Awful win! WTF is wrong with you guys. You let them score 16 points in less than two minutes in the remaining minutes of the third quarter. That is just awful. Asik making a basket against us!? Harden passing the ball to a Raptor player! Lin turning the ball over. This is just awful.
The player who shot the ball, beside Asik. I was hoping they would put Asik in the Raptor's roster and put two on his stat sheet.
I'd like to take another angle on this. I think whats going on here is the teams is trying to "establish Harden as a star." Thus going forward , he gets those star calls. They arent winning anything this season , the team is just too young and inexperienced , why not use a "wasted season" and establish your best player for the future .... This team is far from a finished product .... and likely has several moving parts a new coaching staff before it becomes a contender. McHale and Co are a lame duck staff. Chemistry at this point doesnt really matter .... keeping the fans entertained and the seats full in the mean time does. If they can establish Harden this season and keep the seats full .... then add the final piece in the offseason , I think the orginization will call the season a success.
So every time we lose a game, you will act like "I told you so"? Your right, I guess all 29 other teams do not lose games anyways. Fire Morey! First McHale... er Sampson I meant! Cut Patterson, he only scored 27 when he shoulda scored 50 from more ball movement!
Far from it. I just dont think we need to put it all on James Harden, it's a recipe for mediocrity at best.
All the conditions of yesterday's game was a recipe for a loss: facing OKC in their building, Parsons being injured, back-to-back, flying in from MN the day of. The Rockets are running a very simple, and yes predictable, offense because they have a young team with very little experience. Over time, they'll put in more plays. But Pick-and-roll with Harden is far and away their most effective option in the half-court, as boring as it may seem.
My pissing and moaning was from the Knicks game where there was no picks, screens, etc. Just Harden getting the ball and charging to the basket on one ISO play after another.
Most of his points this season is coming through pick and roll. He leads the league in points scored per game through pick-and-roll: http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/51936/harden-is-focus-of-offense-in-return-to-okc But you're right, he is also getting proportionately more isolation plays this year compared to last year and scoring much less efficiently on them. According to ESPN Stats and Information: [rquoter]James Harden was 1-6 on isolation plays Wednesday and has struggled on that play type all season. Last season, isolation plays accounted for 10.9 percent of Harden's plays in the half court, but as his team's primary scorer this season, that percentage has increased to 25.0.[/rquoter]
Why set a pick when Harden has a mismatch and the Knicks don't have Chandler out there to protect the rim? The lane was wide open most of the time. The Knicks game was a good win. The OKC game was a good loss.
Kobe and Jordan could beat every defender on ISO plays also, but they didn't win until a system that forced them to move the ball was implemented.
Alright... I have the game on tape. Want me to break down the second quarter offensive possessions and go over them here to see if there's any merit to: I'll happily do so.
If harden wants to reach that next level, which we all know he can, he has to a better job at picking his spots on when to go teenwolf. when the shots are going in, like you said, it looks good but when they're not, the entire offense just stalls. It's up to the coaches and harden to figure it out. Democratic ball > iso
