You definitely need luck to win championships. Hell, Astros may not have won in '17 if Puig's laser off Devo in Game 7 wasn't hit right at 1B. Conversely, Astros likely win again in '19 if Reddick's dribbler that bounced off 1B bounced in any other direction than straight into Zimmerman's glove. If Durant didn't have clown feet the Bucks aren't in the Finals. Nevertheless, when given the stage and in high stakes, elimination battles, I never saw Harden put on the kind of gutsy, determined, fierce, just relentless "I aint losing!" performance in the playoffs. The ones where even in defeat you go "damn Harden put on a clinic tonight!"
But Harden didnt even shoot like Curry he shot 36%. 36% is decent but not earth shattering no if he practiced more Harden could have improved that no thats just common sense.
i'm not wrong. Shot making is great.......................but how do those players get open looks ? do you think the defenders just vanishes in to thin air once the shooter gets the ball ? if shotmakers were more important, you wouldn't have any shot creators in the team
his last series against the Warriors, Harden did. Not a clinic but he went down fighting in the closing minutes he had 35-8-5 on 44 percent shooting. He had a big 4th quarter that game and last few minutes. Didn't have anyone to go with him though
In a vacuum, 36% isn't bad, but it's certainly not good. Isn't 35% considered "average"? Not only that, you have to consider his playoff drop in 3pt percentage. He's had multiple series where he's shot ~30% from the 3pt line. We can all agree that's bad, right?
This. Whether or not CP3 won a ring this year or not does not change how good he was as a player. It might change the order of a list whose rankings are skewed heavily towards accolades that include MVPs, DPOY, titles and FMVPs.. But as I was trying to point out in another thread, it’s very likely that ina couple years Giannis’ list of accolades could overshadow Hakeems list of accolades and by the end of his career might overshadow the raw numbers as well. Does that then make Giannis > Hakeem? I think most here would say no based on the fact that we know Hakeem was just an all round better player in almost every way and that one big part of the accolades list (titles) is very dependent on factors outside the players in question.
Shot making is more important than creating open looks. It's ignorant to argue otherwise. You don't get points for creating open looks. You get points by making shots.
this is the dumbest thing i have read all day. Yes you get points for hitting shots.............but it how easy the looks are that matter the most. You are going to score more often on OPEN looks than if you are guarded
You do need luck, you also need to capitalize on that luck. Harden do no have a great record when the other team's best player goes down in the playoffs. 0-2 against Spurs without Kawhi, 0-2 against GS without Durant. Harden in the playoffs has always just been okay. He has great games here and there, but most of time he's just below his peak in the regular season.
Hakeem was a better defender, didn't have Giannis reach, but his footwork was second to none. Offensively Hakeem was better in that he had lots more moves. Giannis is basically a young Shaq with a dribble
I hated on Giannis when he went at Harden only because I was Rocket staning. 50 in a closeout is impressive. He stepped it up and has all playoffs. It sucks Harden had a GOAT NBA team in his way for years but it is what it is.
The GS one really doesn't mean much because the Warriors still had their Championship team before they had Durant out there. People forget that Durant was the icing on the cake
Sorry, but you're 100% wrong. How many open, easy looks did we get against the Warriors in game 7? How'd that turn out for us?
lol one game.............................................would you rather all those shots were contested ? would that help you sleep at night ?
Yes but a team full of Arizas trying to make shots without a high quality creator will not make very many shots. We saw this happen first hand when we tried to make him our guy. It’s why all those stereotypical white snipers who could do nothing but catch and shoot better than almost anyone in the world didn’t make huge money unless they could do other things. It is precisely the strategy the Rockets used to be pretty damn successful for a very long time with Harden. Elite playmaker peppering sub par shooters for high quality looks to fuel an amazing offense.
he practices them all the time, all shooters do. Doesn't mean they are all going to turn out like "Steph"
No, I'd rather we made some of them. That's why shot making is more valuable than creating an open look.