Like someone mentioned earlier, his TS% is 58.3 through two games, compared to just 51.9 percent in last year's series against Portland. His PER of 22.4 so far this series -- obviously an absurdly small sample size -- is a postseason career high. And his assist percentage is 34.3, compared to 21/21.5 percent in his first two playoffs with Houston. Not worried about James.
he was getting single coverage with Raymond Felton and Richard Jefferson he chose to iso them and brick and airball and then turn it over he wasn't releasing pressure off of anyone, he just wanted to take contested jumpers
Would you be more worried for the rest of this playoff run if 1) if the Rockets were scraping out wins based on Harden having 40 points on 20 shots and playing 36 minutes, as pretty much happened for most of the year? 2) Dwight and Josh are playing NBA Jam, Corey Brewer is sprinting up and down the court, Clint Capela is a 50% FTt shooter, and Harden hasn't had to provide as much scoring as usual I'm picking 2 10x a day. Super Saiyan Harden is fun to watch but let's save him for when we need him (he actually came back in Game 6 vs. Portland last year but F*king lillard's shot obscures that). The game was decided at this point, it was just run clock and launch a shot = you win the game, nobody gets injured etc. He could have done the selfless thing and hand it off to somebody to also take a contested jumper and protected his TS% I guess.
Can we give Harden a bit of a break, please? He's played the entire year with the team on his shoulders. Now he's being double-teamed, triple-teamed, and blocked in the paint. Other Rockets players are coming to the table to help out. He's more a part of a good team in the playoffs than the carrier of the team as he was in the regular season. He still had 24 pts last night. The Rockets are playing better team ball, and that's a good thing. Harden's a defense magnet, and that's opening things up. I think he's a little confused the role he's supposed to play now with all of this, but his team is picking things up, and I think that will ease his nerves and help him more comfortable making the adjustments he needs to. The most important thing is that the Rockets as a TEAM are stepping up and getting it back together when they falter. That's the road to a championship. It's not going to just be one person who does it all this year.
Great Post. Harden's step-backs will start to fall sooner than later I believe. But you are absolutely right, he is adapting very well thus far in the 2015 Playoffs. Last night, all those open lobs to Dwight at the basket was fantastic, but it also made me wonder. How is it that Carlisle allowed for so many successive back-door openings? I thought Carlisle is considered a pretty good coach and would adjust after say 3 consecutive lobs and a timeout. Was it me or did it seem like the Mavs defense were SO discombobulated that it was "out of character" for even the likes of the Mavs (who don't have a great defense anyway)? Last night was just very strange (in a good way for Rockets fans) that the Mavs didn't even look like they put in any effort to prevent/stop the lobs. What's going on here?
I agree with you. But I will say that last night, Harden didn't really get to the rack at will like he did in the regular season. And that was, from my observations, attributed to the Hard doubles and the defense collapsing into the lane whenever Harden even thought about driving in. Correct?
He's doing everything well besides shooting from the field. I wouldn't blame Dallas' defensive schemes either bc a lot of the shots he took were after he shook his man like he normally does to free up space. He just needs to knock em down which i think he will in G3. I predict The Beard goes for 30+ pts on 12+ FGM. HOPE I'M RIGHT!
Exactly.. The Mavs made the decision to not let Harden beat the, they wanted the rolls players to be pressed into beating them and they did. Their game plan is solely focused on stopping harden.
I just wish he'd be a bit more aggressive to the hoop when his outside shot isn't falling... EXCEPT!! 1 - he is still going to the hoop a bunch, just making the right passes and 2 - rather he not get injured! So, really... I guess I'd rather he not be taking quite as many contested step-back jumpers... 3 pointers or mid range. One wrinkle we haven't seen is a true post-up attempt. They let him post to get the ball on the wing, but the post-up is basically by the 3 point line. A little bit deeper positioning would be interesting. Just things to get him going. He had that post up sequence on Rondo that he got fouled on. He can do that all day against this team, or the Clippers...
Just to give this a point of reference: Harden's TS% is a very respectable 58.3%. Here's the TS% so far in the playoffs for a few other players: Anthony Davis 57.6%, Derrick Rose 57.4%, Stephen Curry 56.4%, Kevin Love 55.9%, Lebron James 55.2%, Blake Griffin 53.3%, Tim Duncan 46.3%, Pau Gasol 33.2%, Kyle Lowry 28.7%, Danny Green 25.3%.
This x 10. Harden is murdering the Mavs by making the perfect stat-less plays and, as Drake says.. They ain't got no awards for that. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vkSFh6HMUtQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
If harden would hit shots we would blow out teams. Hopefully seeing the rest carry themselves he can relax with less pressure
He is only 24 year old, his' shooting should only get better since he has not reached to the peak yet. But your numbers in the list did not support your argument much.
James had an amazing game 1 .. and an amazing first half to game 2. Its getting annoying they type of critisicm James is getting. I know i have friends that want James to " Go Off " and drop 40 + . But frankly that isn't going to happen with how dallas is defending him. In the first half of last nights game he had 17 pts on 5/9 shooting.... This along with about 3-4 assists i cant remember how many exactly. Then in the second half Rondo picked up his 4th foul and technical ... james was absolutely abusing him . This actually was a bit of a negative for the rockets that Rondo went out. They put inferior defenders like MOnta on James and james responded by going right at them trying to score and get them in foul trouble. In theory ... if james can get a couple of fouls on Ellis the game is over right there . So he played very aggressive and forced it a bit. James isnt inhuman he can make mistakes and he probably forced it a bit to much. His shooting percentage went way down. I trust in the 3rd game .. if dallas doesnt change how they defend him then james will go right back to his first 1.5 halves of the playoffs style and continue to put up huge assist numbers. In the first game james' 11 assist acounted for 27 points. along with what the 22 ?? he had himself ... that means James was directly responsible for 49 points... and people say he is playing poorly .. smh
The surest bet Carlisle can make is that if Harden gets going, it's all over. Knowing this, he was hoping that Dwight wouldn't resurrect to his old form, and TJones/Smith would play some terrible basketball. Obviously that hasn't worked out for them, but again, look at the alternative. There is nothing worse for the Mavs than a downhill Harden.
