Not sure why that poster is doubling down on his stance. Harden wanted to be traded to BKN. If he was worried about image or possibly being perceived as anything but "the man," he would have wanted to go to a team without a legit star/superstar (IND, CHA, DET, SAS, SAC, etc) - not a team with two bonafide superstars already. He's been the MVP. He's been a stats monster. He's earned plenty of money. The only thing he doesn't have is a ring. Guarantee Harden would love to win a ring even if he has to sit for the rest of the postseason.
They need to utilize Giannis as a point center rather than a point forward with Lopez in the paint. The Bucks always fall apart when teams wall off the paint and for Giannis to play at the perimeter. He is a highly athletic and versatile roll man, not a ball handler/play maker.
I won’t go so far as to say he’d love it if he missed the remainder of the postseason and they still won it all, but if they win it, and he’s not the one who’s hard carrying the team, but he’s still playing very well like he was this postseason averaging 27 and 10 on insane efficiency, then he would be very happy and it would boost his career for sure…the boost won’t be as big as if he had won the title back in 2018, but it would be a boost nonetheless no one wants to go down as the guy who put up numbers and never won a ring Harden has already seen his image and likeability skyrocket in a positive direction since he went to BK. The narrative surrounding his game has completely changed. There is more talk about how great he is and what he can do out on the floor as opposed to non-stop talk about how he’s ruining the game, his stats are inflated, he plays zero defense, he’s a ball hog, etc. He’s now considered fun to watch for goodness sake. And that’s supposed to be a mistake for his career? How?
You can slow them down if you have the right personnel which the Bucks have and they coudldnt do anything. That was my fault, they were actually 9-10th, I was looking at offensive rating. My point still stand that they should have the personnel to slow Brooklyn without Harden down though. Kyrie has historically struggled against the Bucks. He also didnt have a good game in game 2 either. The game ended up only being won by 8 points. They were still trying in the 4th. Kyrie was just bad. KD was also bad. In game 1 they were All those guys can give KD trouble and should. Those three guys should honestly be enough to lower his efficiency, KD should not average 70 TS% on everyone, especially when Harden is not there. You can write off their defense but they were affecting him game 1. Thats not gonna last, you shoulndt be worrying about their offense at all. They are not going to continue to play like that. Its that they cant stop Brooklyn at all thats the issue. Their offense will be fine going forward. If they continue to win and win easily without James than that only validates what I felt. If its at least competitive, I'll eat crow. I hope so.
Bucks 3 point shooting has dropped from 38.9% during the regular season to 30.6% in these playoffs…only the Wizards and Lakers have been worse
Why do the Bucks have the personnel? Tucker can not guard KD. He never could. Giannis rarely guards KD or Kyrie, so what impact is his DPOY defense having? Jrue is too small for KD, and he can do better than most on Kyrie, but Kyrie is still Kyrie. Lopez is a liability. Then u have guys like Middleton, Connaughton, Forbes, and Portis. The Bucks gave up the most open threes during the regular season, and allowed teams to shoot 38% from deep. Well now they’re playing the best shooting team in the league, a team they allowed to shoot 45% from 3 on them on 39 attempts a game during the regular season, and 2 of those games were without Harden, and the other was without Kyrie. Not only do they not really have the personnel, they also don’t have the scheme. They’re playing Brook Lopez in drop coverage allowing easy midrange jumpers for KD or Kyrie off a simple screen. They even tried zone defense last night against a team like BK’s shooting. They were never gonna slow down BK like that with or without Harden. Nobody is. Sure, they could defend better, and they probably will since role players generally play better offensively at home and it’s hard to defend any worse, but BK is gonna be elite offensively on most nights regardless of the defense. KD, Kyrie, and Harris are 3 of the best shooters in the league. That doesn’t change because Harden isn’t there. Shamet can shoot it pretty well. The Bucks give themselves zero chance of being competitive shooting 6-30 from 3 or dropping 91 offensive ratings. When u come up empty possession after possession, it also demoralizes your defense. Kyrie was shooting 11-20 from the field heading into the 4th quarter of game 1, then started missing when the game was a wrap. How is that bad? Kyrie dropped 22 on 9-17 shooting and 4-8 from 3 in game 2. That’s considered not having a good game? He didn’t need to explode for 30+ because Milwaukee didn’t bother showing up. BK went into the 4th quarter of game 1 up 14, and it was a 19 point lead with barely 3 minutes left. That game had long been over, that 8 point loss is extremely misleading. It was never that close or competitive. KD was just missing shots. KD had 54/45/88 shooting splits this year, and has 55/50/91 splits for the playoffs. Nobody is really gonna give KD trouble, he’s either hitting or he’s not. only thing that’s being validated is that Milwaukee is a joke…this is the same Milwaukee team u think Harden and Kyrie without KD would beat without question, and I’m assuming that’s with Milwaukee playing at the level that they’re capable of, but somehow, KD and Kyrie destroying the pathetic Milwaukee team that showed up these past 2 games is a bad look for Harden…it’s a bad look for Milwaukee they never led, and trailed by as many as 49 points last night…that means u didn’t show up…ain’t no way BK without Harden or even with Harden is actually 50 points better than the Bucks the same way San Antonio without Kawhi wasn’t actually 40 points better than the 16-17 Rockets, but when u choke and don’t show up, u get embarrassed the Bucks are so mentally weak, I wouldn’t be surprised if they just folded and got swept
If Giannis just had half of this in his bag he would be unstoppable. It’s wild how unskilled he really is.
You are projecting big time. What does pride have to do with anything he has already left his ego at the door by not scoring as much and being a facilitator. He has already changed the narrative on his game as a whole yet you think he should be embarrassed and chose poorly. It's not about pride it would be about selfishness if Harden thought the way you did.
These are competitive athletes competing at the highest level. If the Nets won a title without contributions from Harden, do you really think Harden would feel like a champion? Do you think Maxwell feels any pride in his 1995 championship ring?
I mean, of course you can. But I think using terms like "embarrassed" or talking about how it was a poor career decision or talking about pride, is just strange. Why would Harden be embarrassed that he's on a good team? Harden didn't sign on to ring chase. He chose the Nets because he was tired of carrying an entire team for 8 years, and wanted to lighten the load. The Nets are the 2 seed because of him. They might have needed to play in the play-in tourney if not for Harden. Why is it a poor career decision to be with the Nets? It's the team that gives you the best chance at winning a ring. You can also (theoretically) prolong your career by not needing to play so many minutes all while having the highest chance at a ring. You don't have to see a double-team every single possession, and when you do, you can just pass it to an automatic bucket in Durant / Harris / Kyrie. Seems like a no-brainer. Again, what's the alternative to what you're saying? Let's look at Damian Lillard. Main option on a perennial playoff team. Dude said he's too solid for the era, or whatever. Well, great for you, Damian. Your 'loyal' ass is on the couch watching the playoffs like the rest of us. Your coach was just fired and your team peaked 2 years ago when you got to the WCF. But hey, keep on being too solid, buddy. Harden wants to be out there hooping, I guarantee it. And I'm sure he'd rather contribute in the ECF or the Finals than be on the sidelines in street clothes. But to say he should be embarrassed that the Nets are this good or that it was a bad career decision to force a trade to the Nets, is just weird.
