Harden started guarding Reddick - Reddick lit him up Thye moved Harden to the corpse of Paul Pierce - The Truth lit Harden up They put Harden on Jamal Crawford - Jamal Crawford lit him up WHen Harden switched to CP3 - CP3 just drove past him with ease
Then Howard will break down next. We need a better philosophy team basketball wise than anything. Harden is just worn down to the point where he's not going to continue to shorten his career by carrying the entire team 82 games and playoffs year after year. We need a better team oriented and team oriented defense. Just my opinion. Then after that you need effort from everyone plus the dedication to the new team strategy... guys gotta buy in.
How are you defining "Carrying the offense" here? Basically any game where Harden shoots the most shots out of the team, he's "Carrying" the offense? When your entire offense goes through one player 90% of the time, of course that guy will get points. Ish Smith is also getting points and assists in Philly due to high usage. Does it mean anything if we're barely playing .500 ball though? We beat the Spurs with Harden scoring 20 on 33% shooting. We beat the Clippers with Harden scoring 18 on 30% shooting. How is it possible that such an inept team such as ourselves can win when our offensive juggernaut of a leader puts up such terrible offensive stats? Because ultimately our team has very capable defenders that are reliable for getting stops and scoring in transition. We saw this last night as well in the 2nd when LA was initially trying to pull away. When Harden is on the floor and not properly rotating, staying in front of his man, or closing out fast enough, he's been a severe detriment to an otherwise above average to elite team defense. If we actually ran a system like San Antonio or Golden State, I guarantee you Harden wouldn't average the amount of assists / points he'd be getting now but our record would be better and you'd see Harden along with several other players averaging better percentages. But then again, you place Harden on San Antonio and he might not even get more than 20 mpg on the floor when Pop gets sick of his lazy defense and unreliable off-ball movement. And that's the uncomfortable truth we have to deal with. The best teams in the league have an team oriented offensive system and great team defense. We likely may never integrate Harden into one.
Harden is putting all that extra stuff on himself. He doesn't have to carry this time like that. Ball movement was always preached but dude goes into this ISO frenzy. He's the one turning the ball over at high rate causing his team to have fight from behind on most nights. So now he's pressing to try and make up for those mistakes. He's the one that getting torched by even role players on a consistent basis. How many more times will this dude get beat on back door plays because he's caught peeping in the cookie jar. When will he say enough is enough, "I am going to move my feet instead of reaching". And if Harden gives effort night in and night out, you can best believe his teammates will give that same effort.
James used to a semi-team player... remember the whole Harden/Lin/parsons pregame routine? Then he got success... went from strippers to kardassians... and decided he wanted to continue that type of lifestyle...
It's true, the exaggeration and extreme pronouncements are just nuts. People here posted for the longest time about how they wanted a "superstar" and a "playmaker" and a "closer." Now we've got one and he's only 26. And of course, now the talk is all about how selfish he is and how he's ruining the team and look at what he does in his personal life and he should be traded. He's the second leading scorer in the NBA. He's a playmaker. He's a superstar. His dating and entertainment choices may not impress you, but he isn't getting in trouble with the law or acting like a headcase, like some players. When he has a monster game and we win, people rave about it, and he has had some monster games this season. We're lucky to have him, and I'm not sure why anyone would think trading him is even an option. He's been disappointing in some ways, but you're going to have to hunt pretty hard to find a "superstar" who is perfect in every way and wants to be a Rocket over all other teams. The chances of that happening are about as good as Donald Trump showing some humility. Harden's our guy, for better or worse. The team just has to try to build around him, play to his strengths and cover his weaknesses and hope that things click mentally for him and he matures while he chooses to be a Rocket and not after. That's about all we can do as fans, because he's not being traded.
See no one wants a perfect superstar, hence, people would rather have a much lesser player than Harden, who gives effort every game, on both ends of the floor, if you think his stats are everything here that is, then sir, good for you. He is douche bag of douchebags, when GSW kept trapping him and double teaming him and he was getting 10 turnovers he asks for help at guard position, when he gets TY, he doesn't adjust ONE BIT, he doesn't play offball, he doesn't let bring TY the ball, he plays same ol' same ol'. He doesn't play defense and complains about too many minutes played, while he could spend less energy bumping the ball to death and instead playing a true SG. But no, we're just bunch of idiots who don't appreciate the dude. Rockets are most predictable team, the team CAN'T play half court game, because it's Harden iso all day long, they don't have to, they NEED to defend and run, because that's the only way they can get easy buckets. There's no offensive system, just harden iso ball, this team could be rolling, if Harden was actually playing like he should, instead like he wants, you can put all blame on JB and McHale, but truth to be told, he only cares about his stats, because that's what got him money and fame.
James Harden needs to play over 40 minutes every game. He still has lots of energy after overtime with the Clipppers.
Wow are you trolling? Don't you know standing still and passing is incredibly TIRESOME! How can we ask our saviour Frauden to do more! Insane!!!!
If Harden doesn't get any of his foul bait calls, he is just an average player who will just turn the ball over and over and doesn't play defense. He isn't a superstar because he doesn't make any of his teammates better as well. I wish this cancer gets traded soon!
Only taking top of key contested jumpers and the inability to drive right and make a right handed layup makes him elite? Bro you have low standards.
See I wonder if that is the real issue with him, that he is not buying in to Moreys philosophy any more. DD
