Even if he's not willing to sit entire games, he needs to taper his minutes down. Play him 20 minutes in Portland, and 20 in GS at the very least.
So you advocate playing a hurt MVP ...for what? They got 3rd best record locked. WHat is wrong with you? Harden need rest. Trooper or not, someone needs to tell him to rest so he can get his nice nice body rested and right. He looked horrible tonight and playing in so much pain
Sometimes it's the coaching staff's job to tell a player he needs to rest up. Harden is so competitive that he'll play through any serious injury. Harden is a basketball player, he's not a doctor. The whole 'be a man and play through injuries' argument is full of garbage. Not all injuries are the same. Bruised, flu, cold, slight sprains = Man the heck up and get on the court Damage to tendons, ligaments, serious viral/bacterial infections (like the one that has turned Asik into a goddang skeleton), etc. = Rest the heck up Do we really want a 50% Harden in the playoffs just so people can say Harden is "old school" and plays through pain? Anyone really believe the Rockets can get past the second round with a hobbled Harden? The Rockets will go as far as Harden takes them.
Play Harden until he makes the injury worse to the point it severely effects him in the playoffs. Great coaching.
Sit. him. down. I cannot believe we are even having this conversation. Our star player, who has an injury on his shooting hand that has been re-aggravated 2-3 times, and who is visibly grimacing in pain, is still playing 36 minutes a night while we're essentially locked in to the 3 seed. What. The. ****.
I didn't know Montrezl was out due to the impending birth of his kid. I wonder if he'll be available Friday night in Oakland. As for Harden, what I'd like to see is him play at Portland, rest against Golden State, and then play at Phoenix. If the Rockets can beat the Blazers(tough, but doable) and the Suns(no excuse to lose that one) and Utah loses just one of their next 3 games(at King, Wizards, at Spurs), the 3rd seed will be locked up by the end of the weekend. Then aside from securing the 3rd best record and home court over everyone in the East, there's literally nothing left to play for in terms of the standings. So Harden can either take the occasional game off or even sit for a week or so and let the wrist heal.
Let harden have rest next game and play for warriors. And then take rest again until playoff. We dont want harden injury. We want to see a healthy harden in playoff
That's the worst thing to do with Harden. The Rockets have maybe a 10% chance of winning that game at the Warriors. It's a B2B less than 24 hours after they play in Portland. If he's gonna go in one of those games, make it against the Blazers. That's a 50/50 win scenario.
He can't follow through? That's bad. Also looked like maybe he wasn't able to put usual spin on his layups. I betcha a wrist flip from a fully extended arm hurts....and that's the key to some of his drives...to extend the ball beyond the big closing on him.
All this work will be for nothing if he's not in good health for playoffs....I mean I respect his toughness, but its kinda getting stupid to think he's acting this stubborn bc of the MVP race and not give two ***** if he's at full strength for what really matters most...a championship.
Maybe you re right. Beating warriors without Durrant. It is meaningless. I think houston can consider to buy chris boozer, smith or other top statistics players from china cba. Existing houston rockets is unable to beat spurs and warriors. They still need to buff by buying players. Let harden take rest,and let him play easy matches to get the 3rd seed
If he sits, MVP is gone. So he won't sit. I would like him to win MVP but I would prefer that he is healthy and ready for the playoffs.
