[Grantland] Listen to Your Heart: James Harden Is the MVP

Dankstronaut · Apr 8, 2015

shastarocket said: ↑

What you are asking isn't easy. The biggest thing is that it requires a disciplined paint defender. It should be no surprise that we have trouble vs the squads that feature one of these rare bigs (Bogut, Horford, etc)

The easier gameplan against Harden is to trap/double him early and force the ball out of his hands. Pressure him into tougher passes and ruin the offensive flow. He is literally the linchpin of our offense.
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Not to disagree totally with you but what I'm saying is just as easy as I'm saying it. People think the refs are just blowing whistles because he has a neat beard or something? No, he's as crafty at getting to the rim as there is and has an exceptional knack for drawing those fouls. He sticks the ball out and gets hacked, the way to stop that is to stop hacking. Not for the refs to "forget" what fouls are. Or like you said, overload the defense on him but that comes with another set of less than desirable advantages for Houston.

Xerobull · Apr 8, 2015

cdrive said: ↑

The whole article is one big back-handed compliment. It pushes the tired narrative that Harden doesn't deserve to be at the line, that he plays for the foul, and that he is spoiling the game.

The ratio in my mind is 20:1 with # of times Harden doesn't get a call when he is legitimately hacked vs # of times he embellishes contact or goes as far as to "flop". I've seen him flop maybe once this season, and it was on the defensive side, and it was more of a flinch to someone's elbow coming into his face area.

"People watch Steph Curry and their minds are blown for hours afterward. People watch Harden and the only mind-blowing takeaway is: “WHOA. So he really doesn’t have an ounce of shame, huh?”"

"The MVP is the face of the league. The face of the league can’t be someone whose entire game plan relies on officials. Even if Curry and Harden are dead even, that’s the tiebreaker."

"He’s the most creative scorer on the planet, but he also turns basketball into a flopping Olympics. "

Those were the 3 that pissed me off the most. You know nothing, Andrew Sharp.
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Jordan did the same thing with the officials and people called him GOAT.

..but Harden is in Houston, so haters gon' hate.

nolenium · Apr 9, 2015

sabesque said: ↑

Hey, great job on this post. Being a condescending internet tough guy is super hard to do, and something I've never seen before.
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Sure thing, buddy.

Anyone actually reading the article would note his somewhat exaggerated defense of both MVP candidates, and everyone here is crying foul, "media bias," etc. This wasn't a Harden hit piece, which is what everyone seems to be responding to, not by a long shot.

Seriously.

JoeBarelyCares · Apr 9, 2015

Wouldn't mind seeing Harden losing the MVP and then destroying Curry & Co. in the WCF. Would be like Hakeem v. Robinson 1995.

Zergling · Apr 9, 2015

Anthony Davis has the best numbers? That's interesting since Harden leads the league now in RPM, WAR, value added

HouStu_Rocket · Apr 9, 2015

Zergling said: ↑

Anthony Davis has the best numbers? That's interesting since Harden leads the league now in RPM, WAR, value added
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Sorry that I have to ask but what is WAR and how is value added calculated?

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[Grantland] Listen to Your Heart: James Harden Is the MVP

Dankstronaut Way, way out here.

Xerobull ...and I'm all out of bubblegum
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[Grantland] Listen to Your Heart: James Harden Is the MVP

Dankstronaut Way, way out here.

Xerobull ...and I'm all out of bubblegum Supporting Member

nolenium Member

JoeBarelyCares Member

Zergling Member

HouStu_Rocket Member

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Xerobull ...and I'm all out of bubblegum
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