Looking at how are Rockets and Former Rockets are playing in FIBA World Cup Harden leading World Cup in Steals Per Game
[/IMG] Sorry..lol Looking at how are Rockets and Former Rockets are playing in FIBA World Cup Harden leading World Cup in Steals Per Game[/QUOTE]
Strategic losses happen all the time in FIBA tournaments. Especially by the Euro teams. When the Euro's do it their HC's are praised for being crafty...
Zack Lowe's article on team USA: http://grantland.com/the-triangle/team-usa-fiba-world-cup-spain/ A couple of Harden related Highlights:
Very disingenuous of Lowe to point out Harden driving/trying to draw a foul without mentioning that this very well might be part of the offensive gameplan by Coach K. Why not take advantage of the talents of your best players? Harden draws fouls and Faried/AD can grab the Oreb for easy putbacks. The Harden foul drawing advantage is especially magnified in FIBA where you foul out after only 5. Cmon man
Yeah. He's looking for holes to poke, and making them seem much more serious than they actually are. That Harden fast break thing is pretty ridiculous. 1 out of 5 fouls is almost more valuable than 2 points of extra offense. It's not like USA is hurting for buckets so far.
The one thing about the fast break that bothers me is it increases injury risk somewhat. Just one awkward landing or a frustrated defender deciding to just smack you hard could cause something bad to happen. If Team USA is gonna win anyway, I prefer that some other team's star player takes the injury risk.
It's become funny now how committed media members are to tearing down Harden. He's lived up to his billing as the team's best player along with Davis, yet can only receive half-hearted derision.
Any question that Harden is the leader of this team? The entire lineup gets circulated, Harden is the only remaining starter with 2min left in the 1st
I care much less about what the media think of Harden than I do the players. As long as other members of the team USA likes Harden, that's all that's important. The media will always go with the flow. Narrative today is "Dwight is a loser?" Find a photo of him not looking sad when the Rockets are losing a game. Narrative today "Harden is selfish ball-hog?" Find a clip where he shots instead of passes. It's pretty easy to do and you get used to it. But as long as the players are cool with him, that's all that matters for the Rockets.
