I think Harrell told Harden just before game 6 that his chain was approaching fleek, but wasn't totally on fleek.
Harden had to throw the game or Harden's mom( Monya Wilis) would have been murdered by numbers on mother's day. The same day the warriors came back from a 25 point deficit to beat the spurs and win game 1, largest comeback deficit in a confernce finals in 39 years, the rockets were blown out by 39 points by the spurs
I've seen no basis for your OP, OP. What I have seen is a large number of attempts to come up with a reason(s) for the debacle, which remains a mystery. Your "theory," OP, is one of the least credible out there, in my opinion.
So my theory: Harden asks MDA to change things up so he doesn't wear down (and get shown up in the post). MDA says, "Nah, I think this is how we're doing it." Harden goes into a funk, walks out on the court with the focus of a sleepwalker and the vacant eyes of a heroin addict, and the rest is history. Like I said, only a theory. But I don't buy the "He just had a bad game" excuse. Something was definitely up behind the scenes.[/QUOTE] In my opinion Harden played his best defense in the post. Way better than him trying to guard somebody like (Jonathan Simmons) on the perimeter for instance. I can't see Harden having a problem with playing serviceable defense in the post vs. being embarrassed by giving up blow by's on the perimeter. I know it's hard but at some point we're going to all have to wrap our heads around the fact that he quit. Harden is classic example of a front runner . When things are going well he's locked in and motivated, but when the **** hits the fan he's going to be the first one to duck.
OMG this is ridiculous. Yes, it was extremely disappointing with the way the season ended. HOWEVER, it's absurd to call Harden a quitter when the dude put the team on his back all season and led the Rockets to 55 wins and the second round. Most sports journalists and ex players such as Rick Fox of all people thought this team would struggle to make the playoffs. The reality exceeded the expectations by a landslide and you guys are sitting here calling a guy who had a historic season, a quitter???? The only fair criticism towards Harden is, he got too caught up in that stupid MVP race costing him many opportunities to rest, which I think flat out caused him to burn out. In fact he had many games toward the last stretch of the season where he looked like total crap, trying to playing in meaningless games thru injury. To me, this is indicative of a guy who was obsessed with winning MVP, a guy who lost sight of the consequences of pushing himself to the brink when he didn't have to, ultimately leading to perhaps a slightly premature playoff exit. Lastly, while it's always nice to maximize playoff success, let's get real guys...even if the Rockets got past the Spurs, let's not pretend the Warriors wouldn't have made quick work of them in the WCF.
why is it absurd? he played at a certain level for much of the year but all of a sudden forgets how to play in as big of a game game 6 was? ok so what would you call it then? choke? nah, he didn't do enough to even warrant that. you can't choke if you don't try. burnt out? nah, doesn't seem to be too tired being out and about the days before and literally right after and so on into the weekend. so tell us what else
Agree....why did 5 Hall of Famers including TMac and Kareem (it was speculated) call Harden out for quitting on his team?
LOL how can you possibly equate partying at a club to playing basketball at the highest level possible? In case you don't understand what I'm saying...going to a club doesn't require the type of energy and stamina it takes to go against elite athletes. In fact, partying at a club often invites people to drink and take energy drinks to maximize there fun which kind of helps with the lack of energy, so I've been told.
at this point man it is what it is. it's just all these excuses i keep seeing, not holding him accountable is just disappointing. he's not immune to any criticism when it's definitely warranted, where the road seems all too familiar. we can only hope years from now, we will find out what actually happened in that game. bc im not expecting anything to come to light anytime soon
Why does every disappointment have to have some deep reason behind it? I for one am holding Harden accountable in that he got too wrapped up in winning MVP and ultimately burned himself out. It's reasonable to think that all those meaningless games he played injured coupled with all the garbage minutes he'd play in to pad his stats drained him. It was dumb of him to go so hard all season when he should have taken it easier during the moments he could have.
ok so if youre playing basketball at the highest level possible you should be completely exhausted, assuming you're giving that effort. i know personally for myself and teammates ive had after game days, there isn't anything we want to do but to relax after a hard fought game, especially when you're locked into something as important as being in the playoffs at that point in time. so please spare me the tired excuse. and back to your post about being at the highest level. That fact that were talking about that makes the tired excuse even worse. These guys are pro athletes being tired is something that's understood to begin with. you don't use it as a reason you lose by 40 against a team with out their best player and one of their better ones.
