When it gets to clutch time, fourth quarter, some people are built for it, some people shy away from it," Paul told TNT's Jared Greenberg after the game. "Some people are built for it, man, and we're just gonna keep hoopin'." Cp3 taking shots at Harden, Harden lead this team to victory tmw plssssss...
Ffs don't lose this game. Harden's legacy will take a big hit if he doesn't make it out the first round this year, bubble or not.
The problem with this is Harden has said on a few occasions that Westbrook is their leader. I think even somewhat recently in a postgame interview. I think Harden really doesn't like or desire to be the leader. I do agree though with you he is the team's best offensive player by far and should have gotten the ball directly from Westbrook at half court on that final possession. MDA needs to go its been the same story with him not just in Houston but almost every where he has been. Great offensive player but he freezes up and makes the same mistake after mistake in the playoffs. We've seen it here in Houston the last 3 and coming up on 4 seasons that he just does not trust anyone but his starters to a fault in the playoffs. I do get how Rivers cannot see more than 14-15 minutes on the floor. He can penetrate and get to the rim, plays good defense and at this rate is Steph Curry compared to Eric Gordon out there. I give Gordon credit for continuing to play solid defense and still driving to the hole despite really getting no calls whatsoever but every time he shoots the ball its a miss at this point. I mean Lu Dort and Gordon are shooting virtually the same % from 3 right now 18.4 vs 18.6% The Thunder are begging Gordon to shoot the ball at this point. I will be glad once MDA is gone to me he is a perfect assistant coach to design an offense but he isn't no where near being head coach material anymore. I have no clue why he didnt draw up a play to have Harden bring up the ball instead of Westbrook and then do the screen for Harden. Like how Shaq said about SVG who panics and goes blank in big moments MDA does the same as well as evidenced by the last 4 years in Houston.
Rivers at least can try to guard Paul. Westbrook and Gordon cannot cover Chris Paul. What is SUPPOSED to happen is Westbrook is to get out in transition and athletically dominate Paul and neutralize his solid defensive positioning in the half court......... that hasn't happened. Gordon is garbage and his defense this series has just been bad. Where is McLemore? Why was Rivers a +9 last night and only played 12 minutes? Again Harden is one of only 3 Rockets with a + on the floor. In this series the Rockets are + in 5 of the 6 games when Harden is on the floor...... they are a +51 in in the 219 minutes he has played..... yet they are tied 3-3 in this series. If the Rockets are not going to get free throws, which is something that the Thunder have schemed for and the league apparently has decided their refs will do; then protect the damn ball and double down on defense.
Harden in the past has said that Westbrook is "A" leader of the team. Having said that, it really doesn't matter........ KG was the leader of the Celtics and Paul Pierce was taking the end of game shots. Same thing happened in LA, Kobe was not the leader until Shaq left, yet Kobe was taking the shots. Hell if you look at the old Celtics teams from the 80's, the guys on those team said McHale was a terrible leader, Bird wasn't too interested in leading, and the guy that actually lead those teams was a reserve, Jerry Schtling. I think MDA is good enough to win a title, they would have won one if Paul wasn't hurt. Doc Rivers blanks out and still won a title. Having said that, this Rockets team has gotten what they can out of MDA. They need someone that is more detail oriented and is able to keep Harden and Westbrook interested, but also able to add some new wrinkles and step in and make some minor but important changes. Game 7 will tell us a lot. Everyone involved knows that the coaching staff is gone if they lose. While MDA has done a great job with chemistry and is well liked by everyone, I wonder if in the back of their heads they think it has ran it's course.
Agree 100% man. Harden has got to take the last shots, every time. I understand the hate he gets from fans and the media now, they guy just isnt built for it. I'm tired of trying to speak into existence something he is not. Not feeling good about this series at all. CP3 had that killer in his eyes last night. Will not be denied. I've never seen Harden with that fire. WB is still hurt I dont care what anyone says. He's playing like crap from rust/injury, but hes fighting through so i respect that. But it may bite us in the end, especially since the true superstar refuses to embrace that crunch time pressure.
Some of that is by design, the Thunder have made a concerted effort to not foul. Having said that, there is no way that such a large discrepancy is just a result of OKC..... it has been clear at different times in this series the referees have stepped in. Even with a -51 at the line, the Rockets are a +44 in the series.......... and the series is somehow tied 3-3.
I don't agree that Harden isn't built for it..... I have seen him do it before. Also a lot of the complaints about Harden were similar to complaints made about Chris Paul and other players.... It can change at any time, the question is WILL it change.
Well some of that is on Harden..... It reminds me of what Rudy T said one time..... he was talking about Steve Francis, but it applies to Harden too..... legacy is determined by focus (which a player can control) and circumstance (which a player cannot control). It isn't like Harden has to beat the 2017 Warriors....... these are the Thunder........ he cannot control injuries to Westbrook or his teammates, but he can control how he plays and whether he takes over down the stretch.
Not sure if I agree there. If he "was" build for it, we'd have a chip by now. Case in point is having GSW on the ropes after CP3 went down. You have to step up in that moment and ball out the way championship caliber superstars do. But I do agree it can change at any time....I'm just not so sure it will....especially tomorrow.
It's something innate in his personality. I am reaching a conclusion that shirk from the responsibility in the spotlight is his nature and going for it is something he has to be encouraged for. I don't even think that he has control over this. That's just who he is. The last two minutes of yesterday's game, he passed the ball more than attacking. That was so odd, and yet we have seen this from him so often. That's just who he is.
wow ANOTHER "James Harden No Excuses" thread. refreshing. :Russell Westbrook peeks around the corner:
It probably was. Chris knows Harden and knows his tendencies. The reason 2017-2018 season was so amazing, besides the defense, is that Chris actually had James Harden's back in the clutch. It wasn't just the James Harden show. It was the CP3 and James Harden show. Chris had so many big games that season and if it wasn't for the freaking hamstring, the Rockets would have gone the whole way. Harden is clutch, he's had some freaking amazing moments in the regular season. He's even had good games in the playoffs. Has everyone forgotten the first couple of games against the Warriors back in 2015 playoffs? Harden almost willed us two victories in those games. However, he's had some ****ing crazy, uncharacteristic close out games as well where he plain fades away or just appears to be drunk or something. Chris knows this and he also knows that there are times that Harden doesn't show up. Hell, we can look back at the greats, Kobe, Pierce, etc and those guys would take shots even if they were ****ing cold the whole game. There was no regrets on what they would do as well. Westbrook is the same way, he didn't care, he'd take the shot. Doesn't mean they are always clutch players, but they weren't afraid of the moment. Watching the game last night (and of course watching Harden throughout his Rockets career), you can see a certain demeanor when things are looking tough. He sometimes does well and then other times he rather not even have the ball. It's a really weird deal and it's something he has always dealt with. You think of someone like Kobe, and he didn't care, he never had a scared or worried look in his face, he was just in it for the moment and was ready to take the shot, regardless of how horrible he was playing. Harden on the other hand, he loses focus and he just get careless and impatient. Sometimes that works to his opponents favor (can we forget the Marcus Smart offensive fouls?), or how about that ball he threw away a couple of games ago during a critical moment when all he needed to do was be patient and take the ball up the court. I love Harden and he's likely one of my favorite players of all time just because I've grown up watching him, but even as his fan, I do get frustrated with him sometimes. I thought last night was a perfect example of a night that he had it going and he just needed to take charge. He needed to tell Russ, give me the ball and GTFO of the way. There were multiple possessions where he made a half ass effort to go get the ball, even though that's what he should of been doing. I don't "blame" Harden for the loss last night, after all he was a bright spot with so Russ/EG playing so poorly, but I do take exception that he didn't come through when he needed to. He's the number 1 guy on this team, he is our best chance at winning, and there should be zero reason why he doesn't have the ball in his hands. We can sit here and blame Mike D for his poor play calling during clutch moments, we can also blame Mike D for being unable to use timeouts at critical moments, we can also sit here and blame Russ for forcing the issue when he didn't need to, etc. The problem last night, in the clutch, was Harden not wanting to take control. Did anyone see CP3 out there? The dude wanted the ball. He wanted to win the ****ing game. That was urgency. That wasn't Harden last night. I don't know if we win the game last night with Harden demanding the ball, but I'd sleep a lot better tonight knowing that our best player wanted the ball just as bad and understood the urgency in closing this series out. He should know that this team is streaky ass hell and we could very well have a really bad game 7 and we get blown the hell out of the arena. The urgency wasn't there though and here we are. He's our number 1 guy and regardless of the great game he had, he couldn't finish the job, he honestly didn't even try to finish the job. That's what's disappointing.
