I used Lebron because he's recent. Could have said Rose, Iverson, Shaq, Kobe, Jordan. I don't really care if Harden wins an MVP. He's that caliber of player, though, and he should be capable of handling his workload. As for the Rockets being more dangerous as a lower seed, since the NBA went to 16 teams in the playoffs, 30 of 31 champions have been 3 seeds or higher.
Haha, I don't see how my post was completely asinine! I mean sure it was a cheap shot, but regardless to how much I want old nba back, if current players need rest (for whatever reason), then go for it. I mean if you think Harden at 25 needs rest because of high mpg, I'd rather they give him time off now, instead of having him show up in the playoffs and be ineffective. It'd be a lot better situation if houston didn't have the injuries its had this season, or if the west wasn't so tough. For me advancing in the playoffs is more important than seeding or MVP. Harden is clearly the MVP to me, because without him, houston wouldn't be in the playoffs.
I just looked over some more stats, I find it even more hilarious that Coach McHale averaged more minutes than Harden during the 1989 NBA season (at 31 y/o), he was ranked #19 in the league and averaged 36.9 for 78 games, lol, Hakeem was even tied with him on this... I mean 20 players were at or above MPG compared with Kyrie Irving (who's currently number 2 at 36.9). I never thought how bad that disparity was... Don't get me wrong 36.7 or whatever Harden is at isn't bad compared to current players, it's just interesting, considering you still see lapses where he will check out on offense/defense. I guess now I'm wondering if we should try to get a petition going to lower his mpg to 30. Source: http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_1989_per_game.html then sort mpg
He is tired, but that's not the main problem, he has been great, but he doesn't move the ball well, so when other guards close the lane and his shot is not falling and some fouls are not called, our team offense looks pretty bad.
Only knock on McHale is that he overuses Harden so much during the regular season that, come playoff time, Harden really struggles. But then again, Rockets would be a lottery team without Harden so can't really blame McHale too much for relying heavily on him
I disagree completely. Other players have been in James' spot before, and they didn't need rest. James is amazing, and it does seem like fatigue is a bit of a factor at this point, but he needs to figure that out, because as long as he's healthy, he has to play. For the team and for the fans.
He moves the ball fantastically. The problem is that none of his teammates can shoot, and many of them don't move all that well off the ball, either (or our offense just doesn't set up much off-ball motion).
Barkley called James Harden the MVP. Also not sure when Barkley had a conversation about whether or not James Harden was tired?
Harden rest = Harden hitting the strip clubs even more often and staying out late and getting out of shape I'd rather he be on the court.
Last year, Harden shot 47% post all star game vs 44% before the all star game, while playing MORE minutes per game than this year... Everyone here is making excuses. He's a ******* professional basketball player. You know how many superstars have played at a higher level than him and played more minutes? No one made excuses for them.
Off topic, but did Papa's ankle explode and need to be rebuilt from the ground up? No word on any progress and has been out for a while.
i think in a more appropriate way,we could say that in this particular pheonix game, hard is tired, because of the way tucker is defending him and attacking him on offense. harden needs to generate so much offense for us and certainly on a given night, when opponents have a good wing defender, he needs more energy to work with, he didn't have a fallback option at this moment harden's advantage is his court vision, strong hands, and shooting touch, but he does lack lateral quickness and explosive first step, that's when defenders like tucker which is also strong but not very quick has an edge on him, we just need to get another offensive generating player, maybe DH?, i don't know, i just hope we can get everybody back healthy and prepared for war in playoffs
I could only imagine what Mchale would say about such nonsense, but then again....images of his nasty swollen toes keep coming to mind
True that's exactly what I was thinking because James Harden has been more worried about Amber Rose than winning a championship for the Rockets.........................
Just going to bump my comment because apparently I've touched some sensitive nerves here with some derisive rep left on my page. Again James Harden being is tired is an excuse for his play. When the whistles do not go his way, he lapses on defense, effort, and team play mentally.
