It's amazing how so many people can defend how Harden plays. The guy is the biggest black hole in NBA history.
So I'm guessing you know basketball? So without Harden, the Rockets can easily score 100 points? Have you ever watched a Rockets game this year? Anyway, I can go on and on all day but I just feel like trying to prove a point to you is just a waste of my time. PS... Don't post again.
Dude, nobody is contesting whether Harden is our best player or not. Or at least they shouldn't be. But being the best player doesn't mean his role has to be hero-ball/iso-ball, or that he cannot be blamed/questioned for anything at all. You have a team. Unless you have the Dream Team 1988, then you're going to have different strengths & weaknesses from different positions/players, and different again offensively vs defensively. And the Rockets have one of the lowest, if not the lowest, payroll in the entire league, and is a work in progress. Playing a style/system that optimizes the team's chance for success should be the goal. Iso-ball has rarely proven to be successful. With the two best/most talented SGs (the position Harden plays) of all time, MJ and Kobe, they actually only won when playing in the Triangle System that didn't maximize their individual talent but maximized the team's. Look at Kobe this year ... 3 all-stars surrounding him, play PnR and let him iso, Nash to distribute ball to him, career numbers and shooting percentages high ... and the team sucks (and not just defensively). The Triangle was instituted partly to stop the rest of the team standing around watching MJ/Kobe 'do their things' ... it's a free-flowing offense with everybody moving at all times, and emphasized passing and creating opportunities from most positions, including the high post and some inside-out passing. Not saying the Rockets should play triangle. But if the best coach in the game with the two best SGs all-time didn't try to over-emphasize their SGs at the exclusion of a more team-oriented offense, then why should the Rockets? It's not like the Triangle prevented MJ/Kobe getting their points. They just got it in a different way, with teammates more involved, and offense less predictable.
Speak what truth? Lin has been playing terrible and has not been effective at all. Harden is the only one that is a bright spot on this team. Plus, when the whole entire team sucks, the opponents just focus their defense on Harden the entire night. That's why Harden is shooting contested shots, driving into a collapse defense and have the opponent's best wing defender guarding him along with another player shadowing him. Apparently, I've saw your post and all of them are nonsense. The entire team is playing like crap and Harden is the villain? So Harden should just stop playing altogether and the Rockets should trade him and hand this team over to Lin? Seriously, I think you should stop posting..
why reply and ask me question if u dont want me to post. how dumb is that. i watched every game harden was out one game and we scored 120. okc is without their superstar harden right now, they are still #1 and they can still score. get real dude, basketball is a team sport. u made it sounds like its the end of the world without harden.
dude how hard is it to understand!!!!!! if you dont want me to post, then dont reply and dont ask me questions. and gtho
I'm not an LOF. I actually don't even like Lin much at all. I'm just saying that Harden plays more selfishly than any other NBA player I have ever seen, except for maybe Kobe. But Kobe only plays that way in certain times or stretches. Harden seems to truly want to play that way naturally.
I'm rewatching Denver game so far 3 plays where Harden is @ the top of the key, but doesn't beat the Nuggets back on transition D. Game was still close @ this point but DEN went on a run. 1) Before half Harden takes a shot @ top of key to try to for a 2 for 1. Lin is in the right corner. Parsons is to Harden's left on the wing. After the shot which hit short on the front of the rim Harden watches his shot and slowly back pedals and Parsons is running back first on the right. Lin runs by Harden and beats Parsons back to foul JaVale McGee to stop a easy bucket. 46-44 Nuggets after free throws. 2) 3rd qtr: Harden is above the key.. passes to Delfino who passes to Lin who dribbles across the lane and hits a fade away jumper Delfino was on the right wing. Harden was almost @ midcourt. Nuggets inbound and score in 7 seconds with a long pass to JaVale McGee. Smith was chasing him all the way down the court. 65-59 Nuggets 3) 3rd qtr: After a timeout Harden near left mid court way above the key passes to Delfino on the right side who misses everything with a long 3P shot... rebounded by Iguodala. Lin is on the left wing and starts running arm raised pointng to Harden to get back on D. Delfino starts chasing Lawson on the left side. Harden is back pedaling @ the top of Nuggets key. Lawson catches the long pass and beats Harden to the rim. 70-59 Nuggets. We lost the game right there.
In the postgame interviews, Lin says the number one thing he needs to improve is on the defensive end. This surprised me because I would think it would be his shooting, but he emphasized defense as his number one priority. He might be trying to imply something without directly saying it. Harden needs to be held accountable for his D or he will never change on that end. It starts with him; if he doesn't try on defense, then why should the other players try?
Was he known as being selfish playing in OKC? It's hard to say he's selfish when he co-existed with Durant and Westbrook. Kobe on the other hand has a 32 fga, a 41 fga game, and often goes over 20 fga. Harden doesn't go over 20 fga often (you can factor in fts as attempts I guess). Harden is also asked to do more on a young Rockets team while Kobe has a lot more capable all star teammates.
There is no chemistry because whenever Harden pass the ball, no one can't hit a shot. No one set any screens on our team and the ONLY person that actually set screens is Harden. How the hell is the team making Harden better? Like Bill Worrell said, "He (Harden) can get you open shots, but he can't get you to make them" ... Harden is a good playmaker and he will find ways to create for his teammates but the only problem is, nobody can't hit a shot. When that happens, Harden has to go ISO because that is his best chance of scoring. Even though ISO is a bad possession, whenever Harden is playing ISO ball at the top of the key, he can actually go one on one. But a lot the times, he will get doubled. Its so difficult when you're constantly doubled and your teammates can't make a open shot. The game against the Pacers... Harden had two defenders chasing after him. Harden still managed to penetrate into the paint, and pass it to an wide open Patterson on the corner 3 point line. But Patterson has been bricking shots all night, decided to pass off the wide open 3 and it turn into a turnover. Harden is also at fault for the Rockets struggles lately. The entire team including the coaches are at fault. But Harden can only do so much. Yes, Harden has been struggling with his shot lately. He's on a shooting slump. Every NBA player goes through shooting slump stretches. But its the other players that have to pick up the slack. When Harden is missing the shots he usually make, his team has to find ways to help out. Like I said before, Harden needs help. All the stars in the league has talent to back them up. Harden doesn't have anyone. That's why opponents can just focus on Harden. Right now, Harden isn't the problem. If the Rockets can just start hitting shots and have the defenders respect them, then Harden and Lin can have room to operate and penetrate.
they may have been all stars but have you watched the lakers? they're incompetent.....still all i know is kobe wouldnt let Jeffrey Taylor get 2 dunks if he was guarding him.
so if every nba team upgraded in positions where they are not above average....they would get much better.......thanks sherlock!
Every time that I have watched the Lakers all I see is Kobe shoot shoot contest mid range jumper after contested mid range jumper. If brings the ball up the court, you can forget about him passing it to anyone. As far as Kobe's defense, everyone knows how extremely bad he's been this year. There's even a topic that's a few pages long on Lakersground about it.
yeahhh right!!! whenever harden pass the ball is when he is in trouble. with few seconds left on the clock. how do you expect his teammates to make shots. thats why we have no inside game. most of the time everyone stands outside to let harden drive. this is becoming a boring game. same thing every game. i know is hard for hardens fans to admit that he is one of the the problem. but come on man. :grin: stop pretending like james is faultless, and everyone else is to blame.
I'm not saying Harden's ISO ball is the way to go but I'm saying the way the other players have been playing lately, its not such a bad thing. ISO ball only works in certain plays. Like if the other 4 players on the court can make shots, the defense will have to guard them and that will allow Harden to take it straight to the basket to either score or kick out if the defense collapse on him. I'm aggravated by the fact that the rest of the team has been terrible and the coaching staff not coming up with anything new. Its the coaching staff that should done something different. I always wanted the team to set more screens and run more play. I hate seeing Harden having to go ISO every possession down. That will really wore him out lately down the road. Harden is a great young player but the Rockets are using him way too much. They are relying on him to score and be a playmaker. Some people on this thread are putting all the blame on Harden but I feel like this is mainly the coaches fault. Patterson has been utterly useless and so is Morris. Asik has been terrible also. He keeps on picking up stupid fouls that put this team into the penalty, not being able to catch some simple passes, clueless with the basketball if not next to the basket, and lately, has not been rebounding as well also. Like I said before, Harden is a fault but so is the entire team and coaching staff. Not just one person. Some people on this forum are just putting all the blame on him. I know that being the best player gets the blame for losses. But this is the type of losses where the entire team is just not productive. Its like everyone is relying on Harden to score 40+ in order to win. Against the Bobcats, the entire team basically was struggling so Harden just put his head down and started attacking. Against good teams, that's not going to work. Its hard to be successful when every team is focused on him and doesn't even bother guarding other Rockets players.
Good observations. Nobody considers these things when they judge a player - they only look at stats such as scoring, assists, rebounds, etc. No focus is on how many points a player gives up with poor defense which also hurts team chemistry.
