Players moved around without ball in hand, bodies are falling helping in defense, and players played with renewed aggression. May not be the most skillful bunch on the floor, not always a pretty game, but games are won, and everyone gets involved. Harden is important to team, but he has to adjust to the team. Stop hawking the ball and drive just to draw fouls. Let Lin do the ball handling and facilitating, and he stays a shooter and euro-stepper, and distributes some - but do some DEFENDing. Garcia was contributing by moving around without the ball and freeing himself for open shots, and threw his bodies in the path of some. It is not a Lin team or a Harden team, it is the Rockets - 5 players, one unifed purpose, on one floor !
it s hard to imagine how much he would be better player without harden..that is he would have developed his game much much more....because everything is about confidence...any player getting the freedom Harden is getting or Kobe would have develped his game far far above current levels...
you can never know these things for sure....but take lakers for example... they would be far better team without Kobe wouldnt they? do you have any doubts they would be in PO without Kobe? yeah kobe has great talent but the way his talent is used is all wrong.. and the development of others game suffers tremendouslky ansd in measuree that you can never calculate... cmon a team with Howard Gasol nash and imagine a few others solid players traded for kobe...they would be top 4 seed perhaps even top 1 seed wouldnt they?
Are the Rockets better without Harden now? Yes, ball movement and anticipation is better without him obviously. Can Rockets better with Harden Later when he's back? Yes, if and only if he give PG role back to Lin and focus more defense like the others.
Every one plays harder and better when Lin is on the floor, except Harden Harden plays harder and better when nobody else is on the floor
I wonder whether rockets would be better off with Harden coming off the bench like he used to in OKC...we're too predictable with Harden on the floor...
I would only say the Rockets would not be as bad as people think without Harden, but over an 82 game season, we need a healthy Harden more than anyone on this team, and Asik is second. Lin/Parsons probably tied for 3rd most important. Rockets DEFINITELY NOT better without Harden. Just better than most people think would be the case.
Well I think better or not, the style of play definitely looks different. And in the end, NBA basketball is entertainment and every one of us gets entertained differently. Some prefer team ball, some prefer iso-hero theatrics. But I think in the end, it's up to the coach to plan his strategy against opposing teams. On a night like when we played Orlando, Tobias Harris couldn't handle Smith, and Asik was beasting. So if Harden was playing, he'd have to recognize that and let them beast. Maybe take a 12 pts, 12 assist night instead of forcing his 26 ppg. And on nights when Harden is mismatched against someone who can't stop him...he should iso all night long. The problem is that when players are trying to win awards like MVP or scoring leader, or trying to earn a max contract, they put their agendas ahead of the best strategy. Like I said, that's on the coach to rein things in and control the flow. In a chess game, you don't checkmate the opposing King with your queen every game. If you try, you ain't much of a player.
Harden may take the least amount of FGs and average the most amount of assists amongst all top scorers, but don't let that fool you. He wants to win the scoring title and doesn't like to pass the ball. He is your average stat padder who has had the opportunity to stat pad. Give Jeremy Lin 17 shots a game and 10 free throws, and he averages the same number of points as Harden. Tell him to be more selfish and stat pad and he gets 5 rebounds a game. Tell him he won't get benched and he easily shoots at least 37% from 3. Just like that Jeremy Lin becomes better than Harden in every aspect of the game. So why does this team still need Harden?
Too bad Lin just isn't as good as Harden when it comes to getting to the line. That's just a fact. Lin doesn't get the calls Harden does like it or hate it. Harden is a star respected by officials and Lin isn't. tough luck.
Most of harden's points come from fast breaks, off pick n roll (penetrate and draw fouls) and 3 pointers. When he got iso he would 90% just step back and make a tough shot, with a low percentage. You know it if u watch the games. I would suggest no more harden iso except when only a few seconds on the clock.
Trade Harden for Lemarcus Aldridge. It would free up the backcourt redundancy and we would finally get a power forward who can score when passed the rock. Lin would lead the league in assists.
