No complaining from me, just an observation. Harden has averaged just 17/11 over the last 3 games. He doesn’t seem like his normal aggressive self — and whether that’s from effort or playing within the system, it’s just something to pay attention to moving forward. I think we can all agree playing team ball like tonight is not only more fun to watch, but also makes us harder to guard because of the unpredictability. However, are we ok with Harden’s production going down to role-player-level as a result?
Let’s hypothetically pretend that this is the Harden we have for the year you really believe this makes us harder to guard lol? Seriously? It was the busted up Magic lol. D league garbage team. If Harden isn’t MVP Harden this team doesn’t even hit .500
Great.... now his trade value has plummeted ... We will be lucky to get some 2nd rd picks for said role player....
He is still the best player in the team. They have reduced his role on the offense. He is more of a facilitator then a scorer
I think he’s really feeling it out. He’ll get his. But he’s trying to play within the offense. He doesn’t really remember how to play without ISO, so let him get it together.
Idk what the hell game you all were watching. The game looked great. He was passing like he always has and the open man whoever it was making the bucket. That has hardly ever happen in his time in Houston besides I'm guessing his first season here where he looked to pass more. I would be interested in seeing if this was the first game winning by 30+ and him scoring less then 20 and being a postive. I bet this would be either one of very few, or the first.
He was one of my favorite posters on here before the over use of LTS joke + others,... but not a good enough reason to just turn on him
His game is different, and there can be NO arguing that. No free throws tonight. 4 total in the last two games combined. Is this a result of him buying into the new system, or has James “quit” as alleged by Calvin Murphy? It’s hard to know for sure, but one thing I do know is that you can’t really argue with the results tonight. James didn’t shoot well, but he found the open man, didn’t turn the ball over very much, and was a team leading plus 26 on the night. That’s a damn good game.
This game Harden was aggressive. Harden was passing like he knew where his people were going to be. There is a reason PJ had such a good game. I thought PJ had no place in this offense, but it was just No one knew where to find him yet. Harden looks like he has figured out where his teammates are, now he will figure out where his points are. If Silas' offense can get Harden to be fresh in the 4th that is all the Rockets need.
In all seriousness, Wall is going all out and has impressed me a lot. But, when it comes to setting people up and getting easy lobs, Harden really has an elite skill at getting easy shots. He makes it look easy and effortless (maybe even is effortless). Even when Wall gets an assist, it doesn't come so easy like Hardens.
Just because you don’t take 30 shots and score 50 doesn’t make you a role player. It’s a different style of Bball. He’s still the guy. Who cares about ppg. He balled tonight. In the flow of the offense.
