NYC media gives no ***** and are ruthless. Houston media is chill and cool and tolerates losing, just look at the Texans.
Some of yall being way too hard on Harden, its clearly his teammates fault. Cant win with a bunch of scrubs.
That is true. HBut the offense was more effective and flowed better when it was running through Harden. When Harden was running his own units withoutIrving there, they were getting quality looks. Irving scored efficiently but pure volume scorers(historically) doesnt usually make offenses great. Its why Wilt didnt have many good team offenses despite being an efficient scorer.
Not enough attention is given to the 76ers. Embiid is quietly putting together an MVP season. Best player on one of the (if not the) best teams.
Agree to disagree about who was the better player. Durant scored 42 on 74%ts. 121 ortg to harden's 32 on 65%ts . 116 ortg. Against bucks Durant 30 on 60ts 119 ortg. Plus the clutch game winner. Harden 34 on 61 ts also 119 ortg. Add in Durants better defense and game winner I'd take Durant. Ymmv Prior to the harden trade, the nets were an elite offensive team (4th in the nba) despite both missing games. When you have Durant + harris and another scorer wether it be irving or anyone else... Offense is not going to be the problem. Of the three, only Durant gives the nets rebounding and defense along with elite offense that requires very little ball time.
Kyrie played a huge role winning a championship ring. Made two finals appearances. Same with Durant. They have rings. They aren’t getting rid of any of those guys unless they ask out but Harden is the one who is going to have to adapt. He’s the odd man out.
Offensive rating is very lineup dependent and doesnt really mean much to be honest. Durant also got the game winner off a Harden pass with Harden doing most of the work in the 4th quarter. Offensively, even with Harden's mediocre games in Houston...he still grades out as the better offensive player according to RAPTOR. You may have a point with the defense. But really Durant's defense isnt that much to write home about and Harden's will most likely get better as the season goes a long(if he actuallly tries harder). We'll see. I just value Harden's playmaking more than Duran't defense. He's only played like 3 games with them, I expect their offense to rise with more games. But yes, defense will always be their main concern. And if Harden has more nights like tonight, he will soon be their third best player.
There like 1% chance they trade either this season (even if it's the best option). Trading either would work imo. Harden is better than irving and would get back more. Trading irving would work too. @HP3 doubt anyone ever argued irving is the main ingredient in an elite offense. Irving plus Durant is a different story. Hell any star with Durant is going to be an elite offense. Durant can score in the high 20's low 30's while only having the ball for 4 minutes each game. He can post, shoot, handle, spot up or drive. He is the most malleable superstar in terms of skill. ( Curry might be moreso if we include personality).
