Chris Bosh says stopping Harden was key to beating OKC

Honestly would y'all prefer iso joe or Chris Bosh at this point?

 

You know how many wins spurs had laat year without kawhi? Howbout this year

 

Itch

 

Harden was just terrible and it wasn't because of the "gameplay" Heat had. It even went to a point where he missed transition open layup in the midst of his struggles. Had he play to his abilities he'd have 1 ring right now.

 

Send Me To Houston Rockets promo

 

There was more to it than that. Several insiders knew Harden didn’t want to be there and that it wasn’t all about the money. Harden believed he was too good to be playing behind two other players. Dude wanted his own team. Presti is not stupid, he drafted Harden and actually received a lot of criticism at the time for picking him so high when many thought Tyreke Evans was the better prospect. Point is Presti knew Harden was great and would have preferred to keep him but Harden wanted to move on to bigger and better things...

 

Neither one is good enough at this point. Joe might be able to give us a decent game or two. Bosh would be risking his health, and that's not worth it.

 

While this is true, Harden is on record saying he could have been resigned by OKC, which makes your point moot.

 

Joe probably won't die on the basketball court so.....

 

Part 2 of the Simmons/Bosh interview came out this morning. Bosh was talking about the players he had the hardest time guarding -- alongside Anthony Davis and KG, he specifically mentioned Luis Scola as being too crafty for him to lock down. Always nice to see Scola getting props for the fantastic player he was.

 

I'm not sure if I completely agree - I'm pretty sure teams planned to do the same thing with the likes of all great stars (Jordan, Lebron, Kobe, etc.) The game plan was always to "not allow Jordan to score" and "let someone else beat us". However, most stars refuse to let that happen. When your team needs you most, you step up.

Harden appeared gassed in game 6 last year, and was not effective by any means. He didn't quit but, it sure looked like he knew he couldn't carry the team any more. I hope he learns from it this time around because AGAIN teams will look to not let him score and have someone else beat them.

 

Harden straight up quit or was concussed in game 6, like Kobe in game 7 of the first round in 2007, LeBron in the 2010 ECSF, etc...

Those events quickly led to a departure in free agency or a demand for a trade, if Harden was healthy, I wouldn't be surprised in a few years to see that he demanded a trade elsewhere.