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Why Harden is struggling...regular season vs Playoffs

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by trugoy, May 1, 2014.

  1. trugoy

    trugoy Member

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    Harden has had some bad games, he's shooting about average for the series, the difference is that his at rim finishing is terrible because of a lack of foul calls.

    But I think he has shown a lot of willingness to try to figure things out, he's gone from being uber aggresive in game 3, to waiting for the game to come to him in game 5, every game I see attempts to adjust to the defense and the offense from him. I can't find fault with Harden, he's really trying to figure things out.

    You'll notice that in game 5, Harden's two FGs late in the 4th quarter were not plays that he started, but ones where the ball found him at the end of plays and he finished them..

    The problem is that Harden is learning on the fly...in the playoffs...this season the team never made an attempt to have Harden primarily finish plays off the ball. Instead, they enabled him to isolate with the ball and put shooters around him, hence the Lin/Beverly situation.

    At the first sign of trouble, they've abandoned that and are now trying to have secondary action Howard/Harden pnrs, and you see Harden is also trying to play more off the ball in game 5.

    Likewise, the team never even attempted to play Asik and Howard together after Asik came back from injury. It's pretty incredible that in this series, we are fielding a lineup that we had ample opportunity in the regular season to practise but didn't, but at the first sign of trouble, we switched to twin towers.

    I don't blame Harden, he's essentially trying to do things in the playoffs that they never practised in the regular season, because the things that they were doing in the regular season doesn't work in the playoffs.

    The highest ceiling lineup for the Rockets is Lin, Harden, Parsons, Asik, Howard, those are the Rockets best players, but it's not a lineup that is without issues, how do you play Howard and Asik together on offense without stagnating driving lanes. How do you operate Harden and Lin in the backcourt, etc...

    But that's what the regular season is for, to experiment with plays and how to be more effective with the highest ceiling lineups. INstead, the coaching staff went the path of least resistance and benched Asik and Lin, and now they are paying the price in the playoffs. Forced to play these lineups because the regular season stuff doesn't work but with no practise on these lineups.
     
  2. StevieFlight3

    StevieFlight3 Member

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    Problem is Mchale. We need a real coach. Lin's problems are because of coaching. Hardens problems are because of coaching. There's really no synergy. No design. It's just random crap.
     
  3. d12babymamas

    d12babymamas Member

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    maybe you're right. ie. lowry and dragic. coincedence or coaching?
     
  4. zipcrash

    zipcrash Member

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    lack of half court sets to go to. they've never had to consistently find ways to get harden open in the regular season. there were ways around it (defense shifts in the playoffs), and if there weren't? who cares it's on to the next game.

    there isn't really a system that tries to get other players involved and it doesn't maximize the player's output in all situations. it really seems like they just give the stars the ball and say "do your thing" in half court situations.
     
  5. iconoclastic

    iconoclastic Member

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    He needs to focus on defense if his shot isn't falling.
     
  6. keldraco

    keldraco Member

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    free throw
     
  7. tehG l i d e

    tehG l i d e Member

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    Teams will just watch videos from this series anytime they need a guide to shut him down from here on out.
     
  8. daywalker02

    daywalker02 Member

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    there is some difference between regular season games and playoff games.

    Mistakes, coasting, flaws are magnified
     
  9. Lowly3

    Lowly3 Member

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    It is pretty obvious, take his regular scoring, minus 80~90% of the FT points that he obtain from every game, then you get the Harden we are seeing today, I'd say he's performing just about right.

    He's able to score high when not shooting well due to FT, if you strip that away, he'll just be an average (playoff) player, don't mean to bash him, but when a player overly relies on FT, he won't have to finish well, sadly this habit is not something you can adjust in the playoffs.

    He's still a long way from a great playoff player, but let's hope he work on becoming one~
     
  10. shortfuse3

    shortfuse3 Member

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    A lot of the problem lies on the NBA and how they officiate regular season vs playoff games.

    If you aren't going to make the same calls as you did in the regular season, of course Harden (who relied so much on FT's) is going to struggle.
     
  11. OkayAyeReloaded

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    He has to evolve as a player.

    All superstars face this, they run into teams that try to deny them what they're comfortable with and force them to adjust.

    Look at Jordan with the Jordan Rules. Those beatings he took motivated him to lift weights and get physically as well as mentally stronger. With added talent around him and strong coaching leadership he grew as a player and broke the Bad Boy Pistons barrier and won his first ring.

    Harden has to evolve and learn how to play and score off the ball better. He has to hit open mid-range shots the defense gives him and open shot off picks if they pack the lane and refs swallow their whistles in the playoffs. He also has to improve his defense, defensive intensity and lateral quickness.

    It's the price of being a superstar and wanting to be great. Look at Dwight, his post game is evolving as we speak. Lebron did it, Hakeem etc.
     
  12. apollo33

    apollo33 Member

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    He doesn't get the same calls, he tries to draw fouls a lot instead of actually finishing. It's overall destroying his confidence to attack the rim, which also affects his jump shot

    Kevin Martin Syndrome
     
  13. ross84

    ross84 Contributing Member

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    Portland's spacing is really really good. They are athletic and can double while rotating to the free man. When harden even looks at the ball, their defense gets locked in. They are forcing him to the right and guarding him aggressively.
     
  14. ross84

    ross84 Contributing Member

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    Exactly. I think that a lot of his confidence came from him getting to the line. That was always a parachute for him to deploy when his game wasn't going. But now 1/3 of his game is gone and he's trying to adapt some way.
     
  15. makio9

    makio9 Member

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    I agree with the first 3/4 of what you said, but not the end. It's just a match up issue with LA and it was talked about becoming a factor for certain match-ups. That obviously gets enhanced when you play a team for 7 games in a row. Moreover, Aldridge has been better than anybody imagined. Memphis are another team had we matched up with them we might see Twin Towers.

    When this series is over I think Jones would go back to starting.
     
  16. Easy

    Easy Boban Only Fan
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    Maybe he is just a rich man's Kevin Martin.
     
  17. asianballa23

    asianballa23 Member

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    Matthews' D got something to do with it, plus their team D zero in on him when he penetrate in the paint forcing to take a bad and off balance shot. Not to mention POR got his euro steps all figured out too...
     
  18. fuzzthetone

    fuzzthetone Member

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    Can't agree more...

    **** his random **** and 8 man rotation stupid crap with 5 playing over 40 in playoffs!
    morey should Consider hiring Steve Nash to be our coach...any veteran PG can be a better coach than this scrub...benching Asik for nearly an entire season and now letting him start in playoffs? Who claimed that Asik couldn't coexist with Dwight and created a locker room storm?
     
  19. OremLK

    OremLK Member

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    He needs to drive to the rack more often and make decisions faster. He spends too much time dribbling around and he's been taking too many contested jumpers.
     
  20. Sports2012

    Sports2012 Member

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    Statistically, Harden is making 60% less free throw attempts than in the regular season. How can he get the same amount of calls if he's not making the attempts.
     

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