There is nothing but abuse thrown Hardens way form just about every Lin fan I see online. I'm surprised he hasn't hung himself.
wow. reminds me of when tmac rolled out the red carpet in that toronto game. tinman where are you? at least tmac was old and broken down by that point. harden supposed to be in his prime. hope he gets it together soon bc we need him to play like he's capable of in game 6, but it just seems like mchale blew his chances to instill any defensive integrity in james harden and now he is what he is.
I thought he did a pretty good job of that in Game 5. He shot too many 3's which has been the problem though. He had 7 assists which shows he is figuring out how to contribute even though he is off. They are playing him well and LMA and Lopez are there to clean anything up if he does get in the paint. Matthews making him work on the other end too.
But it's not like he didn't face tough defense all season long(or in previous years). I've noticed he's played even worse at home and his body language is terrible at Toyota Center. Ironically he's performed better in Portland which I guess bodes well for Game 6. I just wish he'd throw caution to the wind and start attacking the basket. Screw the refs. Just play your game. If you don't get calls, so be it. If you do, even better. He didn't get going last night until he finally blew by his defender and went to the basket. That's there all game long if he wants it(and is willing to go right). What's amazing(and I can't believe I'm saying this) is that if the Rockets pull off the miracle comeback, Harden may actually have an easier time in the next round against the Spurs defense. Who would've ever thought that 2 weeks ago?
The guy simply parties too much, drinks too much and doesn't eat healthy. Look at the pot belly and puffy face - he's starting to looking like a modern day Stevie Franchise
agreed. my issue isn't that harden isn't lighting it up offensively - it's that he's not even attacking the openings that are there. rather see him put his head down and attack and live with the results, instead of dancing around the perimeter launching long range jumpers. sure he'll probably turn it over or get blocked, and he probably won't get the calls he's used to. but it's the playoffs. you need to put the pressure on the defense and on the refs. so far he's let them both off the hook.
I know many of you don't want to hear it, but it is painfully obvious now after 5 playoff games. James Harden has become a liability. We have known all season that he couldn't play defense. It wasn't a problem because he was the teams top scorer. Now that he isn't scoring like he was during the season he is bogging down the team.
Harden bashing news- lets see whats new.... oh some new things apparently... -parties too much -pot belly -doesn't play defense -etc. -etc. and now he's a "liability" on both ends of the floor? Jezzus you folks have a short term memory and turn on your team's stars quicker than anything I've ever seen. The guy made a key block on defense against Lillard I believe, and nailed a 3 to ice the game last night, and then this crap pops up still. -YES he's been atrocious on defense (insert gif of someone going backdoor on him) -YES he's been scoring a much less effecient clip this series, and at a lower rate. However are we just going to ignore the countless games he's single handily won for this team in the past two years, the fact that McHale has NO OFFENSE at the end of games, and its completely up to Harden to create something out of nothing (and that something typically is pretty reliable), other than this series and the Heat series(when Lebron shut him down) he's been a difference maker in the playoffs, the fact that his leadership & friendship with players off the court has been something that has been praised(organized off-season workouts, often out to dinner with teammates, etc), he's represented the city well (was the unofficial host of ASW last year, does a ton of charity work), and that he's never once caused any controversy in the locker room before. But now after one bad series where he's had the entire defensive scheme of an ELITE contender (yes they are a contender) designed soley to stop JUST HIM.... now he's apparently Fat, a locker room cancer, and is quitting on his teammates????? The guy deserves criticism... I get it, but to the extent you folks are taking it to makes me disgusted that you root for the same team that I do.
There's a difference between having a bad series shooting the ball and showing complete disinterest in the game and display poor body language. I think most people are pissed off because Harden is clearly the latter
Then most are pretty dumb because his demeanor and body language has been identical all season and to that in his previous playoff games going back to his OKC days. He just isn't an animated passionate guy. Here we go again with our r****ded fan base trying to create a villain because they aren't mentally capable of handling disapointment and frustration.
My theory is he's been hanging out in strip clubs too much and has been partying hard and having too much fun during regular season games. He probably had one of those nights before game 1 of the playoffs which is the reason why he's been bad in this series.
You know I keep reading these "theories". He drinks, parties, whores it up all the time. I've seen a few photos. Are there any actual, factual accounts of him doing this in the playoffs? Uncle Nate aside, I haven't seen any. I have no idea when or where those other photos were taken. Hell it could all be off-season stuff as far as the facts I've seen. I'm all for getting to the root cause of his slump, but I'd love to see the facts.
