I never said it was all Harden's fault. In fact I started a thread in the GARM (go answer the poll question over there please as I need more research) asking for others input because ultimately I don't believe it was just all Harden's fault personally. But in 19 I do agree with you that we didn't have enough to beat GSW that year, the year prior I don't buy that argument at all. But it's a team sport, TEAM SPORT. It's easy to beat a team when only one guy is doing most of the heavy lifting.
If I had 4 all stars on my team and the other teams second best player got injured I'd be smiling too. Harden out scored both Curry and Durant in that game 7. With trash officiating that dictated our offense to jack only threes cus we got no calls on countless drives to the basket. And Steph just running around moving screens all day to get free.
That is a cheap excuse, as well as the "outscoring in G7" part, and you know it. That Game 5 shows who has heart and who has not. Harden did not. Steph did. It is not who is on your team and who is on the other team - it is about you seizing the moment and taking responsibility.
The same Steph that choked away the NBA finals up 3-1. It's unfair for Harden to be judged against Golden State. We weren't favorites to win any of those series and we could have pulled off at least 1 upset if not for injuries. No other team could even get a game. I actually think Harden played fine in game 7, but when the rest of team can't make a shot to save their life what can you really do?
That is very likely the reason why Harden is the way he is now. The reason he wants to leave and start over somewhere else. A spoiled diva star whose fans are incapable of expressing the slightest criticism in his direction. Now he is discarding all accountability issues, responsibilities as a leader of this franchise. Alas, everyone else is to blame but him!
I blame him plenty, but if you actually think our team was good enough to win these last few years I don't know what to tell you. These league is built where 3 and D wings are soo important and we don't have any. We don't have a single SF with the size to matchup with guys like KD, Lebron, Giannis, Kawhi etc. He has thrown out plenty of dud playoff games but I don't think the Warriors series were those games. He was awful in game 7 vs OKC but at least he gave effort. He was awful in the close out game vs Spurs. He gets plenty of blame when warranted. But he's never choked as hard as Curry did in the finals. They were overwhelming favorites to win the whole thing and blew it. Harden has never lost a playoff series as a favorite.
Lol dude come on. So the Rockets have never won a single game when Scott Foster officiated? More coddling for Harden. Toughen up my guy, you supposed to be from Mo City, smh. You're one of the members of the James Harden cult following on this site anyway. You just happen to be one of it's weakest members.
So when is it appropriate to judge James Harden? You are another guy that has a defeatist mindset. Based on your logic they should cancel sports matches altogether and automatically award the victory to whoever Vegas picks as the favorite. Since obviously it's no point in playing the game because things like upsets never ever happen in sports EVER. What about Hakeem, Dirk, Bill Walton? Didn't they lead their teams to championships against superior opposition? So many weak minded people on this site man, smh...
Unrealistic. No team Hakeem played was as stacked as the Warriors. Very few teams have been that stacked and none of them loss. Most series are toss ups with slight favorites. Harden has led us to some upsets in the playoffs. We had no business beating the Clippers that one year. Rockets were such huge dogs it woulda taken injures to half the Warriors to win. See Raptors. Those years were anomalies. Usually teams don't get that stacked. If we were willing to spend we could compete with the Lakers. They aren't nearly as good.
So Horace, Penny, and Shaq weren't all-stars when we played them in the Finals in 95? Nick Anderson and Dennis Scott were no slouches either bro. That Magic team was absolutely stacked. What about LeBron, Wade, and Bosh? Isn't that a stacked team that Dirk lead his team to overcome? Don't sit up here and tell me that no other NBA superstar in the history of the sport has never overcame the odds before. I'm not giving Harden, Mike D'Antoni, or any of the others Rockets players a pass for that Game 7 loss against the Warriors. We overcame the Clippers in 2015 because of our bench guys in Game 6. We were down 79-92 heading into to fourth quarter and Harden never played one minute of the fourth. Harden was on the bench looking empathic as usually as guys like Brewer, Smith put the team on their back in that fourth quarter. That's was the moment that turned that series around which James Harden was not apart of.
Lol it's not a reach at all, Houston was indeed the favorites to win that series. Not only did we have home court advantage but we also had beaten Portland 3-1 in the regular season matchup that year. Everyone expected us to come out of that series victorious.
Delusional. Unless youre one of those "jeremy lin is the greatest ever " dudes. Portland had a strong roster that year Dont try to bring up regular season records in the postseason as if that makes a difference. Big reach.
Lol where does Jeremy Lin come into play? I've never mentioned Jeremy Lin ever on this site and could care less to ever mention him as far as basketball goes. And no disrespect to anyone, but I'm not of Asian descent. But basketball is all about matchups. You ever notice that some teams that have an inferior record that some analyst/fans would call a "fringe" team always have this particular "elite" team's number? Case in point, do you remember the old Nuggets team back in the mid 90's? They use to give us fits back in the day because of the way they matchup against us. When you beat any team 3-1 in the regular season, post season, or any season that means you have their number and you are a bad matchup for them. So you can't totally discount the regular season as if it doesn't matter.
It actually does make a difference. You should look at playoff upsets and then at their regular season matchups. You're going to be surprised at what you find.
