the way he is being defended is different no more double and triple teams he does not need to carry the team offensively 40 minutes a game
The scoring prediction was pretty accurate. Harden has played most of his games without both KD and Irving, and he has also played more minutes per game than I expected. I was way off on the assists, as I noted in the thread weeks ago:
Those are all things that change when your teammates are much more efficient and offensively potent. Nothing about his actual game has changed. Its external. And cmon Durv....dont act like his percentage of assisted twos are anything significant. Same with assisted threes,
You were 2+ points under on scoring and 6 assists under on playmaking. Also failed to mention the 8+ rebounds. Nothing you said was pretty accurate.
You're acting like Harden doesn't perform in the playoffs. He averaged over 29 points whilst getting double-teamed against the Lakers. The year before that, he averaged over 33 points against the Warriors. He's had a few games here and there, but he's performed in the majority of his playoffs games. Harden doesn't have to score that much if KD, Harris and Kyrie are healthy. He'll get his 20 to 25 points and 10 plus assists. KD and Kyrie can easily score 30 points most nights. That leaves the bench and role players to get around 40 points.
lol, exactly he can’t say anything now or he’ll continue to look like a dumbass, so now it’s “playoffs”
As a Net: 20.3 PPG in 40.4 MPG in 8 games with KD and Kyrie 23.2 PPG in 36.1 MPG in 6 games with just Kyrie 33.0 PPG in 40.3 MPG in 2 games with just KD
You keep talking about "actual game" like that means something. Can you explain what is the difference between "actual game" and what he's "actually" doing on the basketball court? Yes, if he came to the Nets and his teammates were exactly as they were in Houston, then I would not expect his game to change. Is that what you mean by his "actual game" hasn't changed?
On that spectrum it hasn't changed much from what I can tell. Do you really think ball-dominant players who are primarily distributors versus ball-dominant players who are primary shot takers is merely a subtlety? The shift on that spectrum has not been subtle, at all.
Dude those two guys are not chopped liver and with them he will concentrate on playmaking. Hence sacrifice part. Yet overall he still has the same influence on the game if he were scoring 35 points.
That's right. It would be crazy for him to dominate the ball and score 30-35 points a game like he did in Houston, while playing next to grade-A scoring talents like them. What is it that I'm saying that you are disagreeing with?