Max Kellerman said James Harden is a Choker in the Playoffs

Reminds me of what they said about Mack Brown pre-VY.

 

If HaRdEn WaNtS tO bE gOoD hE hAs To Be 50% ShOoTiNg EvErY QuArTeR oF eVeRy GaMe.

Give the guy a break he was in foul trouble not getting many calls on drives and had a whole defense designed to stop him. He came through when it counts and I believe that is the opposite of choking.

I would rather listen to max fart than hear this garbage take

 

He has been, and will continue to be called that until he stops playing worse in the playoffs and/or pulling ghost acts in elimination games. If he were going HAM in these big losses then it may be different.

 

Max is has been

 

Can we just start a mega espn talking bullshit thread so we don’t have all these new threads from random espn personality talking ****

 

When the NBA's posterboy Steph Curry goes 3/14, the media doesn't even bat an eye. But when our beloved MVP does it and he still finds other ways to contribute, they still jump on him.

 

Not really. He's held to the same standard as other great, MVP winning type players that have never won. Jordan got flamed before he won. They were calling Magic Johnson "Tragic" even after he won based on a series. Look at what they said about Dirk and LeBron prior to winning. Etc. The only player I can think of that skates on this is Wetsbrick.

 

Curry's got rings. Harden doesn't.

Like I said...fair or not. It is what it is.

 

He used to have a solid mid-range step-back before he started the three-point step back and erased it from his game. I've always wondered why. I guess he has replaced it with the floater.

 

Just glad that he got it out of the way in the Jazz series rather than to have one in the next round.

 

That floater is deadly and nicely developed over the season.

 

Curry also has the luxury of being on an All-Star team that hides him when he is having a poor game.

Replace Curry with Harden on that Warriors team and I cant see that Warriors team not winning rings.

The real choker was Durant. Was up against the Warriors and blew last two games. Absolutely choked.

How did Durant avoid the choker label?

By joining the team that beat him and had already won a championship.

Harden gets penalized for building his own team and taking a team of All-stars to 7 games, last two games without the only star on the team because of an injury. And he is labeled a choker because he couldn't beat a team of All-Stars all by himself.

Riiiiight.....

Give Harden Durant or Curry + Klay + Green + Cousins and that team would hardly lose any games.

 

I’m I forgetting something?

Yes harden shot terrible the first 3 quarters.

But he still had 7 assist and 5 steals in that span.

And didn’t he score 14 points shoot 3-6 and dish out 3 assists in the 4th when the game was on the line?

Dude didn’t have a great game but he came thru when it mattered and that should put the rest to bed...... and we won.

We’re talking about a bad game from harden we’re he still had 22/10 and 6 steals. I know he shot bad but he still contributed. This is not the same harden from the SA series a few years ago.

It’s pretty easy to see if you just watch.

 

Yes, Curry and Durant are chokers. Both blew 3-1 leads, Curry doesnt even own finals mvp as a best player. Imagine PJ Tucker winning finals mvp over Harden.

 

I don't think I've ever heard Kellerman use the term "choke" before to describe Harden. That's a pretty harsh term. Blowing a 3-1 lead is a choke. CP3's done that. Curry's done that. Durant and Westbrook have done that.

If he's referring to Harden having bad playoff games, well who the hell hasn't? Curry just had one yesterday against the Clippers. No one noticed because Klay and Durant carried the team to victory.

If he means that Harden's come up short in playoff series, sometimes he has. So has pretty much every player in the history of the sport. Even Wilt for all his individual dominance only won 2 rings. But what postseason failure for Harden ever came when he was on the favored team(post-OKC anyway)? I'd argue only one, against the Blazers in 2014. The Rockets were the underdog against OKC in 2013, the Warriors in 2015, 2016, and 2018, and at best a tossup against the Spurs in 2017.

So where outside of losing to Portland on Lillard's buzzer beater has Harden ever choked?

 

Harden is a choker even though his team literally never underachived, on the other hand you have guys like:

- Westbrook (just lol at this point)
- George (choked last season, choked this season, quitted on his previous team)
- Durant (choked multiple times in OKC)
- Lillard (choked multiple times)
- Davis (it took a Lillard/Blazers choke to make him pass the 1st round)
- Irving (without Lebron never did anything, the Cavs were lottery bound and the Celtics look better without him)
- Curry choked one time in finals, another time got his ass saved by his all star teammates
- Lebron himself just choked an entire season

...most of these guys underachived way more than Harden in their career, but for some reason they are "top 5 players in the league"...just laughable, the disappearance of facts.

 

Kellerman has called Harden the biggest playoff choker in all of American sports before

 

I really don't get the choker label. If the Rockets fall short this postseason, they'll have lost 4 out of 5 years to one of the greatest teams ever assembled and the overwhelming favorite to win the title every season. How is it choking if you fail to beat one of the best teams ever?

 

Yeah he was choking when he was hitting big shots to destroy the Jazz in the last few minutes. Nice try.

 

It's really laughable cause just look at what happened last season, every single person in the media had the Warriors winning the title without any problems, people were laughing at Morey when he said we were confident in being able to compete...once everyone saw we were in fact able to compete, they suddenly forget what they were saying for months, and for some reason we should've won even without Chris Paul...i mean, there's nothing much to say about how bad most of the media dudes are, i don't even care if they believe what they say or if they are forced to follow a specific narrative, one or another, they're just bad. The more i hear these kind of takes, the more i like someone like Chuck, at least he's saying dumb things for the lulz, or at least that's what i want to think.