I'm not afraid of Harden going cold in the playoffs. I'm not even afraid, particularly, of him getting injured. He has a record of durability and recovery, and generally finds ways to control and dominate the game even when he's not hitting shots. I'm very afraid of him losing his cool. He has a poor record of managing his emotions when harassed by a guy like Marcus Smart. He has demonstrated that this can take him out of his game and cost his team the win. Over the course of 48 minutes, and certainly a series, this is Harden's #1 vulnerability. Every team knows it. Resting Harden is a good idea. But what he really needs is a series of torture workouts. A trash-talking, space-taking, jersey-grabbing, arm-slapping, offensive-foul-faking defender in his face for 94 feet, every possession. With no picks to bail out Harden, and no referees to whine to. Beverley would have been perfect. Thornwell and Liggins, sadly, are also under contract. But what about Briante Weber? Didn't his 10-day with the Grizz expire a week ago? He was called up from Sioux Falls (G League), but I don't see him back on that roster either. Do NBA rules allow us to hire a recently released ex-player, outside of the NBA roster structure, as a sparring partner in practices?
He needs to come up with a counter move when his goto drive to the hole isn't working/paying off and not let this get him out of his game. Diversify your game!!
Practice isn't the same, because it means nothing. Hopefully he has learned from the past and can not let the "lack of calls" get to him this year. Better yet would be if the refs called a fair game.
It's called pass the ball properly and teammates hit open shots. The thing that's not talked about last year in all this harden choke is Harden's teammates did not step up. Harden will have a bad game and he always bounces back the thing is he needs teammates who will pick up the slack and allow him to bounce back.
I partially agree with this. It's not all on him. CP3 is the only guy who has the guts to talk to him about how to handle mental pressure. CP3 and EG will have to be at their best in the playoffs, in order for Harden to play freely.
Yeah. Physicality throws him off. You can tell when someone presses him full court. He gets annoyed and starts to use his off arm to push off. He needs to welcome that kind of physicality just like he welcomes contact while driving into the lane.
Basically this, Harden doesn't really get rattled, but when he gets bodied and refs don't call, you can see screw go loose in his head. It actually affects his Bball IQ as well when he gets annoyed, he completely abandons his normal playing style and starts forcing everything.
lock him in a room for 3hour straight with audio blasting soundbites from kellerman, SAS, cowherd, sean elliott, kerr, heinsohn, cuban and other various dickweeds. his mental will grow so strong
That torture is through the strength of now Chris Paul. There's a mutual respect between the two in which Harden doesn't want to let CP3 down and vice versa. Rockets have come too far for Harden to give up now. Remember, Game 6 came around when Harden found out he did not win the MVP. As a human, I would've quit as well. Won't happen this year.
Good idea, and aside from practice, maybe we can ask Pops to have Mills and Ginobody foul and flop against Harden in our last game against them, and if we ask politely enough, maybe he'll help us out further by having Gasol craftily elbow Harden in the head on drives, which refs won't see. But unlikely, because San Antonio is such a class-act organization and Pops will never let them do that. amirite @Huricane
Bad game is misleading. James Harden didn't even show up enough to have a bad game. He didn't even try. If you're a star player and decide to quit in a elimination game, the whole team will suffer. Hopefully he'll give us his best effort this year. Go Rockets!!
Some might say the crowd didn't show up 1st and he reacted to that but I think you have to be a pro and play the game not the crowd. I am looking forward to some redemption from him this playoffs..
Again you can hate and say he didnt show up, but where was everyone else is my point. Everyone has bad games. This is why I don't come on clutchfans as much as I used too, it's like watching ESPN, it's god awful and makes no sense. I love the Rockets which is the only reason I come here for info but this board in general half the time does not get common sense things. Harden carried the team the whole year but god forbid he has a bad or no show game where someone else has to do something, then he's branded a flake. The problem aint Harden it's Morey and his teammates. This is the same board that flamed me when I said Ariza was better than Parsons when we first got him. Same board that flamed me when I said the team would be better under a different coach and I even suggested MDA's system. Same board that flamed me years ago for saying Mchale played Harden too much and he needed to rest at the end of seasons. You guys don't get simple things until after the fact.
If someone is going to dog him the way Marcus Smart does, I station him somewhere and let CP3 run a 4on4 offense. 4on4 offense is easier than 5on5. I didn't understand the idea of letting Harden dribble up the court with Marcus Smart hounding him 94 feet. Anyways.... we have CP3, he'll be in Harden's ear, helping him keep focus.
