People are gonna blame who they don't like. Harden made some mistakes, D'antoni made some mistakes, "the others" made some mistakes, and then obviously you have the refs. If any one of these four things went the other way we have this win, obviously. The haters will focus in on whichever one they don't like and throw all the blame that way. That's how they operate.
A bucket from where? If Harden has no space in the paint, do you want him to force up a contested layup and pray he makes it? Or you banking on him getting free throws? He's barely been getting any free throws in all of this series. I suppose he could do a post up shot, but I doubt that's going to work on Dort all that often. Dort is pretty strong, so he's not going to back him down all that much. I suppose he could take a mid-range shot, but he needs the space to get to the mid-range. He's not getting the space. This is what I'm trying to say. Our points and plays are only going to come from Harden. We have no other player in the team who can take control of the game, and this why we're predictable to play against. We need Westbrook back for this reason. I know he can't shoot, but he can at least he can make things happen besides Harden.
I like that he’s posting up more, but man, his skills down on the block have eroded Where is the turnaround stepback? He even pulled off the 1 legged Dirk fadeaway from the post a few times in 14-15. Where’s the quick bump on his defender to create space for the midrange when posting up? All he’s doing is the same basic backdown and turning over his shoulder, or he passes it out. the 15 assists were a playoff career high...also very nice to see still, he had like 10 points in the 2nd half...he had the likes of Noel on him multiple times and settled for a lazy stepback three and some point, instead of the drive and kick out to the bricklayer beyond the arc, he should be driving to score
Year after year we continue with the same excuses to justify failure after failure. The time has come. If the Rockets don't win this series I think several contracts in Houston should be reviewed: MDA, Morey and various players on the team. In a team that continues to win absolutely nothing, nobody is essential.
its crazy that schroeder plays smarter than him and is more patient and more methodical in dissecting the defense and attacking the rim
And he gets these shooters a billion open looks which they miss but somehow it’s his fault. A bunch of trolls who go missing when the Rockets are wining but crawl out of the woodwork like termites when we lose come here to settle some old scores against Harden.
Westbrook can't shoot but he can definitely get to the rim and draw fouls. Get Dort and others in foul trouble. Would help Harden out a TON!
James Harden is not the reason they lost those games. I Mike's lack of switching plans that aren't working is.
James Harden is not the problem. He is the best offensive AND defensive player on team. Schroeder scored ZERO points when defended by Harden, 30 points when defended by rest of the Rockets.
