James Harden does not have the heart of a champion.

You're right, that was a poor way to word my point. But I'm trying to say he wasn't expected to carry the team, so he never had a big mental burden to bare, compared to your typical all-star-level team lead (both experienced and inexperienced). He led the team in scoring while still being pretty much a no-name for many casual fans. He didn't even average 20 ppg in the regular season. Chuck and Kenny and all the talking heads were talking about Paul vs Harden. How would the team do without Westbrook. Would Adams dominate us inside. SGA's name almost never came up at length.

 

dude had a rough game - it happens...

at least he kept tryin to contribute in other ways - such as a defensive block at the most important moment...

He obviously had a poor scoring night - but he didnt just sulk... so I got no complaints...

 

That wasn't his stat line in the game 7 was it?

Well, Rockets in 5 next series. No game 7 needed.

 

Rockets #1 rated defense had a lot to do with that Einstein.

And you are ridiculous.

The performances speak for themselves, SGA-Gallo-Schroder were OKC's leading scorers and the difference between their scoring averages were practically indiscernible.

You can **** your pants all you want trying to spin your pissant narratives but FACTS keep getting in the way.

Go cry somewhere else.

 

I really don’t understand how you can give the guy a hard time showing up in the clutch on the defensive end in crunch time in a game seven

 

No, SGA wasn't expect to carry OKC, but he was expected to have a big role in the offense. That's why he averaged the most minutes/game out of any player in the series. For a 2nd year player in a rivalry playoff series, I think that'd be a lot of pressure.

 

Rockets Def also rated #1 by JD Power for initial quality.

 

Because we should have been up by 30 points.

 

And you could probably have 30 more points on your credit score if you tried harder

 

Do you even realize what you're arguing right now?

I asserted that OKC was inexperienced and pointed to the youth of SGA, Dort, and Bazley. I also pointed to the limited playoff experience of Gallinari. Someone countered that Gallinari was a capable scorer. Given that he had 2 playoff games with less than 5 points, this was a false rebuttal.

Aside from OKC being inexperienced (an opinion), what fact from the above paragraph do you disagree with?

 

Nope perfect credit even boost cow can't go to eleven.

 

Every team in the league is trying to stop Harden. Don’t you think he is the priority when game planning against us? Is it possible a TEAM stopped a player? Is it possible said player STILL scored or assisted on 90% of points scored in the fourth quarter. His block/jump was/will be Legendary and talked about for years to come. Harden is so much more than just a scorer.

 

Go stalk and sell your bullshit to Asko roll bunco

 

I respect his game but I also cant stand him. Rooted against him before he was a Rocket and then loved him on the Rockets. I respect the season he had. Watching at least three nut punches/slaps in this series just reminded me what a dirty player he is. A champ doesn't talk about how clutch he is before he wins the series. His stupid ass premature shittalking shows what a chump he is. Couldn't back it up and **** the bed in the waning moments of game seven while Harden dominated...yes dominated the closing minutes. Remember Chris Paul feeling himself and mocking Curries shimmy and then losing? Nothing worse than a **** talker who cant back it up

Man......Kobe had so many crap volume shooting nights in the playoffs.....

 

Whatever dude...just own it and take the L

 

I think you overstate how much that means, especially in a first round series with minimal expectations. Again, it's not like it's that unprecedented for young players to play well in these series. If you don't like my Herro comparison, how about we go to the opposite end of the spectrum. What about Duncan leading a team to a title in his second year? How about 21-yo LeBron in his first playoffs getting within one possession of an ECF appearance? I know you're going to say something along the lines of "you can't compare SGA to superstars", but I don't see why not. They're better players, but they had the hopes and expectations to bare in proportion. Plus, they're just the easiest kinds of examples to think of off the top of your head, but there's plenty more.

If that doesn't cut it, I'm curious what evidence you have for your position. Can you give me many examples of players in a role comparable to SGA's that choked meaningfully in one of their first couple playoff series?

 

Come on. You're using 2 top-10 GOAT's to prove your point. You know exactly why those are bad comparisons.

I remember Derrick Rose choking against the Cavaliers. Lebron kept giving him space to shoot, and he just kept bricking. Gilbert Arenas shot pretty badly in his first postseason. Durant also struggled hard in his first postseason appearance. Karl Anthony Towns? Carmelo? It's tough to think of many comparisons because players in their first few seasons don't usually have major roles on playoff teams.

 

That Gallo is a capable scorer.

You are slow AF, do you take medication for that?

Schroder led OKC with 29 and 30 in Games 3 and 4.

Gallo led OKC with 29 and 25 in Games 1 and 6.

SGA led OKC with 31 in Game 2.

So who are you crying about being the most capable scorer on OKC again?

 

You do realize that its already SGA's second time in the playoffs? He's not a rookie. He's played in some pretty tense playoff games against the Warriros. And for the last time HE IS NOT THEIR MOST VALUABLE PLAYER. Schroder was especially more valuable than him this series. Lol, oh so I guess you discount all the games where Gallanari was actually doing well huh. I'm not seeing any arguments by you that hold water. Why are you trying to make it seem like OKC was some scrub team. They are a very good team and would have been a tough out for anyone.

 

Did I ever say he was a rookie? Or have I consistently said it's his 2nd year?

Also, there's a HUGE difference between the expectations/pressure of being the leading scorer on a playoff team (like he was this year) and being the 5th highest scorer on a playoff team (like he was last year).

I never said he was. Nice straw-man argument.

Some of you guys are really overrating Gallinari's scoring ability. Can he make an open jumper? Yes. Can you give him the ball and expect him to create something? Not consistently. The fact that he had a game with 1 point should prove that.

OKC isn't a scrub team, but let's not exaggerate how good they are just because we beat them. When the re-start was announced, OKC had the best payout to win the western conference finals (except for Portland, but Nurkic wasn't in the equation at that time). In other words, the Lakers, Clippers, Rockets, Nuggets, Jazz, and Mavericks were favored over OKC.