James Harden had an 'okay' postseason. He needed more help to fully excel to his Super Saiyan potential. His lack of maturity showed when things got tough. He will be better next year, especially if we get another good ball handler and shooters who can space the floor for his ISOs. James is a great player but like any great player he needs the right pieces around him to make championship aspirations come to fruition.
Only problem with Howard was him letting the opponent getting under his skin. He had too many stupid plays that resulted in technicals or flagrants.
Dwight was good. . . not great. Hitting the Free Throws all post season would have been Great. I see no reason to bash him. I think too often he has to cover other people's mistakes on defense Too often he helps but his man gets free for a put back or a dunk HE CANNOT BE THE ONLY ONE GOING AFTER REBOUNDS!!! I'M LOOKING AT YOU POWER FORWARDS!!!!!!!!!1 I think our SF and SG get more Rebounds than our Power Forwards Rocket River
I would hope that ClutchFans can see the importance of each of our leaders. James leads the way when our offense is rolling, this is indisputable. Dwight was a haas on defense and anchored everyone with his presence. We have no illusion of a defense or rebounding without D12. Ariza is the perimeter defender who is never moved by a tough situation, he is all heart. After that we need to take a long look at our team and contemplate who is worth taking another chance at. To be honest no one else comes close to our leaders and if anyone is NOT to blame for our early(yes, I said it, EARLY) exit then its James, Dwight, and Lord Athreeza.
There is no reason to bash Howard. He did all he could do on one leg. If anything my respect towards the big guy just went up. Morey needs to find some talent with height and skill on this team or we're just wasting the big fellow's time. He has earned the chance to win it all.
I love Howard and what he brings on defense. The problem with this team is that when Harden sits out you can't run the offense through Howard. His post game is probably where it was when he was 14 years old. The offense just goes stagnant. This team is better with Howard than without him but unfortunately Morey has to go back to the drawing board and find a way to get that 3rd star and 2nd scoring option. Damn you Bosh.
No disrespect but this is very shallow perspective. Yes Harden lead the team to the playoffs and to 2nd best in the west. Hes a superstar caliber player. But he also quit on his team in game 5. I don't care who you are, you can't lay down in a elimination game. He didn't even look for his shot until the 3rd quarter, yet had 13 turnovers, some unforced. The criticism he gets is justified. Harden isn't a superstar at this point
Harden having a GREAT regular season only raised the expectations we had for him come playoff time. He did not meet those expectations but with that being said it was his best postseason as a featured guy. He is young and has a few years to get it right while Dwight still has spring in his game. It will all come together much quicker if we can put some three point shooters around him(preferably at the PG spots and backup SG), a knock down shooter like Scola off of the bench would compliment his game nicely as well. It is irritating to see our best players get so much blame for the role players shortcomings. I know the leaders bear the majority of the responsibility of the team's success but it is a team game at the end of the day and if the opposition is going to leave us wide open to close on Harden then that is not 13's fault we can't keep them honest. Harden is not Jordan guys, chill.
He really wasn't. He put up the stats, but when he wasn't playing with Harden he didn't make a consistent impact on both ends (outside of Dallas series) like we needed him to. He kept making tons of bone headed plays consistently throughout the playoffs and was horrendous at the free throw line. His scoring % on post ups was the worst since 05. People are disregarding Harden's impact because he had a couple of bad games. Understand that defenses are focused 100% on stopping Harden. I really just don't understand why everyone just wants to attack Harden. If we are going to blame him for losing us in game 5, fine but you could also point to Dwight losing us game 1. We were up 16, and his boneheaded turnovers and terrible play in the post got the Warriors back in the game. Now let's be a little realistic about Harden's performance in the playoffs. We had no legitimate #2 scorer for us in the playoffs to take the pressure of Harden? Name me one player on this entire roster besides Harden and Dmo (Who didn't play in the postseason) that you can give the ball to and consistently rely on to score. Harden had a bad shooting performance in game 3 and played horrendous in game 5. But again he is the only scoring threat on the team that played in the playoffs vs the best defense in the league. He was being guarded by 2 all NBA first team defenders in Green and Iggy, and another terrific perimeter defender in Klay.
I think that Howard played very good this years playoff. Dwight, Ariza and Harden were great. But, I don't understand why he has gotten worse on offense. I am following him since 2009 and I think that he is the worst version of Dwight we can see on offense. Not that he was great earlier, but he had that left hook which was very good and some spin moves. Also, if he was catching the ball in not so great position, he was going face up. Now, we are just seeing playing with his back, 2 or 3 dribbles and hook shot which he misses very often. He was great on defense, altered many shots and was having great postseason. But, as I said, I dont understand why he is bad in the post. He was supposed to become very good, since he is working with Hakeem and McHale all the time. Maybe injuries affected him, but if he was jumping for lobs and putbacks, why couldn't he hit his hook shots?
No question in my mind...Howard MVP for the playoffs. He outplayed every center he faced. He defended the paint with dominance. His rebounding was great....and his scoring was good. He excelled at all phases of the game...idiots point to one play by Seth as indicative of D12's playoffs, while ignoring the incredible defense he played night in and night out. Without him we don't make past the Mavs, let alone the Clippers.
Less good shooters space the floor for him on the Rockets. We don't have a PG that can get the ball to him while the defense is adjusting. We do not have good post entry passers. The offense does not revolve around him anymore. He doesn't catch the ball deep enough in the post (we need to bring in Ewing or something to work with him). Scheme and talent can help this offense tap into Dwight's hidden/lost offensive potential. But ultimately Daryl Morey brought him here to play defense, not score 25ppg.
Harden's stats this Post-Season 27.2 pts 7.5 assists 5.7 rebs 38% 3pt 43% FG 91% FT How he played this post-season vs last year's post season was a huge step up. He was our MVP in the regular season and in the post-season. He still has a lot to learn as being a leader but oh yeah, hes still only 25 years old.
My only peeve with Dwight this postseason was letting his emotions getting the best of him and playing immaturely. Too often, especially the first 5 games of the semis, he was complaining to the refs instead of getting back in transition and also picking up silly fouls. A big reason that we were down to the Clips was this, and ultimately letting DJ outplay him. But props to Dwight for turning it around at the end of the series, and I thought he had a great defensive series against GS.
nice stats but doesn't tell the entire story. pretty tired of hearing people use he's only 25 yrs old like its excuse or pass. at this point his experiences in themselves through the years so far should be enough to where nobody should be making excuses for him. of course comparing last year is a huge step up because he was terrible last season in the playoffs overall. that's a given.
