They did bring us to the WCF. However, one could argue that T-Mac and Yao are STILL a better duo than Harden and Howard.
TMac wasn't the same guy in Houston. Quite obviously he lost quite a bit of athleticism and had more and more back issues. He got worse as the years went by in Houston. I think the stats will bear this out. His first year on the Rockets he played great vs the Mavs in the playoffs. That was the only taste of Orlando TMac Houston got.
This is funny, we say only results matter, but for the sake of offseason we need to discuss it. There would only be something to discuss if both sides had similar winnings or close success. Its not Harden and Howard's fault Yao and Mac had a scrub coach and crew the majority of time here. Then even when they got the perfect coach and squad they couldn't do anything because it was too late.
What im saying is Howard and Harden are far superior because they have always had success before either of them met. They are better built leaders, and were able to do something even with out the perfect coach suited to them.
I truly wonder what Harden and Howard would do with a lineup consisting of Ryan Bowen, Bob Sura, and David Wesley, with extra offense off the bench from Scott Padgett... Lolz.
It's not like they had a great lineup to work with 2 years ago. Bev at PG, T-Jones and D-Mo at the 4 with both of them hardly getting any playing time up til that point, Parsons at the 3, and a bench of Lin, Cisco, Asik(when he felt like playing), and Casspi. And they still won 54 games in an equally tough Western Conference. Right now, I have to give the edge to Howard and Harden. T-Mac was a better player through his first 6 seasons. And Yao was a far better offensive player and at least adequate on the defensive end(aside from rebounding). But I'm about results. Those two together never got past the first round. Yao did finally do it in 2009, but that was without T-Mac. Howard and Harden already reached the WCF in just their 2nd season together.
Down 3-2 in the series to the Clippers, the most amazing comeback in Rockets playoffs history came with Harden on the Bench. It was Corey Brewer, Ariza, Josh Smith, Dwight, and Jason Terry, that saved our asses from going home. Mcgrady didn't beat Dallas in the first round in '05, but he wasn't benched and had MVP numbers in that series. I'd take that Mcgrady over that Harden in the Clippers series. Definitely an **asterisks** in "WCF Harden" That's the difference between beating the '15 Clippers: Josh Smith, Ariza, Brewer, Terry; and being knocked out by the '05 Mavs: Scott Padgett, David Wesley, Bob Sura, Jon Barry.
Yes this really was our Rockets team against the '05 Mavs. Yao McGrady Padgett Sura Wesley Barry http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200505050HOU.html
Put Harden and Howard on that team. Western Conference Finals my ass lol. 1st round Knockout guaranteed. We took a young prime Dirk to 7 games, albeit getting blown out in game 7
Dafuq? Joined in 2013. I've been here way longer than you. Who the fuq you calling a LOF? Get the *** out of here b****
Harden is better than Houston T-Mac Dwight isn't better than Houston Yao, but Yao's constant injuries make it closer to even. I'd take the current combo, almost easily, even if they aren't as talented. The ridiculous number of injuries we had to endure in the mid-00's shattered so much hope and promise.
TMac was a great player I followed him since his years in Toronto, but he's getting a little overrated by a few here. TMac was never a great defender even though he had the potential and the physical gifts. Once he became a big time scorer he never was a good defender again outside of his first playoffs series with Houston which he was magnificent. Now from a scoring standpoint yes TMac could fill it up and drop buckets in a hurry but the guy was a poor shooter and litterly took the worst shot in basketball over and over again. He constantly shot the midrange jumper and with bad efficiency. After his 32ppg season he shot 41% from 2 and 33% from 3 and that was his last season before coming to houston were his shooting did get a little better but still was below avg for a superstar. The narrative that he was a better passer then harden is insane IMO. TMac was a great passer but so is harden who is much better passer in the pick and roll and also at finding bigs when going to the hoop which TMac never did which was a big knock about his time in Houston, he was allergic to the paint. Rebounding is about even I'll give a slight nod to Mac but really it's so close it's a moot point, but the most important aspect of the comparison is harden is more durable and plays with passion that TMac just didn't have. Super talented had the gifts to be the best but didn't care to put in the extra work. Harden by all accounts is a basketball junkie, he plays in pick up games works out hard and has expanding on his already elite game every season in the NBA. At 25 hardens ceiling is a lot higher then macs only because or desire to be the best that Mac just didn't have.
Harden and Howard in 04-05 with those scrubs would not have done much better, maybe they would've beaten the Mavs, but there's a great chance they wouldn't have.
Maybe you should try that medicine on yourself, one post without: 99(er) clutch rap music 90s t-mac jeremy lin mad max best
no dude, you're the ones who need to be on meds who made this stupid tmac vs harden thread ? it ain't me we already know the answer to this. this is just another moral victory / trying to stay relevant / hypothetical situations only McGrady thread. The answer is Tmac will never be better than Harden now. Harden passed up Tmac like a Ferrari passing up a bum on skateboard. No debate. It's over.
