Brandon Jennings with 35 and 12, he's been playing really well as of late, hopefully it carries over and they beat the Spurs on Monday. We gotta get that 3rd seed!!
That's not true. I insult Clown Jackson and GSW all the time, and when Kobe is healthy, I am all over him and his dumbass fan possey. I am an equally opportunity hater. But seriously, Harden is an embarrassingly bad defender.
Meh not really. Some nights he's good and some nights he's bad. This is the biggest Harden myth behind the whole "He's nothing without the refs" Yeah some nights he's bad but there are also other nights when he is VERY good. To say he's just bad shows you don't watch him most, his off-ball defense and team defense leaves a lot to be desired and could improve...but when he's locked in and focused on a guy he's a good defender.
Warriors have way more individual talent but the Suns are so much better coached. I gotta go with the talent this year if both teams are healthy, but the Suns have the brighter future IMO.
I definitely don't watch him as much as you guys, but I can't remember a game I've seen from him in Houston when he's looked good defensively. I watched half the game tonight because I bet on Houston to win the 2nd half (THANKS A LOT HOUSTON) and I was astonished how many times Harden wouldn't even run back on defense when the Bucks got out on a break. I did think he was a decent defender in OKC, particularly in the last playoff series with the Lakers. I suspect he is just not in the kind of shape to go so hard offensively and also give effort defensively (aka the Kobe syndrome, except without getting all of the bogus media awards). Regarding the other myth, I don't think it's that the refs love Harden and want to give him calls, but that his whole game seems contrived to draw fouls. I guess it's smart to do what you can to get points but to me it's in the same ballpark as flopping in that it isn't really basketball. AKA, if half your game would be shutdown on the playground, it seems a little cheap to me.
The Heat think they are too good to try against sub-500 teams. Especially if it's not on national TV. It's ridiculous, but whatever.
I don't think people give the weaker teams enough credit. Fact is, there no easy road wins in the NBA. Even the Bucks-- who are one of the worst teams I can remember-- gave the Rockets a scare tonight.
I don't know what's wrong with LeBron tonight, but he's just jacking 3's and getting badly outplayed by Hayward/Marvin Williams. No excuses either, they haven't played since Wednesday. Unreal.
Are you mad that you have Doc Rivers as a coach but your team is actually worse than it was last year and that we have a better win percentage than you?
While I agree with your point, you definitely don't get the 'normal' Heat against bad teams. Out of their (now) 14 losses, I believe either 9 or 10 were against sub-500 teams. That's not normal.
Oh no, not at all. The Doc Rivers signing was the single best thing the Clippers have done in years, and the team is MUCH better this year with him. I know record-wise it's close (isn't it better this year?) but the fact is that the Clippers actually have an offensive system in place now, which is why they were able to withstand the loss of key players and hang in there. Now they have most of their remaining games at home and I suspect they'll vault to the #2 or #3 seed. If you don't believe me, you can look back at my comments last year-- I was never optimistic about the Clippers' chances then but now I am ecstatic with the team. As far as the Rockets go, I don't even think about them in the standings. I think you guys have a good team but are basically in the same place the Clippers were last year where you have talent but a bad coach and no real system outside of isolation basketball. If the Clippers do meet the Rockets in the playoffs, I don't think it really matters if you're ahead or behind us in the standings because you won't win that series (barring injury). But I would be VERY surprised if the Rockets finished with a better record than the Clippers.
