Saying he is only 25 isn't meant to be an excuse but rather hope that he will continue to improve. In his 3rd year as the number 1 option, he became runner up MVP and led his team to the WCF. Yes, were all disappointed in that game 5 against the Warriors but to say he wasn't our MVP this post-season seems absurd to me. And I only responded to your post because you said he was only the MVP of the regular season.
nothing wrong with it imo. keep in mind I don't think the rockets would get out of the 1st round if either or was missing but DH brought it again this year consistently and should be acknowledged for it. he adjusted his role for the sake of the team and still impacted the game tremendously on both ends. in a time where people doubted he could even be counted on the playoffs, he once again performed at playoff level basketball.
2 of the greatest ever struggled just as much in their age 25 season in the playoffs. No one thinks Harden is going to reach MJ or Lebron level. So if 2 of the best ever can struggle so can Harden or ANYONE else. You are so blinded by the bad games that it's making you ignore all the absolutely amazing stuff he did this postseason, which in its totality was unreal and better than Dwight.
Dwight Howard is not even as impractful as his stats say offensively. And his offensive stats weren't even that good. He was consistently solid, not really good, not great. The team absolutely imploded every time Harden was off the court. Every. Single. Time.
With Dwight, it's incredible frustrating to watch this guy succeed because he makes the hard things looks easy and the easy things look hard. If he shoots 60% and above on free throws, if he keeps his cool and compsure, maybe he averaged 23 and 14. But at the same time, the guys is the reason we were in all those ball games. He has what you can't teach, but I want to see him leading in all aspects on and off the court
overall consistency and his impact on both ends of the floor especially defensively when he has to cover for so many mistakes gives the edge to DH imo.
I agree. Dwight had a great post-season and I'm not denying that. Only disagreeing your point that Harden didn't have a "MVP" type post-season.
stats stats stats. it doesn't tell the entire story, people need to understand that. the same could be said about howard. they struggled when Howard was off the floor. its a layup drill when's not on the floor. don't over exaggerate that statement about the team imploding every single time. some of the best moments of this years playoffs came when harden wasn't even in the game.
This is horribly untrue. The biggest example of this being untrue is the game 6 comeback against the Clippers.
nope it doesn't. that statement is ridiculous. so where was harden in game 6 of the clips game. I've stated before I haven't given up on harden and hope he can one day win a title for houston but statements like that will get called out.
You can call me out all day, your narrative is still blatantly wrong. When Harden plays well , we win when he doesn't, we lose. There was one exception to that in game 6. That's called an outlier. Game 6 has already been written as a choke job for the Clippers and not some clutch performance by the Rockets.
lol ok so that has nothing to do with being clutch. that makes a ton of sense. so game 1 and game 2 of the gs series what happened? yup ill continue to call out ridiculous statements.
Where exactly am I wrong? And how can you argue Dwight was out best player when his best asset in the postseason was playing like Deandre Jordan esque. His post scoring rate was the worst since 2005 playoffs. I won't deny that Harden did have moments where he didnt show heart, but if you are seriously going to deny he was our best player you have unreasonable expectations for him. He did as best as you could hope for considering we don't have another scoring option besides him.
shouldn't be repeated but he made a sacrifice for the betterment of the team. this was established when he returned from injury in the regular season. ive stated why i believe dwight was houstons best player in the playoffs again. and again nothing wrong with it imo. overall consistency and impact on both ends especially how much he has to cover up defensively gives him the edge imo great moments by harden no doubt about that. hopefully, the best is yet to come as he'll likely be in the mvp consideration for the foreseeable future so long he is healthy
You got to give Howard some credit. He arguably faced a top 5 center in each round of the POs. Bogut has recovered nicely from his injuries and is playing like the draft pick potential he was all about so give him credit too. 1st round was Tyson Chandler Semi Conference Finals Deandre Jordan Conference Finals Andrew Bogut
Literally everything about this post is wrong. Dwight had an INCREDIBLE impact on the court, and if anything, the stats don't tell THAT entire story. Dwight was our defensive anchor, and other teams loved it when we went small. Josh Smith and Terrence Jones simply didn't have the presence to protect the rim, and while Capela did an admirable job, he's no Dwight Howard. And um, that last sentence?? Really?? Every single time?? Except for possibly one of the greatest playoff comebacks in NBA history?? Do you even watch the games or just look at box scores??
No offense but this thread title really should change. We lost. No one deserves to be the MVP of the playoffs for the Rockets. Who played with the most consistency and energy throughout the playoffs? That's a completely different question.
