What's your point? He should change his game when he's getting fouled and they aren't calling it? Its not exactly impacting his scoring but it's clear that there's an agenda against him and that's pretty sketchy.
Posted in game thread… I posted this the other night in the game thread, I think it's relevant for tonight as well: But I'm happy we beat Dallas & Celtics. It has become a ridiculous joke the last few games. I am shocked, angry & disgusted at the officiating…especially against Harden. League mandate or not, if the guy gets hacked…call the foul!!! Our best player had to sit out a third of the game, because officials made it clear to Detroit that no matter how rough they played Harden there would be no call. I thank God that he wasn't seriously injured on that play. McHale is from the 80's…send out a goon (Dorsey) to Rambis an opposition player when they start with the no calls on our team. Start growing some brass ones and stand up for ourselves. I give credit to Detroit for shooting lights out, but 8 on 5 wears you down…DMo gets two early fouls for barley grazing Drummond & Monroe, but Drummond cracks Harden in the restricted area, when he came back in the second half, with not even a glance from the officials!!! Then they miss an obvious over and back when we were down 6 or 3 from memory…I'm usually good at recalling these things BUT TONIGHT I AM LIVID! We need Capela to be called up, if for nothing more than his shot blocking…a 6'7" Center isn't going to get it done against a monster front court like this. He might be regarded as one of the best defenders in Europe, but he's playing against Gasols, Drummond, Ibaka, Aldridge, Brooks, Jordan…not Sanchez, Raul, Slobodan, Luigi & Mario. And our schedule the last few weeks has us flying across every time zone…back & Forth, Back & forth…not the biggest issue, but come on! I'm off to cool down…might go kick a wombat or stone the crows.
I always hear people say this and I don't really understand. How does one adjust for getting hacked when going to the basket? Should he just settle for jump shots?
Not really surprised. The thing is that just like last year, the refs won't call as much for Harden come playoff time. I don't see them giving him 20-30 points a playoff game just on free throws. It will be really important that he sinks those 3 pointers and jumpshots of his.
I wouldn't be surprised if Cuban didn't send a letter to the NBA after we beat Dallas, like he did against Yao in that playoff series, cause the last two games James haven't gotten those calls that he's use to getting.
He didn't against the Mavs either. This all started to change the last time the Rockets played the Blazers when they complained that Harden was sticking his arms out. As if sticking your arms out is against the rules.
Teams are doing better scouting. To be fair he used to get ticky tack fouls all the time just driving through the lane. Now defenders are learning to back off and not make body contact, in Detroit a lot of those slaps were all ball and his knee probably isnt as strong so he's falling more leading you to believe there's more contact.
Officials are not giving calls but Harden is also beat up. This is what it's going to be like in the playoffs, so we need to adjust. Hoping for success with iso-ball and 8-10 FTA/G will translate to another 1st round exit. We need to have Beard coming off more screens and off-the-ball stuff because we are way too predictable. Rockets desperately need another playmaker that can pressure opposing defenses. Right now, if you stop Harden, you stop all decision-making, ball-handling, pressure on defense. That is too easy to defend.
The NBA is just trying to make more of a case for Curry to win MVP by making Harden less efficient. That's my theory at least. I can't really see another motive for the ENTIRE league calling fouls differently. The NBA has its pets and no Rocket has ever been one.
He's been top 2 in FTA for the last 3 years, leading 3 years ago and leading this year. He had stretches earlier this year where he had a stretch of 7-8 games where he didn't get more than 7FTA. Then he will have stretches like 2 weeks ago where 3 games in a row he had 15FTA+. (Mind you, 7 or so FTA is still top 5 in the league). James is an elite player. He's not controversial. There's no agenda against James.
Harden got 3 FTA that Mavericks game...2 of those came from an intentional take foul at the end of the game.
I understan what you are saying and trust me I go crazy when they don't call obvious foul. But this is kinda what happened in the playoffs last year. They called him differently and totally threw off his game (I know there was more to it than that last playoffs but that was just one example). If he can figure out how to get past this and adjust now, I can't even fathom how deadly he will be come playoffs. How will he adjust or change his game? No clue. Do I feel he needs to? No because they are obvious fouls but then again yes because it's taking him out of the game. On a side note, I really do wish someone would get in th refs faces and let them hear it. It's pretty obvious what's going on. They need to show the refs they ain't scared of that BS and let them hear it. I know its irrational but man I get so pissed.
We are talking about two things. If you believe there's a conspiracy against Harden by the refs, then that's one thing. If we are talking about Harden's game, then I am sure any honest observer would say that Harden's way of going to the basket is not just to score a layup but to get defenders to foul him on the way--not every time but a lot of times. Notice, I am not saying that the fouls are not legit. I am saying that he definitely tries to get the fouls the way he goes to the basket. For example, he would stick his arms out for to entice the defender to slap on it, rather than the normal protect the ball drive. And that definitely affects the likelihood of making the layups.
As far as adjusting we've all seen James tuck the ball and drive hard into a defender only to get called for an offensive foul. I'm not sure how you can allow a defender to be physicall and not make call then penalize the offensive player when he's getting off him.
