Unemotionally speaking, I blame the loss on Gordon and Anderson for shooting 0-4 from the free throw line in the first quarter.
I agree. He's pretty good, but he's second tier. Just like Carmelo used to be a "pretty good" player. Just not the type to win you a chip.
Are you forgetting games after games that the Rox actually had a better run and better offense when he was resting at the bench? Look this is a team game, when team win, everyone gets the credit, when team lost, they all suck. But when some of you were trying so hard to paint him being the MVP and carrying a group of role-playing scrubs, its just laughable. The Rockets bench won the Rox Thunder series, not Harden. Plain and simple.
Harden's main issues are that he'll have stretches where he has just mindless turnovers, and he always starts dribbling out the shot clock while not actually going anywhere or initiating anything and then tries to do something with 5 seconds left on the clock he also settles for threes way too much...he used to be an above average 3 point shooter but now he's just mediocre at best
I've seen Lebron do the same thing: dribbling the air out of the ball to take those out of rhythm threes. It's not just a harden problem, but I do think that people forgive LeBron more because he exerts so much energy on the defensive end and he is very unselfish. What dogs Harden is the fact that people perceive him, rightly or wrongly, as a selfish player.
I've actually pointed this out way back during the regular season, and most people didn't believe me and called me a hater, when I can literally show them +/- numbers and prove that a lot of times we played even better when Harden was off the court. Objectively speaking, he shouldn't win the MVP by that fact alone.
I don't think anyone is ignoring his good games, its just there are these lapses in his game during crucial big moments in playoffs... its well... painful. MDA 7 player rotation seems to be taking its toll... tired legs/lazy shots/pathetic offensive display in overtime.
ISOs are gonna happen at the end of close games Harden can't be tired. If he is need to remedy in off-season
Man, I just cant bring myself to come up with a legitimate excuse as to why Harden didn't will himself to a victory. Ive been sitting her thinking about it for 45 minutes.. This game was in hand multiple time. I am supremely disappointed. All this whining we do on behalf of James Harden feels hollow right now..
Harden is just too talented of a bb player, maybe too good for his own sake. Careless, avoidable mistakes in the most important portions of a game have doomed his chances of putting his name among the super elite. 9 turnovers. Smfd....
Coaching needs to step in and force plays to be run. Why not post up Harden in the clutch? He can make the mid-range or find shooters and cutters. We know ISO Harden doesn't work and yet MDA is totally content watching that destroy the offense.
I'm not sure this is a joke post or not, but imo Harden could have more benefits by losing some weight, not saying he's fat, but if the issue here (according to some people) is that he's always tired (when he plays like ****) in the end of games, maybe...being less heavy would help him.
1) Nobody said the bench was scrubs. Literally zero people said that. 2) Harden averaged something like 30/8/6 in the Thunder series. I'm not sure why you seem to think he had nothing to do with that series. The bench obviously was great. Both can be true. 3) The bench does tend to spark key runs. Happens all the time actually. Doesn't make Harden worthless like you imply. Straw man arguments about with you, my friend.
