Ever since James hurt his foot February 12th against GS, he has looked like a different player to me. He doesn't use the eurostep like he did earlier in the season, and he seems to have no explosiveness or lift. Obviously, he was never super athletic, but now he seems to have taken a step back. With that in mind, I looked at his shooting percentages before and after that game. Turns out he was shooting 50.1% on 2's and 34.9% on 3's before that game, and he's shooting 40.8% on 2's and 41.1% on 3's since. pre injury http://bkref.com/tiny/V5vjZ post injury including GS game. http://bkref.com/tiny/Fvd39 This seems to indicate he's still hurt. Hopefully this means that when he gets healthy(next season), he will be more like the guy from early in the year.
Well he has put up a few plus 30 games during that time, and has still got to the free throw line a good amount. His shooting might be being affected by the foot though. His defense hasn't been too bad. Who knows?! Let's just hope he's OK! He played D last night, and had 30. I think he has another level in the playoffs, as he has shown before, albeit, in a completely different situation star wise, and minutes wise so that might affect things. He, as Reggie Miller pointed out this week, "won games single handedly by himself..." I believe that we worry a lot about James because of the past. He has shown time and again that he gets back up. REMEMBER THOSE OLD DWADE commercials!! That's James right there!! We should be worrying about Parsons. My thoughts thought on Parsons though are, I think McHale wanted to rest Parsons though with this injury as much as possible because of how hard Parsons has played this season. We will need him at FULL STRENGTH come playoff time, and I think that McHale has managed, and probably talked with Parsons about the situation.
Why is he even playing these last few games. Its like a bunch of 7th graders run the team. They have already clinched!!!!!!
He's been noticeably different in how he attacks the basket or settles for 3s. He's gotten rest and looked better last game though - we'll see in the playoffs.
He's also having more trouble finishing at the rim and in traffic (based on the eye test) The OPs stats are interesting, they show that his numbers have been lifted by hot 3 pt shooting (although this is partially explained to Lin handling and driving the ball more which makes it a bit easier for Harden to favor the 3pt shot)
This is not good. Ever since Ppat played through injury in his second year, he NEVER regained his super athleticism shown in his rookie season...I'd rather we miss the playoff and rest him for a better future.
James Harden in the last 18 games has been shooting sub 39%. Why? There are a few possible reasons 1. He is in a shooting slump 2. He is injured or as lingering effects from one. 3. Something else I think 1 and 2 are definite possibilities. But I think the main problem is that he is starting to get reliant on foul calls. Then when the refs don't call the foul, it counts as a missed shot. See what I mean below. “We went in there I think at times looking for contact as opposed to trying to finish the play,” Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. “I’m always looking for contact,” Harden said He needs to find a balance between knowing when to try and get calls and when to actually look to finish. It's his first season, I think he will, but no doubt its an issue right now, and probably will be in the playoffs.
The thought of this being permanent is scary. It's probably just the whole Kobe thing but it does make you wonder.
