I think it's time we stop being delusional and accept that our leadership is just not good enough to take us close to a title. Before the playoffs started, 99% of you would have taken CP3 over Lowry, EG over Green, Tucker over Siakim and Capela over Gasol. So it boils down to your star player, coach and GM. Lets take them one by one. 1. I am a Harden fan (in the regular season) but let's face it, he is just not good enough to be the # 1 player on a championship team. Several post seasons have shown that he freezes and chokes when the lights shine brightest. His style of play is not conducive to beating the Warriors. It's ISO heavy and doesn't get his teammates playing in a system (don't throw the assists number at me). There is little ball movement, back door cuts etc. If he doesn't have the ball he is pretty much just standing in one spot. :He is so ball dominant I just don't see Rockets being successful even if another star comes in. Harden has no clue what to do without the ball. Let's not even get into his defense or lack thereof. Kawhi is soooo much better than Harden. From the intangibles of having heart and courage to on the court team play. He can do so many things that are much more effective but may not show on the box score. He makes his teammates so much better than Harden does. 2. Morey. Messed up by not drafting Kawhi. Messed up by signing CP3 to that huge contract, So many other messes along the way including a disastrous off season. Further, tries to force his style of play with ISO heavy an 3 and D and Warriors have figured out that gimmick. It's time Morey realizes that two ball dominant back court players is not the best use of resources. Harden and CP3 pretty much need the ball to be effective. It's why Lowry and DeRozan didnt work. It's why Lillard and McCollum will not work. Rockets would be better with CP3 paired with someone like Kawhi. Why didn't Morey get in the Kawhi sweepstakes? I would have traded Harden for Kawhi if Championship is the goal, not regular season orgasms. 3. MDA. A yes-man to Morey's way of playing ball. He has his limitations but he is pretty much handcuffed with orders from the top and a star player in Harden who will do it his way or as a coach you're out. Warriors having injuries is a cop out. Rockets lost games to a Durant less Warriors and Cousins wasn't even there.
Yes, I would choose individual members of the Rockets over individual members of the Raptors. Obviously CP3 is better than Lowry, Gordon is better than Green. Debatable on Tucker/Siakam and Capela/Gasol, though. But I think Capela fits our offense more than Gasol would. 1. Harden's style of play IS conducive to beating the Warriors. Took them to 7 last season. And this season, aside from the Raptors, we came the closest to beating them. Sure, that hasn't translated to winning a series, but it's not like our ISO heavy offense got swept like the Blazers did. The offense needs some fine-tuning, not a major overhaul. 2. Love the hindsight viewpoint. It sure is easy to judge, after the fact. Kawhi has his team 1 win away from a title, and you decide to use this opportunity to make this post? Member as of 4 months ago, and this is your second post, overall. Lol ok. No one is going to put an asterisk on a possible Raptors title winning against a KD-less, Cousins-less Warriors team. So why shouldn't our series loss be viewed that way? This post just reeks of "old man yells at cloud."
Uhh, no. Let me remind you what/who Kevin Durant was before he got his 2 rings with the most talented roster in NBA history: Let me remind you who Lebron James was during his 2nd NBA Finals "failure": This is a ridiculous thing some Rockets fans are ******** on their own star player for. James Harden would win most - if not all - the rings that Lebron, Durant and Curry have won with the teams they were on. If there is a single employee in the organization crying like they can't possibly win a championship with James - 4 years contending for MVP - Harden as the best player on the team, get that loser mentality out of here. Even the 5th best player in the NBA is good enough to lead a sufficient team to an NBA championship. All the players who win NBA championships have flaws. Durant owns 0 difficult titles. Lebron owns 1 difficult title, and Kyrie Irving saved him in the clutch. Curry owns 1 difficult title, and ironically he was playing against Cleveland MINUS Kyrie Irving and MINUE Kevin Love against Lebron. That's it. Those are the best players on the championship teams of this generation.
This is what we already know. Did you see how kawhi pumped faked the three, and then takes a step and takes a long midrange? Unless james harden does the same, he is guardable. We have a small glimmer of hope in that harden can still get better and we can add another superstar. Until that happens, we are never going to beat the warriors, or raptors....or some others too....I think coulda lost to the trailblazers and thunder also. regular season stats gets you to all nba which gets you the supermax which gets you paid. The playoffs is another story.
The Raptors have also lost to a Durant-less Warriors, but they've been fortunate enough to play a whole series (so far) without facing him once. They even played a game where they didn't have to see Durant, Thompson, and Looney. Two of their best three players and one of the first guys off the bench! Also, outside of a decent Game 2, Cousins has sucked. He's clearly still recovering from his injury. It's not like he's made up for the absence of players the Rockets had to face. The Rockets should've won Game 6 at home. They have clear flaws on the roster and in their style of play. Harden needs to improve. But please, let's be honest about the favorable circumstances the Raptors have had in the Finals.
Raps are 0-0 against the actual warriors so they wouldn’t make the tweet. I know people here hate facts but it is what it is
Playing a full series where kd is out, klay iggy looney are injured isn’t exactly the full strength warriors.....
Well the rockets record against warriors without Durant is pretty bad. All those guys except Durant played yesterday