Did you see EGo get taken to the ground on last inbounds play, you dont think he was NOT trying to get clear? Have you ever played on any level? In any tight game, especially in final seconds, defenses will grab, hug, lean, pull to gain the advantage. If you have ever played any kind of competitive sport, this would be crystal clear. These players are tired. Your takes are just so insanely ignorant.
I'm quite sure I make up 1/4 of this thread, are you here to just accuse me of being a misogynist or to discuss Doris? Ah, you want to discuss how everyone, including Doris, hates Harden for what you think are good reasons. Let me make my thesis of the day clear -- Chris Paul is a lesser form of Harden right now, especially in these playoffs. Harden is performing better than Chris Paul on the court objectively. Harden is a better PLAYER than Chris Paul. Harden has more accolades on his name than Chris Paul other than President of NBPA. Harden has won an MVP, he's been to multiple WCFs, and also has started his career with more stacked against him as he had to win 6MOTY coming off the bench to become someone "worthy". They (including you) criticize Harden for baiting fouls, harping on it, manipulating refs when possible etc. Yet Chris Paul does the exact same ****ing thing, he's just a bit craftier maybe? And again, he's crowned a competitor. Nobody has anything negative to say about him, whether its him asking for a delay of game, flopping, or foul bating. If you have something else to say about Harden that makes you hate him, go ahead. Mention it. I'm sure Chris Paul has had similar ***** going on in his NBA career, with the exception of the cities being played in, and the strip clubs being visited or not. I honestly don't give a **** if you tell me that you hate Harden for him going to strip clubs, or even if you find Houston to be a disgusting city. I prefer that than for you to come here and question Harden's abilities on the court. He deserves a LOT more than you give him credit for, same goes for Doris the kiss-ass.
Being tired isn't an excuse because we routinely see superstar guards, where everyone on the court knows the ball is going to him in late game situations, free themselves open because THEY MOVE THEIR FEET. Watch Westbrook next time he's on the court. He exerts as much of not more energy throughout a NBA regulation game than Harden and will always break free to give the inbound passer s clean pass to him. I love when people resort to the "you didn't play competitive sports" shtick. That's when you know they are swinging at air.
What's my "true" character? Anyone who forms opinions of someone's "true character" based on basketball opinions ironically shows their true character more.
I'm pretty sure all that says is that you're not a superstar. I've also addressed this topic prior -- the coaching staff is the one who needs to prepare the team for an inbounds situation and MDA is clearly not doing a good job preparing the team. The team itself, yes, they make mistakes, and they're very well documented on the forum. However, if you're going to blame the entire situation on Harden not establishing himself for a good inbounds pass, you clearly do not look at this objectively.
Not disputing the correctness of the call. I am saying that Harden shouldn't rely on the refs making that call, because refs don't always make the correct call. They are reluctant to blow the whistle in those situations on the defensive player before the ball is inbounded, and Chris Paul is trying to exploit that fact.
James needs to move his feet. Too often I will see him just stand there with a guy on him. It’s frustrating
The COACH is the one who PREPARES the team for the game. They have to go over the inbounds plays, warn each of the players of all the mistakes they might make, INCLUDING not being active on the inbounds or establishing a velocity or NOT. MDA is the one who needs to get into Harden's face BEFORE the games to discuss how to do the inbounds pass the way he wants it done. Even during the play, yell out to the players how to establish the inbounds. This is all squarely on the shoulders of the coaching staff. They also could've utilized their final timeout but chose not to. Again, you need to watch the game, and also understand how the game works.
I mean we can blame both. I'm sure MDA wants Harden to move his feet on inbound plays. You are right that MDA enables bad habits by not being direct with Harden on these issues but then again maybe he knows how Harden will handle it and try to kick him our of the team like with the CP3 situation when CP3 criticized Harden for slow feet. I doubt Harden would have any of these tendencies if he was coached by someone like Pop in his early career.
Yall are like 10 years old or what? He's 30+ years old, 6'5", 200+ lbs, and is top 10 every year/playoffs in usage rate. Ah shove off basically leading the team to a 2-1 series lead to talk about moving his ****ing feet, what do I care.
James has issues with inbound plays just watch the games. He doesn’t move much. Instead he engages with his defender.
I'm really frustrated with you guys not making any sense w/ this. First, you can't pass the ball in until the ref has handed the ball to the inbound passer, and blown the whistle. Harden establishes his position prior to this, and so does every single player on the freaking court. Normally, when a defender gets THAT close to the player on the offensive, it's an automatic foul, so you typically keep your arms open and try not to foul. Especially not by wrapping BOTH your arms onto the opponent. Because of you and Doris and all these crazy people who think Harden sucks, when defenders go nuts all over Harden on an inbounds pass, everyone thinks its okay. It is not okay, and it's a freaking foul. Watch some other games, this is NOT how it goes. Also with Harden, if you don't hold onto him, he uses his arm to push off, gain momentum, and receives the inbound pass at a very successful rate. This is something you actually CAN use against him -- wait for the push off and flop. But then you validate that flopper and hate on Harden for doing that. In general, you just hate Harden because when Chris Paul does it you're totally fine with it.
IOW, Harden is awesome and therefore you shouldn't point out anything that he can potentially do better.
I understand that he gets fouled and Sunday he was fouled. My problem is he literally does the same thing over and if that doesn’t work he just stands there. You can’t deny that. Once the defender blocks his first position does what does Harden do? I haven’t seen him run or try to get away from a defender in god knows how long. It’s weird. Guys like Steph, KD, Kyrie, Lebron I always see them use their legs to get open to make the pass easier. James just does not do that. He has 1 inbound move that is it. If that gets nixed it’s over. This is very routine with him. I love the guy as everyone on here does. But there isn’t anything wrong with acknowledging that he has things he could improve upon this being one of them. I’m very uneasy with him in the clutch like this now.
I think it's appalling that you think "move your feet" is a good advice. If he ranked any less than top-10 in usage rate, you might've had a point. Not a chance here.
I knew it. You have serious jock envy. You were not even the last guy picked were you? Your prom date preferred the popular guy who was a sporto amirite?
