Did we really give up a lot? The two biggest guys we gave up were Lou Will and Pat Bev. Lou Will was a half year rental and Bev was a very limited player. I’m not sure we gave up that much. As far as picks go, maybe. Picks in the late first round don’t really matter to contending teams though.
I think this Rockets team is the deepest team I've ever seen in my nearly 50 years of watching the NBA .... They have guys 8-12/13 that could start on a lot of other teams. They will certainly be the underdog in a series with GSW , they are that good .... that glitch in the salary cap allowed them to do something no other team has been able to do - Add an MVP type player to a championship team. This could wind up being one of the greatest playoff series of the modern NBA. Sure , GSW has more star power but the Rockets are just as good on the offensive end , have a much deeper team and may actually be better defensively. I wouldn't bet on this series .... it could really go either way , no matter who has home court.
Did I ever say he was trash. I said he didn't play that well. Compared to his usual performance it wasn't as good. I was trying to point out how good the rest of the team is. You just want to hate.
Morey is obsessed with getting superstars, just because he is so good at getting quality rotational players, so he never needs to be too worried about the depth of the team. I remember during Tmac and Yao's time, there was a game in the playoffs, where they combined for over 60 points, but the rest scored less than 10. After Morey became our GM, he quickly assembled a team with great depth, Brooks, Lowry, Scola, Landry, all of them were quality players. 2008-2009 Rockets was the deepest team we had in Tmac&Yao's era, but unfortunately, Tmac's prime was over at that time and Yao's injury in the playoffs ended his career. Harden and Paul are much more durable, and I truly believe that with the depth of our team, they can lead us to a Championship.
Hard had an off shooting night, and his drives were not getting much headway to the basket because Boston was crowding the paint. But he clearly was impacting the game. People forget that he creates so many open looks for team mates, not to mention the chaos he created on the defensive end with all the pokes and deflections - 5 steals was only part of it.
Lou Will could've been kept, so you're not making an argument there. Bev isn't bad, he's only bad because he's injured a lot, just like right now. You're forgetting Trez, who always had a huge upside to him. He played like Carl Landry and provided that energy we needed. He does the same for the Clips, and they wouldn't look as good without him. Right now, he looks better than Nene. Nene looks old, slow, and unathletic. I mean, he came up huge for us against OKC in the 1st round last year, so I was excited about keeping him. Dude doesn't look the same this season.
Some of the things that helped us win will not be shown on the stats sheet, pj deflected the ball from rosier and cp3 picked up from the floor and passed it to ariza for the 3, having those type of plays will be a huge factor in determining close games and especially in the playoffs.
We have a deep team, but I don't think OP is giving Harden enough credit... Yes he shot poorly, but look at his final numbers. Not to mention how much defense and effort he brought today. There's a reason he was a +21 in a game we won by only three.
Sure. But you can't deny that Harden had some very questionable shots, where on some possessions, there was no ball movement and he ended up just jacking up a contested 3. I'm not saying Harden had a bad game, but he could have made better decisions.
Harden was really solid defensively. There were a few plays where his guy shook him for an open shot and made it (like Tatum) since he isn’t the best lateral defender. But Jeb was at least trying on those lol. Then the rest of us d game was solid. I’m sure Celtics fans opinionwpimd be different but seems like they were playing at the top of their game while Eockets weren’t (except Gordon).
I don’t disagree Harden could make better decisions, but that can be said for any one at any time. As good as Harden is he is not perfect, no one is and will ever be. How many times James saves our ass by sinking contested 3? If you want to have a superstar, you have to live with his faith in making tough shots. Superstar wins games, period.
26 points, 10 assists, 7 rebounds and 5 steals is now considered mediocre? Lol I know he was 6/18 from the field and 3/12 from the three point line but everyone knows Harden will get his by any means, he took 13 free throws, that means he was aggressive all night. I'm pretty sure if you ask the Celtics, mediocre won't be in the vocabulary of how they describe Harden
A poster assumed I implied Harden was trash, and I think you're assuming I'm saying Harden needs to be perfect. I'm not saying that. If people are box score lovers, then I'll agree - he DID fill up the stat sheet, last night. But he was also 3-12 from three. There were possessions where he dribbled the ball up the court, didn't really let the play develop, and decided to hoist it early in the shot clock. Trying to to shoot your way out of a slump is fine, but it's tough if you're not doing so in the flow of the game. But regardless, this thread is about the Others. And the Others damn sure showed up last night, with the way Paul and Harden's shots weren't falling. Ariza was clutch. PJ was great. Joe needs to show up to games, though.
Yea but his good clearly out weighed his bad. Cquse he made big stops n good clutch 3's. Everyone could of done better. Thqt was a good win. No mwtter how u stqcknit