For those saying Harden is choking in the playoffs...

In this particular play, if he takes it all the way and draws Barnes, then passing to Ariza would definitely be the right play..but because he's preoccupied with contact, he didn't get to the rim or draw Barnes.


I know it seems harsh to pile it on him...but again, thats what he signed up for. Time to ditch the gimmicks and just ball. Once he does that, the cycle resets and he'll be back to drawing fouls and making defenders scramble.

 

In summary of this thread, those numbers don't mean anything because the Clippers are better than the Rockets. They can cheat on defense and our shooters don't make them pay.

Wait...it's because Harden is not giving them good passes.

 

but by that logic if he plays like that, and his fg% goes to crap then you blame harden anyways.. bottomline morey needs to surround harden with shooters, and another guy that can beat his man off the dribble and create offense.. let bevereley walk( hes not the answer)

 

I wonder how'd we look if Ariza averaged 40% behind the arc this season.

 

We need a point guard SO BAD that we actually miss Beverley

 

Nailed it

 

I'm more bothered by Harden's defense than his offense. It's easy to double Harden when the rest of the team is shooting so poorly this series. Harden got no calls when he did drive, but he has to find a way to be more aggressive and the supporting cast has to step up.

On a side note the reigning MVP Curry just lost and is down 2-1 as well, after a 8/21 23 point performance. Likewise the Cavs and Hawks are down 2-1, so all the upper seeds are in the same spot right now.

 

I would like to see these numbers for the Clippers series only...pretty sure they wouldn't be up to regular season numbers...

 

This. Not Harden's fault if his teammates can't do anything when they get the ball in space. What do you guys want? Harden to go for 40 ppg while being triple teamed and hacked with no whistle.

 

Dont get me wrong, I miss Bev too, but he's not the answer to this series. Fact is we have two weaknesses that have been shown in this and the last series. We need a 3 that can defend and score (seems like just yesterday we had a ton of them lol), and we need a 1 that has a stronger frame and can defend the Chris Pauls, Russel Westbrooks, and Damian Lillards of the world. Right now we have a PG in Bev that is above average and can fluster those three on occasion, but he's just too limited offensively and too small to keep up with them. I dont think he'd be doing much better than Prigs/Terry right now, and would be giving us far less offense than Terry has provided till now.

 

Man. You str8 up exposed that harden-hater.

Bow down. Bow down to ya bruh. :grin:

 

Our problem last time was mostly Rivers and Reddick shooting about 77%. I felt so hopeless watching that go down. Watching these role players do this made me feel that we have no chance in this series .

 

Game 1: 6 FTA -- We got blown out.
Game 2: 15 FTA -- We won.
Game 3: 5 FTA -- We got blown out.

That's pretty much the story. If anyone doesn't see that Harden's game depends on the whistles, he is blind.

 

Everyone he's playing against is negating him. Whether its barnes,jj,or rivers. Who is the lockdown defender guarding him? He should drop 35 every night vs them dudes.

 

You mean like Steph Curry? it's a sad sight actually.

 

Curry did not get his MVP because of scoring. His numbers were the lowest in history.

He is not playing well right now. Harden isn't playing his best too

 

By no means has Harden been terrible or even bad in these playoffs. If you want to see bad playoff Harden, watch the last two years. The problem is when your a superstar MVP candidate, you have to elevate your level of play even higher than you did in the regular season. Harden has not done that. He still has a chance...tomorrow is about as must win as it can get for us. Harden needs to dominate!

 

Yes, that is what they want. They think any superstar should be able to control playoff games like only Jordan or Hakeem have really ever done. LOL. Oh well.

 

Even Lebron needs great teammates and role players delivering.

We had one game - the Josh Smith game


Other role players HAVE to step up!

 

Some of the clowns bashing Harden should go watch the 94 Finals again.

Hakeem had help from his friends. Whether it was Mario, Otis, Vernon, Sam or Robert stepping up, the supporting cast did their job and complemented Dream's dominant performance.

The rest of the Rockets are not stepping up and taking the pressure off James this year. Dwight's been good, but has anyone else?