also if there's no or not enough movement why solely blame Harden for it? are coaches and asst coaches asking Harden and the team to move around and Harden is not on the same page? plus harden on offense moves as much distance in a game as these guys Jayson Tatum Kawhi Leonard Jaylen Brown Kevin Durant Luka Doncic Kyrie Irving OG Anunoby Ben Simmons
Strawman? Maybe you didn't say that, but plenty of people have said they were tired of the iso heavy offense. The only thing that makes what I posted hyperbole is the fact that James doesn't play 48 minutes per game. Plenty of people were advocating scrapping the iso offense altogether which is fine, but you need the right personnel to do that. I'm totally for incorporating additional wrinkles, but the fact remains that a James Harden iso heavy offense generated efficient shots and super-efficient offensive ratings rivaling those of GSW and did so with far inferior talent by prioritizing good shots and James Harden gets you good shots. The problem was more that there was no plan B than the fact that plan A wasn't good enough. If they had a plan B that worked, they could have loosened up the defense and eventually gone back to plan A, but we were stubborn and overly reliant on one person to do everything. No way BKN should go all-in on Harden isos, that would be dumb, but they should run it a lot because it works and he has proven that it works with players nowhere near the abilities of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and to a lesser extent Joe Harris.
That has always been my argument why is nobody else moving as well and nobody could answer that or it was the fault of Harden.
No, MDA and Nash are still the coach. I dont know why think MDA didnt run anything. He did. Or maybe Im misunderstanding what the convo is here lol.
No I didnt think you were defending Harden I was just making a statement about Stats versus Context. My point is that stats don't tell the entire story and there's a reason people say Harden quit and they did'nt do the same with KD. Harden homers would have you believe that its because everyone else is a hater. Until ofcourse you actually look at the games and you see Harden not box out and literally just toss the ball out of bounds as if he's trying to lose on purpose.
Harden would be the reason we are winning when we win why could he not possibly be the reason we lose. We saw that a couple of weeks ago. He didnt want to play and his defense was atrocious. HE DOES THAT IN THE PLAYOFFS WHEN HE QUITS. All you have to do is look back at the games. Our defense jumped when he left, yet when I was saying that Harden wasnt playing defense on purpose you were acting like he wasnt. You're blind to those things when it comes to Harden and I think a lot of people in this group are.
maybe better than okc, but the rockets have rarely had great shooters, we just took a lot of them because we didn't waste time on mid-range shots (which was smart). i mean we were letting corey brewer take 3's for a few years and, except for like 12 ridiculous minutes, it wasn't good. harden also never had an athlete like prime westbrook generating good looks for him. durant's number in the playoffs go down about the same as harden's (i.e. compared to the regular season when durant is playing with exactly the same shooters he had in the playoffs). just the way it is.
i've always been a big fan of durant (except in GS), but if people think harden takes too many stepbacks, then durant's solution to every problem has always been a pull-up 20 footer. to the point i started noticing it one series and he still did it like 80% of the time after i noticed it. he just doesn't trust the drive and the high possibility he'll be fouled if he's aggressive.
nobody wants to have to beat a 4 hall-of-famers-in-their-prime juggernaut without their 2nd best player. plenty of teams, including this nets team, would like to be as good as those rockets.
I don't see Durant and Kyrie playing in a system that marginalizes them. That's the point. The Rockets of James Harden did what was expected of them almost always. Some of their individual performances might have disappointed, but ultimately they beat everyone they were supposed to beat and lost to teams that we couldn't rationally expect them to beat. My contention is that you cannot play the Harden system when there are players who can do for themselves what Harden did for others. I am against the notion that the Nets need to play like the Rockets did and that the results would be better because the spot-up shooters are better. That sounds like an offense a Harden fan would run on NBA2k, not like something that will win championships. The way they played last night is the model to follow. I think that team stands a chance against LeBron and the Lakers.
We were expected to be the Kawhi less Spurs we hsould have beat then and harden was throwing the ball away and quit. You can look at all the numbers you want and it won't give you context. You have to actually watch the game. People arent randomly hating on Harden. There's a reason a lot of people hold Dame in higher regard than Harden even though the Blazers have lost more in the playoffs and thats because theres a difference between trying but failing and completely quiting.
And this is what I mean. You are acting like Im saying this because Im mad at harden. I'm not, like I said yesterday I root for Harden to do well but that doesnt mean I should be a blind fan and full out lie about what he does and has done like you guys. Some of the same people here are the people who were telling me Harden wasnt gonna leave and wasnt mailing it in lol But yeah my motives are the ones that are suspect sure lol Basically the argument is that I have to say that Harden is a better player and defender than kevin Durant and that Harden never quit in the playoffs and is a better player than Durant in the playoffs or Im a hater lol You dont think thats whats suspect? lol
