A roll man doesnt work because you can just go under the pick for Russ and just let him shoot mid range jumpers. Utah/Portland made a whole strategy out of doing that and he got bounced. Its really so easy to nullify him in the pick and roll. He doesnt even have good pick and roll numbers. His best ones were in Houston and they were still inefficient when you posted the numbers.
The thing is Durant had a lot more success with Westbrook. Now some of that can be attributed to Westbrook being in his atheltic prime but then again he was playing the best basketball of his career pre-bubble. Durant and Westbrook era Thunder were considered a championship contender that made the WCF multiple times. They were seen as a more serious threat than the Harden and Westbrook Rockets. Durant got multiple 55+ win seasons out of Westbrook. The 2013-14 Thunder would be considered an even match to the current Lakers. I remember that era and remember how OKC was one of the top 3 favorites to win it all.
Don't get the concentration with turnovers with Russ. This was Harden's first postseason with the Rockets were turnovers weren't an issue but the dude has some notorious high turnover games in the playoffs. Harden is known just as much for being careless as Westbrook minus this postseason.
Most of that is attributed to him being in his athletic prime. He was good post trade, then he started to suck because good teams adjusted. The lineups by himself were still Houston's worse. Harden by himself was better without him on the floor. Durant left him though? He clearly thought after many tries that it woulndt work with him. He isnt that guy anymore dude. He peaked after his MVP season. We arent talking about the same guy here. Kevin Durant is an all time great like Harden, but again Westbrook was a much better player then....like he was in mid twenties then. Also the league has much MUCH higher competition then than it does now. Teams got better, not worse.
I think you know just as well as I do that Durant wouldn’t be carrying THIS version of Westbrook to those heights. Can’t act like Westbrook has stayed the same and everything around him has changed. The last 4 years of Westbrook really aren’t even comparable to his mini prime that featured his MVP season. Completely different player. And at what point do we stop pointing to that extremely good stretch he had this year as for sure repeatable? Is it not possible that what we saw was a fluke? A small sample where things were clicking and not the proven solution?
The concentration is, we went small for Russ. We could not afford turnovers because we were so small. Harden gets turnovers but Harden creates many more opportunities than Russ. Russ is a poor decision make who makes really BAD turnovers and doesnt provide the same level production for a second option player.
Harden brings 30 points with his turnovers and is still always a positive on the floor...none of that can be said for Russ this postseason...it’s obvious why his turnovers are a bigger deal Russ had 2 less lost ball turnovers than Harden this playoffs while playing 4 fewer games and getting far less defensive attention...
some of these Russ arguments are just terrible or flat out strawmen We don’t want to see Harden change because he gets his stats and numbers? Really? We’re mad because Russ won MVP in 2017? Word? Please stop... Russ could barely dribble and made constant terrible decisions all postseason. Why tf should we be giving him the ball more? People are talking like we should’ve just given him the ball so he could set everyone up with on point passes as he made great reads against great defenses. The reality is that he was garbage these playoffs, and there’s no debate. There is no argument for giving him the ball more, not when your level of play is that bad.
Disagreed. The Jan-March stretch gave us blueprint but that won't win us a championship or even get us to the WCF. It's needs to be more diverse. Disagree. We didn't have Harden moving without the ball, cutting, catching and shooting. Harden is the best shooter on the team, he needs to play more like Klay when he shares the court with WB. All this assumes we should keep playing Harden's ISO heavy style. Again, that's great for Harden and his numbers but postseason success has been elusive with that dogmatic style/shot selection.
Then come up with a better solution than "WB can never run an offense", WB sucked in the postseason coming off a quad injury but was he turning it over nearly as much during his best stretch as a Rocket? Nope. For whatever, you people are ignoring what worked in favor of focusing on how an injured WB played in a disastrous playoff appearance.
What's funny about all this is Westbrook has a substantial lead to Harden in Assist/turnover ratio for their careers.
Dude we made the WCF and were up 3-2 when our 2nd most valuable player got hurt and you act like that is a failure. The style has not been the problem. The roster and injury luck has been. You saying Harden should change and be a Klay type player is ridiculous. It’s just as ridiculous as me saying Westbrook needs to play more like Chris Paul. Tucker should play more like Lebron. Covington should play more like Durant. Championship. You can’t just say a player should play like this player. They are different players. Different skill sets.
How hard is it to understand careless turnovers are horrendous and kill momentum’s during games. Every time n the lakers series we made a run it was russ and his dumb turnovers which killed the momentum. The man has zero feel for the game
I think the style has caught up to the league. The Warriors in 2018 unlike the Lakers today fell trap to our iso slug fest switching scheme. I think the Rockets gimmick has caught on with the rest of the league where when they want to they can inact it themselves almost better than the Rockets along with understanding how to defend it better. This style had run its course. Those other teams have versitility where if it doesn't work they have other ways to score. In 2018 WCF when you exanine the data, it's obvious we won not because of offense but because of our switch style defensive scheme as our wins on that series were from defensive slug fest were both teams scored under 100.
Because I watched them game and know we could have won without CP3. The style has not been the problem. The roster and injury luck has been.[/QUOTE] For stretches yes, if he wants the team to win. Help me understand why Harden can't play off the ball and getting dimed up for a catch and shoot 3? Can he not shoot? Is he not physically fit to run some off ball action? No. Making those types of comparisons are ridiculous. WB can't shoot, so how would he be like CP3? Tucker can't run an offense so how would he be like Lebron? ROCO will never be the first option on a team.... These examples are absolutely terrible. Did you watch Harden at OKC? Apparently Harden is this generational offensive talent who can't play off the ball...... That is absurd.....
LOL. What about outside the Lakers series when WB wasn't coming back from a quad injury? What about that Jan-march stretch?
He had a big man and we had to trade him so his game could open up. Hardens bread and butter pick and roll with Capela vanished so Russ could be better. I’m not sure what more we could have done
What about it? The playoffs are the real season? Harden get crucified for his playoffs failures because the playoffs is where it Matters. If there was one player that destroyed our chances Most during games with horrific momentum killing plays it was russ.
