You guys are just now realizing this? Even after he had that horrible performance against the Heat in teh finals when he played for the Thunder?
But the difference is that Harden is playing almost 10 minutes more a game to get 1 more assist. So Lin is actually the better passing PG. Also, Harden holds the ball the longest out of any player by far. If Lin got to hold the ball for the majority of the 24 secs and played over 38 min a game, he would have more than 5.2 asst/gm for sure. I do agree with you that McHale has no idea how to run this offense. Neither did Rudy T to be honest but with Dream inside the inside out game worked great and you could get by. You see the stickiness in our offense when Harden is the primary ball handler. I'm at enough games to see it for myself. When Lin is in, he pushes more, we run more, other players get more involved. Harden is our best player- but he should let Lin set him up and get him easier looks. Then he doesn't have to work as hard and maybe he will be able to play some D (though lack of energy isn't why Harden doesn't want to play D).
So b/c Harden is the man, we shouldn't ask him to share the ball more? Maybe he doesn't need to play any D either? Get out of here with this mess. Maybe if he was a "boss" like Ricky Ross then he could be running things but basketball is a team sport. No one guy is good enough to do it all. But I bet he's a boss at strip clubs and he knows how the share them dollar bills when he makes it rain. If he could only translate that kind of unselfishness to the court, then we would be golden.
Then the best solution is to bring him off the bench. Our bench needs scoring and Harden is instant scoring. He doesn't like to share and with that weak bench, he doesn't have to. But his ego wouldn't let that happen even if he still got 35 min/game. Guarantee that.
Key words - LAST SEASON And at least last season, he played some D. When our star player doesn't wanna step out and put a hand up in his man's face in the first few minutes of the game and gives him two wide open 3's (OKC game), that's a problem.
Fake fans don't spend over $2000 for tickets every season bro... But real fans can expect more from their max players, like beating the Sacramento Kings at home.
Dwight didn't turn over as much as Harden. Harden is the leader in turnovers for the Rockets. Be fair to D12. He has improved on his foul shooting and he's posting game are much better now.
Why are you guys complaining about ISO? It's part of the Rocket's games. Harden doesn't decide to ISO. It's the coach.
In this 7 minute stretch of the 4th quarter against the Wizards, the Rockets were outscored 16-3 and Dwight Howard had: 4 turnovers 2 missed field goals 0-4 free throws 10:07 Dwight Howard enters the game for Omri Casspi 97-86 9:15 Dwight Howard traveling 97-89 8:37 Dwight Howard lost ball turnover (Trevor Ariza steals) 97-91 7:28 Dwight Howard misses layup 97-93 7:07 Dwight Howard offensive foul (Nene draws the foul) 97-95 7:07 Dwight Howard turnover 97-95 6:13 Dwight Howard lost ball turnover (Trevor Ariza steals) 97-100 5:50 Dwight Howard misses 7-foot jumper 97-100 5:11 Dwight Howard misses free throw 1 of 2 97-102 5:11 Dwight Howard misses free throw 2 of 2 97-102 2:55 Dwight Howard misses free throw 1 of 2 100-102 2:55 Dwight Howard misses free throw 2 of 2 100-102 Please change thread tittle to: "Dwight Howard does not produce under pressure" or "Dwight Howard crumbles under pressure"
Both Lin and Harden are averaging 4.9 assists per 36 minutes so that shows that they are equal passers. Your assumption about Harden holding the ball the longest is also incorrect. For the season Harden has had possession of the ball for 12.339% of each minute that he's played this year. Likewise, Lin has had possession of the ball for 12.378% of each minute that he's played. So, they're assist rate per minute is equal and Lin has had the ball in his hands just slightly longer than Harden for each minute played. I know that quite a few people assume that Harden dominates the ball but his time of possession is pretty much equal to Lin's (actually slightly less). Those two guys share the job of distributing the ball for the Rockets while many other teams rely on a single player for that role. If you look at the percent of the time that other distributors hold the ball it's 50% more than Harden or Lin. Here's some examples of the percentage of each minute played that certain players possess the ball: Lebron James - 12.162% (he also shares that duty with Wade and Chalmers) Curry - 18.997% Lowry - 18.306% Dragic - 17.094% M. Ellis - 12.432 (shares the duty with Dallas' army of PGs). Lillard - 18.956% CP3 - 21.203% Westbrook -19.93% As you can see most of those players have the ball in their hands way more than Harden or Lin. From a Rocket perspective, Lin and Harden are assisting at the same rate and are possessing the ball almost equally per minute played.
People claim LOFs compliant coach while Lin sucks. It's pretty much the same for Rockets fans when Harden sucks.:grin:
Excellent post, although there may be a few members stumbling around looking bits of their blown minds. I suggest that they pick up their keyboards, turn them upside down, and give them a good shake. Those that are able to, at any rate.
By the way, I think coach knows that Harden isn't clutch. That's why the last shot of Hawks game(at 5:24 in the video) isn't by Harden? Harden used to hold the ball at those situation. <iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/nLgOmkXc7X4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I like Harden with the ball at the end of games. He has won a couple recently for us. Howard and Harden both seem to rush it when the pressure is on from time to time. They need to be more flexible at the end of games. Sometimes they both get the body language where you know they are going to shoot. They need to create for others down the stretch.
+1. Just because he is the best player does not mean his method of playing is the best way to win. See Melo - how has that worked. Team needs a coach who is willing to make players accountable and run better plays. I feel like he still in experimentation mode lol after all these games he has coached. How long before he is finally a better coach? another season? do we have that time?
Excellent data. This is a great example of statistics not matching what you "see" or "remember seeing". It does feel like Harden dribbles out the clock in ISO pretty often. But if the data is showing otherwise, why is this? Personally I feel it's because it's glaring when he does it. It may be in crunch time. It may be at the end of quarters. Or it may be that you remember it because you're looking for reasons to blast him. Regardless, these are the kinds of statistics that should make people reevaluate what they really are seeing.
What are you talking about? The play was to give the ball to Harden and let him create. He penetrated and drew the defense in and then kicked it out. Isn't that what you want him to do? Isn't that what the star player does? If Harden had shot the ball your argument would have been that he needs to get other involved and share the ball. He passes the ball and you claim that the coach knows that he isn't clutch? I guess you couldn't really lose either way, huh? Do you also believe that Phil Jackson knew that Michael Jordan wasn't clutch since Jordan passed to Steve Kerr for a championship winning shot?
