I agree that people cannot see that Harden the player as flawed as he is being different from Harden the person in his free time.
The most logical explanation is that his regular season injury was a grade 2 strain (he missed over a month), and in the Bucks series, he tweaked it. In other words, he didn't play on a grade 2 strain against the Bucks.
The guy was hurt and tried to play anyway. He couldn’t drive at all and had no legs. Nash was stupid fir playing him 50+ minutes. It was Harden’s own fault he was hurt by coming in out of shape this year to force a trade out of Houston once he realized Tilly was getting rid of Morey & Company. But to say the guy wasn’t damaged goods is just silly.
Did I say that? I said he didn't play with a grade 2 strain, not that he wasn't hurt. In fact, I said he played with a tweaked hamstring. You need to work on your reading comprehension.
Harden's regular season injury wasn't a grade 3, and he missed too much time (over a month) for it to be a grade 1. Logically, it was a grade 2. So what's your thinking? That he had a grade 2 strain, missed over a month and completely recovered, and then had another grade 2 strain on the same hamstring that he was able to play through a few days later? Also, in this fantasy, the team doctors would've cleared him to play despite having a grade 2 strain. How likely do you think that would be? Again, work on your critical thinking.
Why would he risk missing the playoffs with a hamstring injury? The goal was championship or bust. They sat him to in an attempt to have him healthy for the playoffs. Once in the playoffs, you do what you can. I think he should have sat because he hurt them at times really bad not being able to move. And again, you’re attempting to grade his hamstring injury WITHOUT a physical examination or talking to the patient. EVEN IF YOU WERE A MEDICAL DOCTOR, NO DOCTOR IS THAT GOOD! I don’t care how good you think your critical thinking skills are. The grade of this injury could have been misdiagnosed the first time, who knows without examining & talking Harden after both injuries and making an educated diagnosis. All you can logically say from afar is that the guy was over 30, came in fat trying to get outta here, & a hamstring injury bit him in the ass in the playoffs on his new team. A lot of Rockets fans ain’t gone cry for him. I get it, he had this one coming. You don’t have to play doctor over the internet to know that.
I've actually mentioned multiple times the bad decisions he made in the 4th and overtime that cost the Nets possessions. He had at least 4, and in one he got lucky that he made a bank shot. He had a wide open mid range shot in OT that he refused to take and instead came back out to the 3 point line. I get that he played with an injured hamstring, but bad decision making has been part of James repertoire in elimination games. Hamstring injured or not, those are plays he should of made better decisions since possessions are so crucial in the 4th.
Again, work on your critical thinking. We did have a physical examination. We saw him play basketball. We saw that he could run, but that he couldn't sprint. We saw that he had no burst. That's definitely less severe than a grade 2. How could it have been misdiagnosed the first time? He definitely didn't have a grade 3 strain, right? And James Harden wouldn't miss over a month with a grade 1. So what's your thinking? Grade 1.5? Also, you're forgetting that they have team doctors. Do you really think they're so incompetent as to misdiagnose the severity of the original strain and then let him play on a grade 2 strain? Please.....critical thinking.....
One thing is that Harden just missed was the opportunity to be legendary hero. He had tried to go to the rim a few more times in crunch time or OT and made a few shots that won the series for Brooklyn; it becomes one of the best narratives in playoffs history. Especially if the Nets had won it all. It would have gone down as Willis Reed or Kirk Gibson level event. Third time Harden has not been able to take advantage of that opportunity with GSW 2018 and 2019 being the others.
Again you’re attempting to grade this hamstring on the assumption that it diagnosed correctly. All you could tell was that he was injured. The Nets were always going to be cautious in the regular season. But Please tell me all mighty internet MD: Did they use team Docs or bring in specialists? Did they get second opinions outside of the organization? And what did his medical imaging look like? Did you read the reports of the medical imaging? Did the Radiologists compare the the 1st set of images to the second set? Were there multiple exams each time? Did they give Harden contrast or did they image him with or without contrast? What did James say that his pain was on a scale of 1 to 10 at the time of each injury? What about a week later after each injury? …. Oh nevermind…. Bottom line is that James took a shortcut last offseason in his preparation and came in fat and his 30+ year old body failed him. I don’t care if you want a trade or not, you can’t cheat the game & get in shape DURING a NBA season. When you get older you get hurt. The Nets are at home because of it.
