The common narrative is that when the Rockets have been blown out of elimination games, James Harden did not have enough talent and/or his star player alongside him were injured. As a result, his play suffered drastically. Now, let's turn to Jimmy Butler. Why can't we ever expect James Harden to have a performance like we saw last night with Butler? Heck, even when LeBron scored 25 straight as a 22 year old to beat the Champion Pistons. No one is making excuses for LeBron or AD. Jimmy Butler took away the excuse from Harden that he needs talent around him to have a monster and must win game. Jimmy Butler outplayed LeBron and AD with his top two others player injured. Jimmy Butler dropped 40 without a single THREE ATTEMPT! Simply greatness. When we missed 27 3s in a row, why didn't James Harden do exactly what Harden did last night? Why didn't Harden have this type of heart against the Lakers?
Closest thing I can think of was game 1-2 against GSW in 2015. But then we lost lol which wasted his performance
Does Jimmy Butler get the same amount of game playing and doubling that Harden does? FWIW James Harden dropped 45/9/5/3 against the Warriors in an elimination game.... a few years later he dropped 41/7/5 against the Warriors to open a series....... Harden has dropped 38 points or more 11 times in the playoffs over the last 6 years. FWIW The Lakers had a 2-0 lead in that series, and did not seem terribly motivated compared to the Heat that were fighting for their playoff lives. I have always really loved Jimmy Butler, but what he did really isn't relevant to James Harden.
Jimmy is a Tomball b****. Jimmy was never doubled, not once. Jimmy "not doubled" Butler. He has no crossover to get by if they did double. NBA is a dog and pony show. James Harden all day. He's loyal to Houston. That's what I like. Heat about to still lose to LA. So like I said, what is all this going against the Rockets because they don't like the GM or Harden to prove what? You can lose in the Finals too? Lol. Instead of coming to Houston they are trying to pry Harden and players like Gordon. NBA is predictable trash these days. He talking this and that about not stat padding but that's all he is doing padding stats because they know they have no chance. So sick of this "do as I say, not as I do" ****.
Harden lacks Butler's killer instinct. Harden has zero dog in him. Harden refuses to shoot midrange jumpers. Funny how Butler avoided this sh*tshow and chose Miami over Hou - good for him. I'm rooting for him!
Jimmy is a over priced Shame Battier. I'm glad he didn't come to Houston. Theres only room for one King in the kitchen. He knew he would have been traded by Harden if he got out of line. Everyone gangsta until they realize they just a role player. Why wouldn't he go where he could pad stats and have the best chance to shine. Nothing wrong with that. He still a b**** though.
James Harden is the only player the Lakers have consistently double teamed in these playoffs. Not Lillard, not Murray, Not Jokic, Not Butler.
They doubled and their entire game plan was to prevent him from shooting the ball 30 times because they didn't want him to beat them. No one in the recent NBA has received the amount of game planning and doubles and triples that Harden has in the playoffs. Harden isn't the problem, he did what his coaches and the organization asked him to do... he didn't force it, the problem is that the coaching staff failed to anticipate what the Lakers did, and Westbrook was worse than Caruso and Rondo.
I think we need to hear the OP out. The guy/girl only post like 15 times a year so he's really wanting to make his posts count/valuable.
literally every time some other player has a good playoff game, clowns on here start sucking that guy off and trashing Harden Butler has scored under 20 points in 8 of his 18 playoff games this postseason...he’s had games where he scored 6, 13, and 14 points...the Heat won those games let Harden have a playoff run where he scores under 20 in almost half the games... Harden averages 30 against the Lakers while dealing with constant doubles, and clowns on here still say he was the main issue Jimmy Butler had a 40 point triple double. Congrats to him. Get off your knees OP...
Harden last season had 38 and 40 in games 3 and 4 against Golden State while down 2-0 and we won. Barely got talked about though and will continue to not get discussed because it wasn’t the finals.
I've never heard you respond to people who state that Harden makes it easy for him to double due to his stationaryness. Do you agree? Do people really want LeBron James or Steph Curry shooting it 30 times? Both of them tradionally have higher scoring efficiency in the playoffs and any reasonable defense would see them as a more frightening threat. It seems like the difference between Harden and other superstars is that Harden just lollygags into double teams.
Harden has had so many games where he has balled out and been the difference between victory and defeat. We really have some of the worst fans in the league. Imagine hating a generational talent so much that you forget what he's done the moment someone else has a good game. Pathetic.
We probably have the most dedicated fans in the league. Not many fanbases have these massive message boards full of dedicated fans. Harden has some unique problems that other superstars don't have that makes his team's fanbase frustrated and even more frustrated when his stans gaslight pretending he has no issues. I love @Nook, but the dude just can't admit Harden has faults and it sincerely feels like being gaslit.
