Broadcaster says James Harden is cheating the game

Media’s been coming to Harden’s defense today?? Y’all got them links?

 

I was begging for somebody to put this togheter in real-time last night, you the man.

Somebody with video editing skills needs to overlay this text with McLean's comments. Unfortunately, even these days, there are probably too many people with lives for this kind of internet championship endeavor.

The 6:28 i(8:17 on the youtube video) is still my absolute favorite and got me riled up last night, becuase it was right in the middle of his screed - if you listen real close, you can hear Sweet Georgia Brown playing in the background.

 

Clutchfans flipping the script on these fools

 

Those sliders are all the way up baby.

 

https://www.barstoolsports.com/bost...es-ever-as-his-team-got-killed-by-the-rockets

 

They're also mad because he's SMARTER than everyone else! People are mad cuz he's taking the time and energy to learn and re-learn the rules every year and add more weapons to his tool belt.

He's learned that come playoff time, whistles get swallowed in the paint - enter "the floater".

The NBA has changed the rules to minimize him and his "flops", except now he's even more lethal than ever! Instead of looking for the foul, he's now getting fouled within the flow of the game. He's taking and making more 3's while still getting fouled in the process.

Dude is just unreal...

 

Truth is for whatever reason fans don’t like him and he’s as much a polarizing figure as LeBron James. Both guys never get in trouble and have done a lot of philanthropic work and are great teammates but yet get demonized and seem as deviant and not the norm for whatever reason. I want everyone that supports Maclean and these idiotic fan opinions against harden to think long and hard when I ask this. Would these fans feel the same way if Steve Nash did everything harden did it maybe nowitski or donckic? What would these same folks say? It’s be very interesting because I can almost guarantee the opinions would differ. Is it race? Is it hardens demeanor? Is it a lack of understanding of the game? Perhaps if differs across the board according to whom you speak but I would be very interested to see if the amount of hate would be the same for the 3 aforementioned players. I guess we will never know. But in light of all the hate language from fans that have popped up around stadiums across the country and hate language in social media not to mention the hatred against lebrons decision in 2010 one would have to question the issue of race and sports. Perhaps it’s mere coincidence that you have a large number of fans and media critics hating him. Perhaps I’m wrong. But you have to scratch your head and wonder. And think if this were a white player and beloved like Nash would there be so much backlash? Something to ponder on.

 

People have every right to complain about Harden's style. If they feel he is cheating the game, I can understand that.

I personally think Harden is fun to watch...the moves the shakes, the passing and step backs, the craftiness and easy layups from juking his man. Some people say a basketball purist wants to see a lot of passing and team ball. For me, I just want to see something amazing. And Harden is amazing. No one can do what he does, and instead of bemoaning his mastery why not savor it?

 

On Around The Horn they all basically called Maclean a dumbass.

“He’s doing this because they can’t stop him” - Ramona Shelburne

 

You can UNDERSTAND how someone says he's cheating the game?? I can understand how someone doesn't like his style, but to say he's CHEATING THE GAME is taking that to a whole new level of hate. Cheating the game implies that he's circumventing the rules, bending ethical boundaries, playing dirty, etc. I will never understand how someone can say he's cheating the game. Period.

 

McLean demonstrated he's full of chit. Even his own words demonstrate this. He asked "who else could do this"..implying no one. Indicating that Harden does it because he's good enough to do it...and other NBA players aren't. That's an admission of skill, which runs counter to what he was trying to say. It would also be interesting to ask if Jordan was cheating the game when he did the same things? I suspect he'd say no.

But then we waste way too much time worrying about what idiots on TV say. McLean is clearly an idiot...not worth time discussing.

 

You're confused. It was Madea who came to Harden's defense.

 

Morey needs to send Madea down to ESPN headquarters so she can slap and pepper spray Harden haters spreading lies and misinformation

 

They're about to talk about it on the Starters now

 

Yup, MacLean destroyed

 

He says they don’t run plays....what a gross lie that is. They run sets out of timeouts, inbounds all the time. The main drive is just a read/react system based off of how teams guard the pick n roll.

Look, it’s mechanical. It’s a bit cold. But Harden dribbling and shooting 24 ft stepbacks is a better offense than 5 guys running around passing.

 

Normally I'd agree with you, but given the constant media narrative about Harden going back 4-5 years now and how close the MVP race is this year AND that this was the color commentator going on a 4-5 minute rant about Harden during a nationally televised game on NBA TV....yeah it needs addressing.

I saw this topic discussed on virtually every sports themed show on Fox and ESPN today. The Jump, Cowherd, Around the Horn, Pardon the Interruption, Speak for Yourself, and First Take. Even these shows knew the dude had crossed the line and for once were defending Harden.

 

I sincerely thought this season after the "freedom of movement " rule that it'll limit Harden a bit
But damn i was so wrong, the guy just elevated his game to an unprecedented level
He's one of the smartest and hardest working players ever and it explains why the'yre jealous of him.
With that said , i think there is a clear hate towards him from the media, and the only explanation to that is the power of lobbies working behind the scenes for whatever reason they don't want him to be the face of the league. May be i'm wrong but that's the only explanation i can find right now.

 

Would like a link to that segment, if it’s available online.

 

Really good point, while the league has progressively changed with analytics, there seem to be many people still not understanding it and of course not liking it, which explains the hate.
The eye pleasure favors ball movment, so ISO is boring to the eye...the rest is clear