They're basically saying it's because it's the first night and no one has put together plans around shutting him down yet. And that once they start throwing more bodies at him his numbers will go down. I can't argue with that too much but it's not like they've never seen him play before. And it's not like he hasn't played against other teams' starters. He started off the bench but still got start minutes. http://www.thunderfans.com/vforum/showthread.php?9659-Good-debut-for-Harden
OKC shouldn't be saying anything, he wouldn't have done more than what he did last year for that team anyway because of the role they put him in. It absolutely stupid that they chose Westbrook over him.
after what i saw from tonight's game, i'm not entirely sure that trade would be in our best interests
im a firm believer that durant is overrated.. not saying harden is better than him, durant possesses all the skills in the world to take over games at will.. but he settles for too many long jumpers and stands around the 3pt line way too much.. thunder fans can try to rationalize all they want and convince themselves they won this trade... get back in 2 years when none of the picks end up ebing worth a damn.. who knows about lamb, their expectations of lamb make them believe they won this trade.. Harden>Westbrook
By far, just Harden's calm demeanor has pushed him over Westbrook. Harden makes everything look so easy, Westbrook's brilliance seems very forced.
Please...Remember when a young westbrook had 38 points, 15 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals without durant? Or when he was 2 steals away from a quadruple double? Or when he got triple double in game 7 vs. Memphis(first since Scottie Pippen in 1994 to do that). Or when he actually showed up in the finals and was first point guard to average 27/7/7 in finals. Harden had good game, but it was against Pistons.
Harden would benefit Durant a lot more than Westbrook. Westbrook would have been a terrific spark off the bench though, better in that regard than Harden.
And that's what's awesome about having both Lin and Harden. Without Harden, teams would double and triple team Lin. And vice versa. Teams can try to stop Harden, but Lin is more than capable of doing a lot of damage. What I love about both of them is that they move the ball around, unselfish, and generally have good shot selection. I have no doubt that when teams start to double and triple team Harden, he'll get the ball to Lin, who would easily score 20+ pts a game.
I agree-in some ways...Durant was very luky to have had great rookies improve to stars QUick-without WB or Harden Durant would still be GREAT, and he is CLuTCh...but Harden defends the opponents best players. Man didn't expect this, but WOW...knew Harden could ball, but MANE!!
It isn't like Thunder fans didn't know Harden was good or that his numbers would go up with the keys to the car. What do you think they would be saying?
OKC fans are great at using logic. Right after trade: Harden is a 6th man. He only got those great shots because he was playing against 2nd teamers and had Durant/Westbrook to take the heat off of him After Detroit game: Harden played well, but that's because teams don't know much about him as the main guy and don't know how to play against him yet
