shot 52%. So essentially, we're just talking about a big bump in usage. Olajuwon had 29 points, 18 rebounds, 10 assists, 11 blocks, 5 steals, 0 turnovers. Harden had 53 points, 16 rebounds, 17 assists, and 8 turnovers. Honestly, at this point, I think you agree with me, and when you made your original claim, you had forgotten about the turnover differential.
This is so mind boggling that I still cannot believe what we have all just witnessed. 53 points, 17 assists and 16 rebounds in 42 minute of play. When Klay scored 40 points in a quarter, that was impressive, but that was just scoring. This record stat line shows you Harden is such a phenomenal 360 degree player. Unlike Westbrook, his game is not based on athleticism at one speed. He is doing it at different speeds. To all the critics of Harden, this is greatness that can't be measured by conventional standards. There is a reason why nobody has done this in the NBA before, not Magic, not Jordan, not Big O, not Kobe.
Just a stunning performance. An historic performance that apparently has James Harden standing alone among the greats to play this game. I finished watching the Knicks broadcast of the game earlier today (NBA LP streaming gives you the choice of both feeds) and their praise of Harden throughout the game was something to hear. The second game of a back to back. Amazing. And we won!
It's like with any all time great. Many critical factors/people align to help that guy become.. Dream -Soccer,handball, UH/GuyV, Moses, Rockets/ CD..It's early, but MDA appears to be the biggest influence in Beard's line...really bodes well for us.
Herp derp usage ~ lol no that's not the difference. The difference is that 3 > 2. What we're talking about somebody who was and is on a different plane offensively. Actually he only officially had 9 assists. Either way, 29 and 9 on virtually the same # of shots doesn't 't come close to Harden last night, it's not even worth discussing.
Harden had 16 points off free throws. That's a sign of increased usage. If I recall, the Rockets submitted an uncredited assist to the league, but the NBA refused to recognize it. If you want to get that nitpicky about stats, then in general, a bunch of Harden's "assists" aren't really assists. For instance, there was a play last night where Harden passed to Ariza at the 3pt line. Ariza pump faked to get his defender in the air, took 2 dribbles towards the basket, and scored on a layup. Harden was credited with an assist. In any case, Olajuwon's game was undeniably better. A quadruple double with 5 steals and no turnovers. How about a tipjar wager? Start a thread with a public poll. Name your terms.
Wish I could have heard a different perspective on the Harden game. I went back and watched it again today. The amount of great passes made to open shooters by Harden on missed shots by the team could have given him an even gaudier stat line. I am going to go back to watch just to count those missed shots, there were many. I'm still blown away by Harden's game and it didn't look forced at all. I hope everyone is appreciating getting to share in this greatness we are witnessing.
