I would agree that in some sense, Harden has never had a better full roster players around him (I believe playoff rosters are only 12, not 15, BTW), but this is certainly not the best team he's played for, for whatever that's worth. Probably not even top 3-4. And speaking of luck, if Embiid can't get healthy (and stay healthy), that ranking drops even further. That's the luck he still needs.
I think he's given Embiid one extra game to rest now which will help a lot. He's going to be over over the 12 days of rest his injury requires which hopefully means he can stay healthy and at least 90% effective in the playoffs. I think this team when healthy is as good as the 2017-2018 Rockets but I will give you that Doc Rivers is tactically a child compared to MDA so maybe that's the edge. Embiid is more consistent than Harden in the playoffs because even on a bad day he's still an elite rim protector which raises the team's floor tremendously. The closest thing Harden had to that was a rapidly declining Dwight Howard with a FT problem. CP3 couldn't impact a game the way Embiid can, he was more of a steady guy in the playoffs who would win you 1-2 games by himself. Embiid is 25+ points with good shooting while being of the most game-changing defenders in the league. That's better than even prime Chris Paul. It's a different tier. You're saying that team could be better than these Sixers in a direct comparison, but what's more relevant to what I'm saying is that for Harden the team that is around him is the best he's ever had around him. Yes he's declined a bit but this is definitely an opportunity to win a title if he can shift into a higher gear (which he flashed in game 1).
Embiid is the best player he has played with. Durant was coming off an Achilles tendon tear in his first season in Brooklyn and even then he was t as good as the current Embiid
Defensively he is but they have been using Embid horrible. They had Embid bringing the ball up and shooting 3's. Moreyball has taken over.
That was his 10th 40+ point playoff game. Good company Jordan 38 Lebron 28 West 20 Durant 14 Wilt 13 Kobe 13 Shaq 12 Hakeem 11 Harden 10 Kareem 9 Curry 8 Giannis 8 Butler 8 Luka 8 Wade 7 Dirk 7 Kawhi 5 Barkley 5 Bird 5 Magic 4 Duncan 4 Carmelo 4 Lillard 4 Pierce 3 Reggie 3 Klay 1
Kobe only had 13 40 point playoff games with as long as his career was and with all that chucking that he did? That’s pretty surprising
We have often asked in the past... What if the Rockets were in the east. Imo .... those epic series against the warriors Would have been in the finals And the Rockets would have been less beat up Rocket River
Rockets would have been more beat up. They'd have played one extra series at minimum before facing the Warriors in the Finals and the talent of the teams they're playing doesn't really affect how much you get beat up--the Heat beat everyone up, whether they're great or not, for example. Unless you're sweeping them all, which I wouldn't assume, but even then, an extra series would mostly cancel that out. Honestly, it would probably have been best, for the 2018 team, to face the Warriors in the first round. Not possible considering how good both teams were, but less playoff wear and tear at that point.
The mindset of the average harden hater can b sum up pretty well with hardens own words. people expect me to be the scoring James Harden and the James Harden that goes out there and gets 40, 50 points. And then people talk: 'Oh, you can't win like that.'"And then I'll go out there and get 20 points and 11 assists. And it's like, 'Well, he's not the old James Harden no more.'"
Hmmm... I'm not sure I agree with your Paul vs Embiid assessment. In the 90s, sure, an Embiid might have more of an impact on your team than an elite PG (elite meaning probably one of the top 3 PGs to ever play the game). I feel like most player-impact stats as well as intuition looking at their various levels of success with vastly different teams backs that up. Paul wasn't a rim protector, but he was still a game-changing defender, not to mention his offensive maestro abilities. ... Not to mention the fact that Embiid tends to have even more trouble staying on the floor than Paul did in Houston. (Although losing him in 2018 was obviously very painful)
