Its always easy to blame the star player for the fact its his team, and he is the one to blame. But the truth is, who got harden back? Westbrook couldnt do anything ? Gordon? Well they just dont have that true 3rd star who gonna come in and have some defensive help around the team. I dont think its harden fault, hes done everything he can to get this team where they are every year, but the truth is there probably what everyone was saying they are usually "gassed", and harden seems like he is every year. Was westbrook suppose to take the burden off him? I dont see westbrook doing squat, so maybe this is why okc traded him, cause in crunch time these players cant surpass to the next level. I mean westbrook put up 25 points but did he score 40 to win some games? NO.. I cant hate on both Harden or Westbrook, they are tremendous offensive talents, and hall of famers, but they just not good enough to get to that next level. Maybe next year, or year after that who knows.
Again. Stats. 18.2% Fg. 5 turnovers when you’re down 2-1. You can word it in a negative or positive. It’s not the point. Harden needs to focus on hustling more. Moving without the ball. Hunting down loose balls. Coming out to start the game with his foot on the gas pedal. Honestly, just run a little more and a little faster. We all watch the games. I would be much more satisfied saying he played like crap at the end of the game because he was gassed from having to do everything the first 3 quarters or from trying to get open all game. But at least agree with me that he didn’t show that last game. Do you really want your players only focusing on their numbers and TS% and being content?
This is all true. But harden quit last game. On the court it was ridiculous to watch. No hustle, no running back, lazy passing. He stopped trying for most of that game. This was a crucial game we had to have and he just stopped trying for two and a half quarters.
I admit I really didn't like Harden much earlier in his career. I didn't like the style of how he played and thought of him as one of those players who if he didn't play for the Rockets he would be one of my least favorite players. He's won me over mainly by seeing how much he's improved on D and I think he wants to win but he is enigma. In the last two games you saw LBJ barking at everyone including refs even as the Lakers had a comfortable lead. While annoying from an opponents' view that really showed how much of a competitor LBJ was and how he always wants to keep the pressure on both the other team but his team and the refs. Harden complains to the refs but a lot of time he seems to disappear. He's not a vocal leader but really seems like a quiet guy and I think that might hurt his perception.
no. but i haven't watched many players for 7 straight games without thinking there were times they took their foot off the gas pedal. lebron looked like he was asleep in game 1 of this series. doesn't matter now because the lakers are up 3-1, but you would have been pissed if that was harden. i don't think we'll ever know what happened in the spurs series. harden was tearing them up for 4 games and the first 42 minutes of game 5, then got an elbow from gasol and suddenly looked like he was in a fog and he couldn't dribble without simmons stealing the ball and then just didn't show up in game 6. maybe it wasn't a concussion, but something weird happened. but it didn't happen before that or since that so i treat it as a one-off. dort pretty clearly seems to be an excellent defender. okc fans were saying so before the series, the eye test says he defended harden's drives as well as anyone ever (it wasn't like harden wasn't trying like hell to get past him), and okc's record and defensive ranking when he played says so as well. your standard is one very few players ever have met. this board would kill larry bird if they saw some of the trash-ass playoff runs he had and some of the teams he lost to with homecourt advantage while having 2 hall-of-famers in the same frontcourt. the list of bad games and bad series by great players throughout history is [top gun] long and distinguished [/top gun]. outside of lebron, kawhi, hakeem, and jordan, i can't really think of anybody from the last 30 years who pretty much always played great in the playoffs (shaq and duncan were great but occasionally got swept (shaq) or got shutdown (duncan)). i guess he could have had a terrible game 2 or game 5 instead and we lose in 6. his previous game 7's were 31/7/8 and 32/6/6/4 so it's not like he's always bad in game 7's.
yeah, not a good game (though 16-20 ft's obviously makes up for some of that FG%). players don't play well every game. the fact it was 2-1 doesn't mean much. there hasn't been a game in this series that wasn't important, from going up 1-0 to having a chance at a 2-0 lead, to having a chance to get back in control 2-1. it can't just be an important game because harden was bad. sure. the '95 rockets were down 2-1 to the suns and came out so poorly that they got blasted by 33. we all remember it fondly now because we came back, but i guarantee no one felt good about that game. would it be great if i could never point to a rockets game with harden where we came out flat? obviously. i mean, i don't think harden is "focusing" on his numbers. his job is to score and do it efficiently. he's literally at a volume and efficiency that has only been matched by a handful of individual playoff runs ever. if he was scoring 20 ppg efficiently maybe you could claim he was trying to only be efficient, but you can't have one of the highest volume, highest efficiency playoffs ever by focusing on your numbers because there's nothing to focus on if the volume and the efficiency are both high. if he can have a bad game and still be at 29/66, that just says how good the other 3 games must have been. and we still lost 2 out of those 3.
And people around here have the audacity to just act like harden moving off the ball is the biggest problem solver at hand. Just ridiculous. Pure nonsense. Look at who he is surrounded with. A fake robin who is a complete negative all around. We’ve seen over and over how they’re performance is pathetic in terms of contribution to actual winning. those 4 players are what harden, roco, tuck, and uncle jeff cf’s blames the guy all alone and thinks moving off ball is the biggest problem solver. Last year most of y’all blamed cp3 for every single thing. This year oh it’s not on wb, despite being pure trash and has continued his worse play from the get go. Another episode of cf’s taking L’s
LeBron was handicapped with Larry Hughes and Eric Snow during his first run with the Cavs...and he still brought those scrubs to the Finals.
We've literally watched every iteration of a Rockets Harden team where Harden doesn't move off the ball and we've seen the results. He wouldn't do it to help the team with a gimpy CP3 and he's not doing it to help an out of sorts WB, who is better player than he's shown. It's on the coach too, but clearly Harden has input in it. You do realize Harden played a lot off ball under the OKC.
I disagree on that. I think it can Sometimes. If Harden has a great game tonight it really won’t mean anything to me. And to be fair Whatever Harden’s performance in Game 3 was against OKC doesn’t matter. I honestly can’t remember but if he had had a dud when we were up 2-0 then I wouldn’t criticize him for it. I don’t think that’s unfair
Being on the floor and having to alter His resting Patterns bc without him rockets lineups are absolute negatives. Oh and how about completely taking away a harden big man for the first time ever in his career. Now it’s harden has done nothing to help him. Where do people come up with this stuff
WB didn't ask to be traded to the Rockets, that was Tilman and Harden. Ironically WB was at his best running PNR with Adams and dishing it out to shooters. People who have watched the Rockets and the greater NBA for over a decade.... It's abundantly obvious Harden isn't maximizing his team despite whatever advanced stats dejeur that you use. The team results are the results. How many times do we need to watch Harden get double teamed, dribble out the clock and settle for a tough shot, or drive into a crowd hoping for a regular season call?
How many times are we gonna see his fake robin be the worst player on the team relative to winning contributions. Let me know when he at least gets respectable and then you'll have an opportunity to move onto harden being the biggest problem. Until then whoever is acting like harden moving off ball is the biggest problem solver have no idea what they're talking about
https://giphy.com/gifs/leave-me-alone-hb4Cu8ntN9oUE Jk. Harden is a really good player. His ability to draw fouls is unprecedented. Hes a statistical monster in the regular season and capable of carrying a team by himself. But fair or not, he'll be remembered for his postseason failures. The three games where he shot 2-11. The games where he just doesn't show up. The lack of leadership, passion, heart and guts fans love to see their team display. Unless something changes, Harden will be thought of far behind the lebron's, curry, durant, kawhi, wade and others of the era. It's not a terrible spot, bernard king, karl malone, david robinson were all great players too, they were just overshadowed by their contemporaries. Comparison is the thief of joy - jvg
What else haven't we tried then over the last 8 postseasons? Who is claiming it to be "the biggest problem solver" aside from people like you? Can we just try it so we can check it off or is that too much for Harden to do?
Zack Lowe had an analysis before the series about Rockets and Harden late game patterns and is spot on: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/page/zachlowe29800043/nba-playoffs-lakers-rockets-james-harden-massive-chance-rewrite-reputation Harden seems to thrive when he has a sense of control -- when the shots he likes are available, and the flow suits him. Championship teams win games they can't control the way they are accustomed to. They pivot to different strategies. They find methods of wresting back that stylistic control. Harden can withdraw when the game spirals outside his wheelhouse -- when there is adversity. When he cedes control of the ball, he too often becomes a spectator. He recedes toward half court or the sideline, standing and watching instead of seizing the game. Zero in on Harden, and you notice how often he vanishes from your screen. Harden still draws attention there; he's James freaking Harden. It is unreasonable to expect every ballhandling supernova to be Curry -- always flitting about, screening everything, relocating to dark corners. But there is a huge middle ground between that and what Harden does away from the ball. Sometimes, all it would take for him to become a threat is sliding five feet one way or the other along the arc -- what someone like Danny Green does on every possession.
Hi guys ... aw gee whiz .. i think im lost .. im looking for the James Harden Is The God Damn Devil thread .. is this it? Thanks!
Serious question what is your over all view of what happened the first year of CP3? The one season over the last 8 his co star was really strong and his supporting cast was legit. It was a complete failure because we didn’t win it all? Just a fluke year for Harden and how he effects the team?
