Ah, yes, the classic revisionist history. Most of Clutchfans didn't consider him the best performer this year. He wasn't good last year. He wasn't good the year before. I think we will win a ring with Harden. I truly do; he will bring us to the promised land. Sig me, quote me. But I am still objective about his performances right now, and I am very, very critical of his defense, which has been coincidentally left out of this thread. It was bad.
Harden was, outside of a few performances, great this year in the postseason. People remember the bad performances far more than the good ones.
Because people are idiots. I don't know how anyone with a straight face can say he wasn't anything but great this postseason
Truthfully he was a lot better this year in the playoffs. He had a couple of bad games in the GS series but i blame coaching more than anyone else.
The defense isn't stated because it is accepted he sucks at defense but was better last year. I know you think someone can go from being bad on defense to great in the space of 12 months, doesn't happen in reality. If Ty Lawson is able to contribute then the expectation should be even higher than before Lawson. The offensive was still stagnent in the playoffs so good defense like the Warriors can key in on him forcing him to work so much harder on offense. Again, if Lawson can contribute this won't be an excuses anymore.
It's simply a fact that Harden struggled in the playoffs in '13 and '14, but the man had a very strong run in '15 though. 28/8/4 on 47/39/96 shooting (.652 TS%) vs. the Mavs 25/8/6 on 40/35/92 shooting (.593 TS%) vs. the Clips 28/8/6 on 47/43/87 shooting (.627 TS%) vs. the Warriors I thought he had an excellent Mavs series. I think that Game 3 in particular (42/9/5 on 15/24 shooting + clutch performance in last minute) was a standout performance. The Rockets were up 2-0 but a loss there would have made it a series again. If Harden doesn't dominate that game, the Rockets might have lost that series or atleast been forced to play 7 games instead of 5. It was a masterful game from Harden and he was in control the entire series. 28 PPG on on .65 TS% is historic territory for a playoff series, and Harden made it look easy. It was his best series as a Rocket. I thought he had a mediocre Clippers series compared to his usual standards. For whatever reason, Harden has always struggled against them and it carried over into the playoffs. He shot .395 from the field and just could not find his shot. Even in the last 3 games when we made our comeback from down 3-1, he only shot 21-60 (35%) from the field which is just awful. Harden's poor D also hurt the team in this series because JJ Redick went off and was a big reason they got ahead 3-1. It was a historic comeback by our Rockets, but the fact that James wasn't really a dominant factor in the comeback felt a little weird. He still got to the line and racked up the assists, so he still made a positive impact for sure. 25 PPG + 8 APG on nearly .60 TS% is pretty damn impressive, and that's supposed to be a bad series from Harden which tells you how good he is. Overall he had a very good Warriors series, but the way it ended with that pathetic 13 turnover performance will always leave a bad taste in my mouth. It's a shame because I thought his Game 2 and Game 4 performances were as good as it gets (even though we lost Game 2 when he couldn't get the shot off). But his Game 3 performance was also brutal and a reason we got blown out. I don't think I've ever seen a 4 game sample quite like the one James had to close that series starting from Game 2. 38/10/9 on 13/21 shooting 17/3/4 on 3/16 shooting 45/9/5 on 13/22 shooting 14/6/5 on 2/11 shooting (13 turnovers) That Game 2 was probably the most visually aesthetic James Harden game I've ever seen. He made Klay Thompson and everyone else who tried to guard him look silly in that game. I've never seen him dominate in the mid-range area as much as this game. He was just roasting the #1 D-ranked Warriors with his nasty one-on-one skills. It sucks that he couldn't get that last shot off because we all know it was probably going to go in considering the way he was playing. But then game 3 happened where the Warriors demolished us and one of the reasons why was because James played terrible. This was a game we needed to win to keep the series alive, and the entire team showed up flat. Just a pathetic performance all-around from the team. Game 4 was probably his best game as a Rocket. He was still killing it in the mid-range, but didn't go there as often as Game 2. He attacked the hoop and shot 3s better in this game than in Game 2. It was a season saving performance and a masterpiece. One of the best individual games of the entire playoffs. Game 5 was pathetic. He looked lackadaisical and scared. He was making awful lazy passes and couldn't find his shot. If he brought his A game, we definitely win this game imo. Just a really poor way to end a fantastic season from Harden. He had a very good players and played well against the Warriors. But his inconsistent performances to end our season is head-scratching. Game 2/4 James Harden is one of the most brilliant offensive forces the game has seen in the 3pt line era (post-80), Game 3/5 Harden was just a joke. Harden is too good of a shooter to be so damn inconsistent with his shot. Hopefully having a creator on the level of Ty Lawson should help Harden be a more consistent shooter and offensive force.
A nice, balanced take in my opinion. Harden was phenomenal, but still had frustrating moments. A second ball handler / slasher should help alleviate some of that pressure.
Post all the numbers you want, the team started its playoff run with Harden on the bench. Prior to that they did nothing but beat a depleted 7-seed Mavs team and go down to a LAC team that had been without Chris Paul. Maybe we should be talking more about Playoff McHale. There's a difference between having a bad game and not showing up at all.
Because for Harden it's not about money. It's about leaving a legacy as one of the best SGs in NBA history. If you'd retire, then I feel bad for you. To only be motivated by money.
Wait, so when talking about playoff Harden, we won't hold defense against him because it is assumed he sucks at it? That is faulty logic. His defense was trash, and I will definitely hold him accountable for it. We hold Dwight accountable for fts, so it would only be a double standard. I echo this. When I was talking to some of my friends a couple days after playoffs, it was mentioned that revisionist historians will come back because of the stats. All this talk about Harden's playoff series; why, when it was significantly agreed upon that Dwight was the best performer in a poll a week and a half (game 5 kneejerk is gone) later. "Our judgement was clouded, the stats show it." Actually, the stats are misleading your memory. The Mavs team were not a playoff team after acquiring Rondo. Then they also lost Parsons, who is still a net positive, despite the hate from the CF. I love whooping the Mavs of course. Even against the Mavs, game 1 and 2 were Dwight and Smith's coming out parties. Harden had a signature game 3, and a good closeout game 5. The Mavs were not a playoff team coming into the playoffs, period. Harden was atrocious against the Clippers; and a significant portion of his numbers came from stat padding. Numbers had context. GSW was the definition of up and down. Let's stop throwing out numbers without context and look back at what actually happened. I'm sorry, but I did not see a very strong '15 run. The person who had the strong '15 run was Dwight.
what are you babbling on about, ive seen your post about Harden in the past. Did you watch the first 3 games of the finals did stephen curry look disintrested to you, Harden is not gonna be super man everynight. For the most part he played well in the playoffs, in the warriors series he played well even with the refs favoring the warriors, nothing you can do about that
Bottom line, we didn't win a championship, so it's back to the practice floor until we do. Harden wasn't good enough. The team wasn't good enough. Time to improve or quit. Harden's no quitter.
