Is anyone going to acknowledge that James Harden is obviously injured?

i sure as hell wouldn't.

harden needs a real coach. no this pseudo coach we know as mchale.

 

And you have no idea what a coach in the NBA requires to do his job well. Do you realize that, by contract, Morey appoints 5 out of the 6 Rockets assistant coaches? Do you understand that the coaches have meetings every single day after film review to discuss what the team needs? Do you remember that when McHale was hired Morey called him a great delegater of authority?

This is Morey's team. Not McHale's, which I have been saying for three years. Assign blame where it belongs. But no one disputes that this is Morey's team, and it is not changing in the foreseeable future. Get used to it. Or are you going to *itch through his entire tenure?

 

37 minutes per game and no other playmaker + not trusting your teammates will do that to you.

 

Harden's shooting percentage is going to level out to around 43/36 and remain there until we get a PG distributor that takes the ball out of hands at least half the time.

 

I'm not worried. Must be the playoff atmosphere for showdown between 2 teams with NBA's best records that got to him. He'll be back to his awesome regular season self for the next meaningless game against a scrub team.

 

Congrats! You just did!

 

I've been saying this. He's playing through a sprained ankle and may have something else going on with his shoulder. Gotta give him credit though for at least playing with more intensity on defense. I just don't think he's right physically at the moment.

 

His is missing the three and his shooting percentage is down because he is actually giving effort on defense.... He just needs to get in to prime shape! Like Dwade, Kobe and Jordan in there primes

 

As someone who has played a lot of sports my whole life I have to say I agree and disagree. I don't think he's injured but he's hurting. It's called the grind. Gotta realize not everyone is super human. You get tired, you get worn out, you get jet lag and etc. playing and training do much is hard. Now he's obviously playing but he can't play superstar level constantly. Your gonna get tired a few games during the season. He probally has so msny aches and pains right now. What's make harden and players like him they don't say anything or complain.

 

It honestly looks like something almost psychological once he hurts his ankle.

I believe his first season with us he hurt his ankle around the All Star Break - and took a slump after that.

He hurt his ankle at some stage last season and I recall him slumping after that.

And he hurt his ankle a few games ago.. and is slumping.

Might just be a huge coincidence.

 

Yep so easy to see I don't understand why people don't see his faults here

 

I agree on this completely. He has been going strong for a while now. Feom the playoffs to team usa to another season. He needs time to let his body heal. We also need help off the bench. Ariza's shooting has gone down since the first few games. We need someone else to pick up their scoring ability. I hope the corey brewer trade goes through.

 

I lol'ed but I do think there's something to this.

 

being a playmaker means trusting you teammates

 

I agree with the injury plus he needs a damn break. Mchale needs to use cannan and daniels more to give a breather

 

Curry is not better than harden. If anything there even, the difference is curry can't draw fouls get in the lane at will or play defense all things harden can do. There nothing curry can do that james can't. Curry is the better shooter tho. No lie their. Harden is a better passer also.

 

I think its a combination... he is hurt (undershirt and tape reveals this), and tired... but also it appears that refs have clamped down on offensive foul calls. All three have put pressure on him to shoot from the outside... and he seems to always shoot better after getting a few baskets and foul calls from drives (defenders are forced to take an automatic step back... now they don't need to).

 

The fickle nature of fans here is beyond compare. He is currently a top-five scorer and "his shot is broken." Wow! Last year he was criticized for not playing defense. This season his defensive effort has been outstanding. He is playing hard both sides of the ball, still pounding the dribble drive inside with contact, and even guarding power forwards, while folks here wonder why his shot is struggling at 36-38 minutes per game. Good Lord! Do you really believe you can exert at least twice the effort over the entire course of the game without your legs feeling it? That a person plays twice as hard without getting twice as gassed? These guys are not supermen, yet you expect it of them. And if the guy starts sagging on defense to conserve the legs in his shot and his wind, he will get assaulted on this board for being "Haren." The fact is, for a great many posters here, enough is never enough.

 

I didn't see the game after the middle of the second quarter(too disgusted), but when did they finally bench him? He's been playing heavy minutes when he looks tired as hell plus he has obviously been injured in these last couple games.

Even when he doesn't shoot well he makes up for it at the line so something is wrong with him. Something is wrong with the team as a whole actually these last couple of games

 

Like Aaron Rodgers said "Relax". Harden is using the new Lebron method of teaching to get his teammates comfortable with the system.