Obviously Portland has made Harden their top defensive priority. And Wesley Matthews is playing well on the offensive end, which is not making things any easier.
WE all know how bad he is doing. The blaming of Lin is because the dude was not aware of the end game situation and lost the handle of the ball thus giving the Blazers a chance to come back.
I don't agree that #1 is a fact. I think most of the folks that just want to see us play well and win won't/don't hate Lin. I was terribly upset with that late game turnover and the subsequent result but I don't hate the kid. The vitriol you see here is a combination of emotion and backlash from some of the pro-Lin posting that also fuels the fire.
I don't know if I speak for the others who are criticizing Harden, but at least for me, my criticism stems heavily from his "leadership" and perceived effort that he is putting into the series. Let me preface this by saying that I believe Harden is an AMAZING offensive talent, and I find myself in awe sometimes when I watch the replays or highlights of his games. However, throughout the season, like any other person with a set of eyes, it was very obvious that he was mailing it in on defense. It drove me crazy, but fine, I lived with it. The season is a long grind, and we are so dependent on him to do so much for us on the offensive side of the ball. I figured no way he continues to do that in the playoffs. But with these playoffs, unfortunately, he has continued to mail it in, and THAT is a huge problem. Hell, you may not be able to get equal value in a Harden trade on the offensive side of the ball, short of getting back LBJ and KD, obviously. But sometimes, the sum of the parts is greater than their individual components on a team. Looking forward, we have to seriously consider the possibility that Harden's attitude toward defense could become toxic and infectious to the rest of the team. I don't know about you guys, but I roll my eyes after every post game when he sits there and talks with a straight face about how they need to play better D. I think anybody who has ever played pick-up ball with that ball hogging guy who takes all the shots, but then doesn't play a lick of defense, and on top of that yells at the others when they make a defensive mistake, can relate.
Let me also add that yes, I know that the reason we're even where we are in the playoffs is because of Harden. But, in the end, you play the game to achieve the ultimate goal of winning the championship. There's no second place. So either you're working towards that goal and improving, or you're failing. As of right now, can we honestly say we're working towards that goal, assuming we go on to get eliminated? It is that same dangerous attitude of overlooking serious flaws and hoping that another offseason with some minor tweaks will resolve things that got the Texans exactly where they were last season.
People keep saying he's do for a good game, well it's DO or DIE now. Quit the post game PR talk and just do it!
He doesn't need to stop Jeremy Lin. You just sit back and wait for the infamous basketball IQ to kick in.
We just don't have a defensive culture anymore. It's not because of Harden it's because of coaching and our philosophy
We tried everything we can, and still can't stop Aldridge and Lillard. Portland just "game planning", and they stopped Harden right from the beginning.
look at the way scott brooks is using his current superstars and when he had harden. look at what mchale is doing. it's a sign of incompetent coaches.
Harden has been terrible, and should be blamed worse than Lin. the difference is that Harden is a great player and with this humbling experience should have his best summer as a pro and a stellar campaign next year. Lin just has no business playing significant role on a championship caliber team. That is why we want him out.
His last game was a good game. Not a great game, but good enough to win. 28/6/4 off 21 shots isn't bad. However, he can definitely do better. I'd like to see him drop 40 on these fools tomorrow.
Yep. Everyone wants Lin out. Milk Hair is the one that should have no part in coaching a championship caliber team.
I agree with the statement 'Harden would have done more and played better'. He has indeed put up a sub-par performance in this series. However, Harden has been trying to attack like he would in the regular season and the refs have changed the calls they usually made during regular season. That made Harden change his style of play drastically in the playoffs. Hence the lower fg percentage. Could Harden have played better to help us win? ABSOLUTELY Blaming Harden's low fg percentage for Lin's mistake? NONSENSE
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Former Rockets ast & new UH coach Kelvin Sampson asked on OKC radio why Rockets down 3-1: "Have you seen James Harden's offensive stats?"</p>— Jeff Caplan (@Caplan_NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/Caplan_NBA/statuses/461241133511614465">April 29, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Kelvin Sampson on OKC 107.7 radio asked if Dwight Howard or James Harden is the alpha dog: "James is definitely the alpha dog."</p>— Jeff Caplan (@Caplan_NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/Caplan_NBA/statuses/461242446752387072">April 29, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
this is why the team's playbook and development of harden (and players) needs to expand. more options are needed.
He's still young and needs to go through these growing pains just like every superstar before him. Lebron, Dirk, KG were all accused of not showing up in the playoffs but eventually they 'got it'. Let's give Harden the same benefit and hopefully the end result is all the sweeter for having to sit through the pain. Like it or not, Harden is here for the length of his contract. Let's just hope that after these playoffs he focuses on improvement on both ends of the floor and develops that hunger do destroy teams on a nightly basis. While it's hard to understand why he isn't being as aggressive as we'd like, we have been in position to win all of these games even with his terrible play. The team as a whole needs to fokass, play the basketball that got them here (to the 4th seed, not down 3-1 lol) and for the love of all things holy, play just a little bit of D! (Not you Dwight, you've been covering for everybody). Some consistency from the regular season to the playoffs in terms of officiating would help too. How can a player make his game play-off ready if the refs don't call it that way during the season? But that's a whole other thing.
