James Harden has 14 assisted field goals in 9 postseason games

What about Ty Lawson?

 

We really had a chance to fix that with Dragic but he inexplicably went all Melo on us

 

that is why I am of the belief that it isn't Harden's fault

he has no help

no low post threat

no one else can create

the clippers are doubling him on every possession and everyone else is bricking wide open shots

We need a PF that can play defense

Taj Gibson?

We need a PG that can play defense and shoot

I would even trade Ariza for a guy like Tobias Harris

we need a guy that can create and shoot and take pressure off Harden

 

So refreshing to find a thoughtful and insightful thread started these days. Thanks, OP.

I had no idea, in watching, that he'd had to create *that* much for himself. Much credit to the Clippers and much sadness for our supporting cast, our injuries, (and yes, coaching, honestly).

 

lol @ [the clippers are doubling him on every possession]. did you even watch the game?

btw, terry and ariza shot 50% on 3's last night, if i remembered right.

 

James is simply not attacking
He has allowed the REFS and the Clippers to take him out of his game
He is not going to the basket at all because he knows he can get hacked and not get the foul call
He simply has to keep doing it
He will probably end up with a bunch of turnovers [because of none called hacks] or offensive fouls
but he HAS TO KEEP DOING IT

When he runs into the lane .. . he seems to have NO INTENTION of shooting. . . he either dribbles out or throws a bull**** cross court pass that has a high probability of being picked off

If they know you not going to shoot. . they jump the passing lanes

A Good coach would have pointed that out by now!!!!

Rocket River

 

He's getting to the line just fine. Only slightly down from the regular season.

Clippers defense is giving him a choice, take a tough shot or make the pass and hope your teammates can score. It's working pretty well because he is wisely passing up most the bad shots and moving the ball, but there isn't much offensive help out there.

 

i definitely disagree. especially after game 2 when the clips cried about him getting to the line. harden didn't get to the line at all in 3 and 4. game 4's 10 fts were in the 2nd half and the game was out of reach by then when he got the bulk of them.

again its been negated.

 

What does this stat really tell us? To get "assisted" on a field goal, your teammates have to help but you have to do stuff too. This could mean that no one is getting the ball to Harden in useful position. Or it could mean Harden is just standing around and never getting himself open, or when he's getting the ball in a good position, he's not attacking or shooting.

 

When was the last time (or the first time) you saw James Harden running non-stop to get himself open (to get "assisted"), like Curry or JJ Redick does almost every other possession?

No, Harden is not a spot-up shooter, and he "HAS TO" to have the ball in his hand to be "effective". So, he doesn't do the running.

Now, we are blaming teammates not assisting him - when he either has the ball or doesn't move without the ball.

That being said, Rockets has far more problems than Harden's numbers. As much as he's not performing at his regular season level (and it's not all him, his opponents and refs are not allowing that to happen), he's still the 2nd best player on the team.

 

These stats can mean many things. What's obvious is that Cuban is right after all. Our offense is terribly predictable. We have gone back to the JVG days of "just give the ball to TMac and let him do his things."

And I agree with those who say that our biggest problem in this series is not our offense. It's our defense. We have improved immensely at the beginning of the season. It seems that it just gradually deteriorated through the season and now it has come to the lowest point right in time for the playoffs!

 

the rockets have no movement off the ball. the only movement is directly with the ball like the pnr and everybody else stays stationary. piss poor offense

 

McHale'd.

 

Partially Harden's fault for being such a poor player off the ball. Watch what he does . . . he doesn't make any moves to be assisted on. He always puts himself in a position to get the ball and dribble the air out of it, not to score directly off a pass.

 

Damning statistic that shows the need for a more sophisticated offense. This isn't the Iverson era.

 

Definitely doesn't come naturally to him... at the same time the coaching staff isn't putting him in favorable positions to score. There is no counter. This specific weakness can be corrected by most competent coaching staffs.

And who's going to actually get him the ball - Terry, Ariza, Jones, Dwight? We don't even have anyone else that can penetrate. It's like asking someone to light a fire with two straws.

 

When we had DMo, we could actually utilize his skills to initiate the offense at the high post. Harden cutting to the basket can be an effective play.

I remember the first few games Harden played as a Rocket, Lin connected a few times with Harden making baseline cuts. I thought that was quite effective. If you add a little more off ball screens, it could make it hard to defend. Somehow that play disappeared and never was seen again.

 

Newsflash: This is not new for the playoffs. His playoffs unassisted FG % is 78%, in the regular season it was 73%.

Regular season:

Spoiler

 

^ LOL @ Kirby! Wow.

 

He has the ball all the time.

DD