Will anybody remember tonight next time Beard has an off night?

Had this same thought after Green's big 2nd quarter. Different heroes different games on a memorable playoff journey. These are special times.

 

It didn't take long for Harden to have a bad night. Offensively he was awful, but defensively he made some key plays. However, playoff games like the last one keeps a bad image alive. Can you remember many Hall of Famers having playoff games like that?

 

Yes... like 95% of them

 

Examples? Elite player don't usually miss virtually every shot. I witnessed most of Jordan's playoff games. I don't recall anything like what Harden did last night. And going back to the eighties in the Bird-Magic era, I can't recall any playoff shooting performances like that.

 

2009 playoffs. 1st Round, game 3. Lakers vs Utah.

Kobe went 5-24 from the field and was a -7 that game. Oh and they lost. That was the year the Lakers went on to win the finals btw.

If Harden wins a championship this year, no one is gonna remember a game 2 win in the first round of the playoffs.

 

Remember when Harden set the record for turnovers in a playoff game two seasons ago?. Well, he set another one last night, lowest shooting percentage in a first round playoff game in NBA history. That does nothing to help his image; however, if the Rockets win it all, no one will remember.

 

People remember the turnover game because it was a closeout game in the WCF - people wont remember this game as much since the Rockets won.

Of course though it will prop up the narrative of how much "help" Harden has - he can shoot that poorly and his team can still win in a blowout.

 

That narrative rings true, he has much better help now, and thank Morey for that......before Harden was a one man gang with role players he has a legitimate Star to help carry the load, and we have 48 mins of hall of fame PG play.....outstanding.

DD

 

I agree with those that are cautious with Harden. While the Kobe 5 for 24 example is a good one, he just doesn't have the playoff failure rep that Harden has right now. Harden can't afford 2 for 18 games to build confidence in his reputation as someone that can go deep into the playoffs.

That being said, it's totally 1 game and he lit it up in game 1. I'd be more worried if he shot like 6 for 20 in Game 1 then followed it up with 2 for 18. Let's see what happens from here on out. It's nice to have help too w/ CP3 and Green

 

Do you remember that Jordan went 3-18 in a playoff game?

In 2008-09, when the Celtics won the championship, Paul Pierce went 2-14 in a first round game, but they still won. In that same playoff run, he went 2-14 in game 3 of the FINALS, which they lost. But they still won the finals. How do you remember Paul Pierce from that championship run?

Other notable examples (all playoff games) - Karl Malone 2-20, Reggie Miller 1-16, Melo 1-16, LeBron 2-18, Pippen 2-16, Vince Carter 3-20, Kobe 4-20, Iverson 5-27, Kawhi 3-15, Laimbeer 3-15, Tony Parker 3-15, Chauncey Billups 3-16, Danny Ainge 3-16, Julius Erving 4-21, Kobe 4-20,

It's a long list, but the point here is that it definitely happens, people just forget.

 

I’m not concerned at all that Harden went 2-18 because he played aggressive and with energy all game especially on the defensive end. He still made winning plays despite his poor shooting. Last year if he didn’t shoot well, he didn’t compensate in other areas and played timidly ala Spurs game 6. I’m hoping this is a good sign and shows that he’s turned the corner.

 

James has an off night and win by 20?

 

When you see the bottom scroll on ESPN you see Harden and his abysmal percentages after the scores. You don't see that the OK3 went 0-14 in the 4th qtr against a rookie in winning time after their scores.

Every Harden failure gets magnified x20. Now we wait for the various talking heads to say the NBA awards should be voted after the season because of Harden's bad game.

 

I think harden could have improved his line yesterday in the 4th if he cared, but he was just playing off the ball at the end.

Yesterday actually made me happy as a Rockets fan. Usually when hardens offense is off he just pouts and is useless, yesterday he was still working his ass off everywhere else on the court

 

I like how you mention 3 that are arguably the greatest to have ever played. Though none of the performances listed below are worse than Harden's, these are some of their worst games ever whilst in/near their prime. However, I could argue Jordan's 5/07/95 performance was worse, but I think he was playing baseball for most of that season lol.

-------------FG-----3PT----FT---REB AST TO STL BLK PTS
Harden
4/18/18 2-18__1-10__7-8___4___7___3___3___3___12
Jordan
5/29/93 3-18__0-0__16-17__8___11__2___2___2___22
5/07/95 8-22__0-2___3-5___5___3___8___1___0___19
6/16/96 5-19__1-3__11-12__9___7___5___2___0___22
5/26/97 9-35__0-8__11-13__8___1___2___1___0___29
Bird
4/22/83 4-18__0-1___7-8___16__9___3___2___1___15
5/04/86 5-19__0-2__10-10__9___5___0___2___0___20
6/03/88 4-17__0-0___8-10__14__5___2___3___2___16
Johnson
5/20/83 1-6___0-0___0-4___15__16__-___2___1____2
5/29/83 3-12__0-1__12-13__7___13__8___2___1___18
5/16/87 5-18__0-1___9-12__7___11__4___2___1___19
5/19/88 3-12__0-0___4-4___6___9___3___1___1___10
6/16/88 4-15__0-0___7-11__6___17__4___2___1___15
5/10/91 2-8___1-2__10-10__7___15__6___1___0___15

As I said, 95%. These 3 guys are in the top 5%. If I had all the time in the world, I'd bring up 95% of hall-of-famer stat lines and find at least 1 game in each of their playoff careers that consisted of a worse performance than Harden's last night. GUARANTEED!

Edit: I tried to make the stats look clean but CF apparently doesn't like multiple spaces.
Edit2: Fixed!

 

Maybe it's because I am already so used to his offensive brilliance, but I honestly think last night was one of the better games I've seen from Harden in awhile. His aggression and focus defensively really made a difference, and even on offense, he was making the right decisions and adjusting the tempo to what the defense was giving. He played winning basketball, and the Rockets would've won by 40 if more than 2 guys' shots had actually fallen.

This is nothing like some of his past stumbles, when he has gotten frustrated and becomes a liability on both sides of the court.. On the contrary, I think his image would be helped if in the future, even when his offense is struggling, he can put forth this type of defensive effort regardless.

 

This. This, this, THIS.

Harden was as responsible as anyone on the Rockets for last night's victory. He's finally reached a point where he knows how to impact a game on both ends of the court.

 

I'm a Harden believer and I think him having help won't tarnish anything (looking at you Lerbon).

In the past, the team would have imploded in a vicious cycle without a legit second star who wants and makes something with the ball. People can have off nights. The load on James was big that if he didn't carry them, shooters running on feel will freak out.

Gerald Green did great and was the unsung hero that night.

 

Wolves basically threw their entire team and D at Harden and forgot all about CP3. I will take that any game, every game.

 

LOL never harden hater

haters nit pick his worst

true rockets fans remember he dominated to win the 1st game

and he contributed with 7 assists, 3 steals, and 3 MONSTER BLOCKS in the 2nd game blowout