Every team is "dependent" on the refs doing their job and providing a fair game. Any team that gets jobbed like the Rockets did last night would lose.
Complete bullshit 1. HArden has to exagerate the effect but they are legit fouls 2. How his HArden working on his step back any different than Hakeem working on his step back . . is it not all foot work? In the third what was that 'something else' he was suppose to come up with .. . .when he is being mugged and fouled with out a call Throw it to Anderson? Rocket River
Warriors DEPEND on the Refs not calling Moving Screens DEPEND on Draymond being able to roam the lane on an illegal defense DEPEND on Draymond and their squad only getting called on every 4th foul DEPEND on Durant either getting the shot or a touch foul When Durant does not get his is touch fouls. . . .1-9 in the fourth quarters Rocket River
Of course... not sure how it's debate-able. If you're going to try and push the rules, you need to do so in a way that refs swallowing their whistles is to your advantage. Example: moving screens.
Stupid question. When u r driving in and u r getting mobbed to death u expect the ref to help u out. When u r shooting a three and got foul u expect the ref to help u out. We been playing this way all season, and the nba sends foster to fk us at our home. Fk nba.
people act like Harden was hooking and flopping all over the place fishing for fouls...the dude was getting hacked and the refs just stood there like “so what?” What is he supposed to do? Dude isn’t Lebron who can just brush off clear fouls and do whatever he wants. Harden not getting these clear and obvious fouls results in turnovers and missed shots for him Harden should’ve had like 40+ points on 28-29 shots last night...instead he finishes with 32 on 29 shots because the refs decided to not call what was obvious...it’s inexcusable
The exaggeration doesn't work if you appear to be erratic with your dribble, then hold the ball in your chest and flail your arms. Gordon did the same thing several times and then pulls the "I got crap on my upper lip" face. Are you honestly telling me you don't see a difference in James' shuffle footed 3-step step back 3 pointer and Hakeem's footwork on his lock down dream shake or fade away? The legitimacy/legality of Hakeem's moves were NEVER called into question and he NEVER missing 22 in a row because they were high percentage, nobody can guard this shots. To answer your 3rd question is to develop something other than 3 or foul. That's specifically what he was looking for when he drove was a freakin' foul. You don't drive into traffic w/out that expectation. He could have pulled up several times for a mid range jumper just to get points on the board and I only remember that happening 1 time in the 3rd. ONCE. No idea why you're throwing Anderson into the mix because I never said that and I'm not blaming the Ls on James. I'm saying, we have $200M locked into him hoping he becomes GREAT and brings multiple CHIPs. Kobe, Michael, Lebron, Magic, Larry, Hakeem, etc DID NOT RELY on foul calls as 1 of 2 primary "go tos" when they won championships. They had multiple dimensions that they developed over summers and through the regular season. You know what I'm saying RR - not sure why you take such offense to it. Let's flip this around - WTF did Harden do in the off-season that added a significant option to his offensive arsenal that he didn't have the year before?
LOL you think if harden drives and he doesn't get fouled he won't make the shot anyway?? or all those fouls called on opponents aren't really fouls?? LOL the Rockets cheated their way to 65 wins/best seed over all and all the way to the WCFs
Yes... Rockets and their fans are too dependent on the refs. Calling games evenly is too much to ask for...
that's not what I said. Read, think, respond. I didn't say the Rockets cheat, I said that the perception among non Rocket fans (and some Rocket fans) is that Harden walks a thin line with his primary offensive arsenal.
HE did enough to win the MVP and This series. . . in the end the ONLY REASONS he is not in the finals are: 1. The Refs f*cked our team 2. CP3 Got hurt 3. He is not LeBron Rocket River
his primary offenisive arsenal is layups and threes and assists.. opponents foul him to make him less effective no "cheating" in that
I would love to see Harden change his approach next year and start during the regular season. He can’t play looking for the foul anymore, he just can’t. Not as our best player, anyways. Problem is this would be unheard of and he won’t do it on his own, someone would have to talk to him. Too many turnovers at the rim hoping for a whistle..
Or he can get contact while putting the ball in basket and then have Scott Foster take it away. That call was absolutely inexcusable. Harden goes into his shooting motion and makes a shot. The whistle blows after he goes into his shooting motion and releases the shot. Either one of 2 things is true in this interpretation. Klay's foul occurred as soon as he even lightly touches Harden which is absurd, because a touch foul like that is never called (and frankly, it's not even a foul to put one hand on teh opposing player without impeding his progress in my understanding), or: more likely Scott Foster decided that while Klay Thompson had not fouled Harden on the inital touch, and did foul him on the actual shot, Klay Thompson/Warriors should not be penalized because they did not want to foul Harden on his shot attempt and therefore - 3+1 points must be removed from the scoreboard. That's his version of the "point of emphasis" That was a huge call. The Rockets were only up 3 late in the third. A 4 point play makes it a 3-possession game and breaks the 3 point drought. Instead, shortly thereafter the Warriors took the lead and the season ended. I understand not wanting to reward bailout gratuituous attempts at continuation for FT's - but you can't say that about a shot that goes in. There is no excuse for that, teh Rockets at a minimum are owed an explanation (and likely, an admission of error)
this is whats wrong with the league and those that look at him this way. why does harden need to change anything. hes become the player he is today and hes about to win an mvp. in what world does that give anyone a legit reason to change. So now he needs to be fake. that makes no sense. if us as fans have to realize harden needs to change who he is in order to have a legit chance to win games at the highest level and get games called as neutral as possible then whats wrong with that picture? that needs to be accepted? no thats just complete bs.
There are something that need to be taken into consideration here. All the superstars right now are playing in the era of Twitter, instant videos and everyone dissecting every little thing 24/7 and having video go viral. I am sure Hakeem would have had the same thing happen to him today. What Harden and Hakeem have done is do something with their footwork that no one before them have done at such a high level. The level of scrutiny that players face now is unprecedented. I mean there was a video created by a fan that went viral that started the whole narrative about Harden's defense. Something like that could never happen in the 90s. That plays a huge part that so little was called into question because of how information traveled and was consumed. I can find a clip of a play that just happened less than a minute ago in a game online now in HD, whereas we still cant find good quality copies of Hakeem's games during the 95 title run. When it comes to James Harden's game the one thing that I feel is consistently over looked is that he is not an athletic player. The only elite athletic skill he has is being able to stop on a dime which he does for his step backs. He doesnt have a quick first step, he isnt the fastest guy on the court, doesnt have tremendous leaping ability, and doesnt have much "natural talent" (IE: amazing basketball body like Durant, T-Mac etc). He is really average or maybe even below average when it comes to NBA athleticism. What does Harden do to compensate? He plays the smart game and capitalizes on the slightest of mistakes defenders make to get them off balance. His basketball mind is one of his biggest assets and advantages he has. He draws a ton of fouls as a result of it. Does he exaggerate contact? Yes I think he does, but not nearly to the level as many people believe he does. The league found his way to be too manipulative of the rules and so have punished him (the "james harden" rule for continuation and 3pt fouls) to curb his game, but he still lead the league in FTAs because he is that smart of a player. IMO the flash of being athletic - dunks, rising up over the defense, quick moves etc. are what sells and what the league is trying to brand as its image for well over a decade now if not two decades (since Jordan retired) James is probably more fundamentally sound than most of his all-star peers as a result. Look I am sure if James had a quick first step and all he would just use it to go past his defenders and score far more easily then having to absorb contact and get to the line. Even Hakeem was the far superior athlete than James is. IMO what James is doing on the court is more easy to copy and learn for young kids right now than the stuff that LeBron, KD, Steph etc do because not everyone is going to be as quick, tall, strong etc as those guys. James is trying to play to his strengths because he doesnt have the same athleticism as other superstars. Getting to the foul line is one of the most efficient methods of scoring and he is doing his best to play to his strengths. Now I do agree that does rely a ton of referee's integrity to call a foul a foul and it didn't happen in the last few games but i think the big difference for that is what each entity is trying to do. James is trying to win a game and doing whatever he can to help his team win regardless of how "pretty" it is....the league, and as a result the refs, as a business wants the most aesthetic product out there. Calling fouls and slowing the game does is not pretty, its effective to winning, but its not a pretty way. The league wants more free-flowing offense and less physicality and fouls so the game can be sped up. Hand-checking went away, a lot of rules put in place to make it more of a perimeter game were put in. etc
