James Harden got into an argument with a reporter after his media session

Harden better get used to the tough questions and the criticism. He has burned through his goodwill. I am not at the point of calling him franchise 2.0, but I hate hate hate it when stars get their shots whether they earn them or not.

It will be interesting to hear whether he went clubbing after the game.

 

this is including me and you then. because you're doing the same thing. and im wasting my time responding.

 

Come on... Beverly is important but he isn't a player with franchise level expectations.

 

its on him

 

I realize Harden is in a funk offensively and has had some serious lapses defensively.....

But....

Watch the offense..... No player movement away from the ball, no screens off the ball, everybody just standing around........

Watch the defense..... Since we cannot run proper screen plays on offense, how can the defense practice to stop it?

We're forcing up contested layups and contested threes..... Only because a certain philosophy has deemed those two types of shots "efficient"...... They're only efficient when played in the flow of a normal offense. When you play expressly for those shots, it becomes too easy for the defense to stop these shots. Especially with the intensity turned up several notches in the postseason.

I've gotten some flack for predicting another post-season disappointment because of "Moreyball".... But when the defense takes the few options away, all the players look embarrassing. Not just Harden. Not just Lin. Not just Parsons. But everyone.

The key to getting players out of a funk is to run plays, staggered screens, player movement away from the ball, to create easy looks.... Make the entire defense work.... And use your other players..... It's amazing how much easier the star players can then perform.

I don't know whether the problem is mostly on McHale or on "Moreyball". But the latter will continue to result in disappointment, regardless of who is coaching the team. And regardless of whatever stars this team acquires.

 

ITA with the underlined. McHale seems like a really nice guy and I think he is well liked by the players, but I want a coach who will sit a guy down when he isn't contributing & give the minutes to someone who is hungry. Harden and Parsons should have seen a lot more of the bench tonight, period.

 

btw, that interaction seemed worse in text than actually watching it.

 

Bwhahaha what 28% 30% from your Superstar is not acceptable at all. So no sir he wasn't fully right. He was partially right. He is our best scorer and his offensive ability is much needed in the playoffs.

 

It doesn't matter how bad McHale is at coaching. That's completely irrelevant. Is McHale the one that's making Harden shoot an abysmal 29% from the field?

Is McHale forcing Harden to be lazy on defense and keep missing assignments?

McHale sucks, Reporters suck, his teammates suck... fans suck....everyone sucks except for Harden right?

Here's a crazy thought...How about he be a real leader and take ownership of his mistakes instead of trying to deflect everything on everyone else.

I don't care if Harden is the greatest player to ever play in the regular season. Playoffs are where the true Superstars show their worth.

 

You missed the point of the comparison...

 

you are getting mad. I like it.

I love this.

I miss this feeling and haven't felt this in a long long time. That kiss of death 3-1 comeback will stay with me forever. I am getting pissed like then too.

If we win this series this is what its all about. Breaking through and kicking some ass and getting mad.

If anyone thought it was going to be easy and we werent going to separate the pretenders from the real rockets fans then time to wake the f**UCK up.

HELL YEAH

3-0 would be pretty lame though. not sure about all that

 

Agreed 100% with you Miss Lady.

 

Social media is the blame for the most part. Lin is the exception. Twitter has effected a lot of it.

 

Also, does tuner sports own twitter or something? Tnt is always showing tweets since it spawned.

 

Technically, it's both.

If your score is less than the other team, then either you didn't score enough or you didn't stop the other team from scoring.

As for Harden's responsibility, sorry but my sympathy is limited. If you're going to take the accolades and credit when you shoot well, then you take some responsibility when you shoot poorly -- especially if you're one of the Franchise players.

Yes, McHale bears responsibility for not putting the team in a better position to win in terms of offensive and defensive schemes, but McHale didn't make Harden less aggressive driving to the hoop, or taking early shot clock contested jumperts, or turn over the ball, or make him miss his shots, or make him fall asleep on his man or give up on plays.

If you're the "Franchise" guy, you're going to get some darts if the team loses and you performed poorly. And deservedly so.

 

Just look at how many people follow the rockets vs harden, dwight or even parsons.

 

I am mad. I have paid for Ballstreams, rushed home from work, snuck into bathrooms on dates to check play-by-plays, spent thousands on thousands on thousands on thousands of dollars on season tickets for this season and next, and defended these guys to everybody around me who didn't believe. They scrap to get here, circle the drain, and (mostly) look like they DGAF. Couple that with a coach who doesn't have the balls to take guys out of the game who look like they DGAF, and here we are. I thought Rockets could take this in 5, and now I'm fearing a sweep. That is effing pathetic, and I am super mad about it. The thing I hate most is that regardless of how stupid it seems or how down we are, I never give up hope. I always believe they can pull a rabbit out of the hat. I always believe. There's still that nagging "what if" in the back of my head about games 3 & 4 and frankly, I hate it.

So. Frustrating.

 

Talking about terrible fans. How about your b****ing towards our own player?

 

Like you never bash any of our players right? *cough* Lin

It doesn't matter whether Harden is our best franchise player, his performance in the last 2 games deserve every single criticism.

 

Haren did say a lot of their points in the regular season came from getting stops on defense and getting in transition. How many transition buckets can you remember this entire series. I got the parsons dunk in game 1 and the 2 beverley lay ups. I am sure there are more, but no dunks pr baskets that stand out and feed energy and confidence to our players. Harden said if you dont get stops it impacts you when you try to score and i am sure it helps the mentality of the other team.