Nick Wright on James Harden is the 'best offensive player' D'Antoni ever seen

you haven't answered my question a couple of pages back if GSW can win a chip with Harden with their best player

simple Yes or No

is that so hard to answer?

 

"Us" meaning who ?

You can't be speaking Houston Fans since you are NOT one.

Let that be known - even more - in your "battlefighting" jab.

You are a FAKE Houston Fan.

 

Dear god Harden for George who is like 3 levels below Harden? Yuck

 

Thought this was an OBVIOUS "yes".

.413 or nah ?

 

You guys are getting along well I see.

 

Cool story, sam. I'm simply pointing out how Harden's past performance in clutch playoff situations has been littered with sub-standard production. it's super neat that harden sits atop the franchise leader board in "all relevant categories," bc everyone knows that if you sit atop the houston rockets leader board, a leader board populated with soooooo many all time HOF-level champions not named olajuwon, then there is NO WAY one could struggle in clutch playoff performances. i mean Melo certainly sits on top of the nuggets playoff leader board so he must be an all time great clutch-time playoff performer as well, right? that's the metric we're using, right? "historical franchise leader board" cumulative metrics are THE metrics to analyze clutch playoff performances, everyone knows that.

but please, continue the like clockwork "in-depthly illustrative sam fisher verbal diarrhea analogous" schtick. it NEVER gets tired and certainly hasn't made you completely insufferable.

 

it has more to do with the heaviest burden around the league Harden has to single handedly carry for 82 games plus the playoffs than Harden himself

 

wow a "harden can never win a 'chip even he was the best player on GSW" fan

fight the good fight

 

I looked at Harden's production in elimination games while with the Rockets. It's like 24 ppg, 6 apg, 5 rpg, 5 tpg, 2.5 spg, on 37% shooting. It's not up to the standards we expect of him, but he hasn't exactly been total garbage either. I imagine if you look at any player's stats in elimination games, they'll tend to be not very good. Mainly because the likelihood is you would be playing a strong playoff team in those games, and its towards the end of the series and they would have your tendencies on offense well scouted and prepared for.

Game 6 last year was a garbage performance, but at this stage I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and chalk it up to being physically/mentally worn out.

 

And that could absolutely be part of it but we have no way of KNOWING that. If Harden finally puts those demons to bed this year than your assertion will certainly be given a great deal of credence and no one will be happier than me. But it’s not like having to carry the entire workload w little talent around you explains it all away either. Since Sam loves pointing out historical franchise context, Hakeem won a title playing w one of the least talented championship rosters in NBA history, and he did so in an MVP year that saw him dominate the playoffs. So maybe I’m jaded into expecting a player of Harden’s caliber being able to step up in the playoffs.

All i was doing was simply pointing out Harden’s track record, regardless of the circumstances... i wasn’t trying to indicte Harden’s legacy, only that a player as incredible as he has had some dubious performances and I desperately want to see him get over the hump. Bc let’s face it, if he can match his regular season performance in this years playoffs we’re damn near unbeatable.

 

Are you comparing harden to melo?

 

LOL you are not sure if harden single handedly carried the heaviest burden to most wins? who do you think did?

could any one else have carried the rocket to 55 wins last year??

 

reading comprehension is your friend. i'm debunking an irrelevant "metric" like franchise statistical leaders as an indicator of clutch time playoff performance. it isn't.

and @vlaurelio - where did i say that? of course he carried a heavy burden, i just don't particularly care nor do i use that as a narrative to downplay his clutch time playoff struggles. was he carrying the largest burden against the heat in the finals? did he not have a damn good dwight howard in 2015 when he was BENCHED against the clippers AND coughed up in game 5 against the warriors??? or last year, when he goes from balling out of control to completely non-existent in a close out game absent some serious injury (of which there has been no credible evidence)???

so stop using purely hypotheticals as some sort of proof - it's a stupid way to make your argument. but to answer your question - hell yes i think there are others who LIKELY (you know bc we have no way of PROVING it) could have led the rockets to 55 wins last year - lebron, KD, steph for starters. if you don't think they could have done similar that simply shows your rockets-bias more than any sort of objectivity. but again, it's a stupid premise to begin with - plenty of players have done more with less in the playoffs and one of them is our very own hakeem olajuwon. so no, i don't give harden a pass for being "tired" after throwing up 10/3/7 with 6 turnovers and 6 fouls on 2-11 shooting in an elimination game.

if you want to take my objective, non-rockets red-tinted glasses commentary as an indictment on harden that's fine. you seem to get plenty butthurt over it which tells me all i need to know about how objective you can be.

 

then don't

Morey & Les extended harden to the max and locked him up and improved the team
Cp3, Tucker, and LMM joined him
Tilman bought the the Rockets for $2B

stop blaming harden for that performance.. no one could have carried the rockets farther.. its not hypothetical

how may games did lebron win with kyrie and love last year in the least?

you can't even name 1 single player who could have carried the rockets farther...

 

@vlaurelio @SamFisher

.413 or nah ?

Let them hang, if applicable

 

We need Mavsprick @swyyyguy in this damn thread

 

LOL WB true MVP fan calling out people

 

Gigantic LOL

Can't muster the strength to admit .413 is subpar. I'm so shocked.

Hopefully posters have more fortitude in real life situations.

 

I can't pretend to follow all the "ball dropping" stuff, except that I assume they weren't basketballs being discussed. Putting that aside, I think some here are forgetting a huge difference maker for Harden this season. James has been brought under the tutelage of a future Hall of Fame point guard, one of the best ever, and at both ends of the court.

The whole season, in a way, has been a master's class in point guard play for Harden on offense, and on defense Chris Paul has been like an assistant coach on the floor. I don't think we'll see the same James Harden from past playoff performances, because he is now James Harden writ large, thanks in large measure to Chris Paul, in my opinion. I'm tossing the post-season Harden we've watched over the years out the window and reserving judgement until we see how this season's version plays with Chris Paul and a team much different from any James has played on before. I'll add something obvious. CP3 has never played with a combo 1/2 like James in the playoffs, either.

There's a reason we have 60 wins with several left to play. I'm not fixated on how these guys have performed in the past. It's the future coming up quickly that I'm zeroing in on. Pray for a healthy team. It's the only break we need.

 

keep up the good fight mr trip dub/never harden fan