it hasn’t been confirmed if it’s just a 1 time thing or the plan moving forward, but I think it should be Harden’s performance on the 2nd night of a B2B has been atrocious this year, and his hamstrings are suspect until further notice unlike BK, Philly has shown all season that they can beat good teams with guys out of the lineup
Yes, they want to rest Harden. Also, they want to keep a mental advantage by not giving them film for the playoffs.
Dang, was really hoping he'd play against a Heat team. Though if the big names for the Heat are also out, it's wise for Harden to rest. Never would have rested in BKN with that sad excuse of a roster. I expect Embiid to rest a game some time down the line as well, for load management.
Commonsense. He is turning 32 coming off a catastrophic hamstring injury so no point risking him for a meaningless back to back game.
I took a look at the whole series and Harden carried the team. He also blocked what was a potentially game winning shot in game 7. HE CARRIED RUSS.
Sorry, but this is simply an incorrect take. You don't understand what "carry" means. Do you also believe Harden "carried" the Rockets past the Clippers in the playoffs?
To clearly be the reason why your team is winning. Obviously, there's subjectivity involved, but you know it when you see it. In the OKC series, Harden had poor performances in games 2 and 7 (both Rocket wins). Therefore, it's impossible for him to have "carried" the Rockets past OKC. If anything, it was a true team effort.
No I don't, that Clippers series was more of a team effort. A ton of blowouts. Harden averaged good numbers but didn't play particularly great outside of one or two games.
And in 2 of the 4 wins (including an elimination game) against OKC, Harden played poorly. So how can he have "carried" the Rockets past OKC?
Since his MVP season, Westbrook has not had another efficient scoring season as good as the one he had playing next to Harden. He even had a career high in FG% (47%), all of this done despite him having one of his worse shooting seasons in his career from 3 (only 25.8%). In addition, the season he played next to Harden is his 3rd highest scoring season ever, In fact, this was a career high for Westbrook in 2 point career FGA, and more amazingly, also a career high in 2 point FG%. Unquestionably, since his MVP season, Westbrook has not had a season as impactful offensively as he did playing next to Harden.
You do know that numbers go beyond just shooting, correct? He carried that particular team. Even when they lost, he carried them. He was on his own for four games. Russ didn't come into the picture until Game 5. He distributed the ball and had his team getting open shots and such. He was the defacto point guard on that team with only Jeff Green able to help with some of the distribution running point center when Harden had to sit. I'm sorry you can't distinguish situations.
I'm not sure what you're trying to say here....it's a lot of words without a purpose, but it doesn't really matter. You're not going to be able to make the argument that Harden carried the Rockets past OKC. That we were able to win despite poor shooting performances from Harden (including an elimination game) proves it was a team effort, not a carry job. Also, if he were on his own for 4 games, the Rockets would've lost game 2. In the 4th quarter, with Harden on the bench, the Rockets turned a 3 pt deficit into a 12 pt lead.
That's only because of a shortened COVID season, as well as lowered assist and rebound numbers negatively skewing his advanced stats. He had unquestionably one of his best scoring seasons, and his last effective scoring season, despite having one of his worse shooting performances in a season.
Ok, if we're changing the argument from "most impactful offensively since his MVP season" to "one of his best scoring seasons since his MVP season", then yes, his year with us would absolutely qualify.
