For those saying Harden is choking in the playoffs...

he's been quietly outplaying steph curry... dont tell espn that tho

its just the warriors are loaded with talent and curry can have off-nights

 

People are dumb, he's playing well but everyone outside of him and Howard have been AWFUL on the offensive end.

 

Alot of garbage points but dont mind me.

 

It's not the stats, but the way his swag and confidence has evaporated.

Where was he during the 23-0 run? When the best player of the team becomes invisible, he takes the whole team down with him.

Watch the other series and see what the other superstars are doing against defenses designed to stop them.

 

would be interested to see aminu's and rivers' reg season vs playoff stats as well

 

Exactly. A player "choking" could indicate that he's choking defensively, not just offensively.

 

His defense hasn't been good, but yeah in general I agree.

People are freaking out over the losses. If he shot 30% but we were winning then people wouldn't complain.

 

He's shooting better because he's been too selective. Looks good on paper, but on the court, that just looks like a passive superstar, considering how poorly everyone else is doing. If his shot is on, then that's actually the perfect scenario for him to be more aggressive and selfish, not the opposite. He knows that..pretty much said it today in practice. Mario Elie tweeted it too, FWIW. Go try to dunk on someone, instead of passing because you see a defender. That's how he takes his FT attempts back, instead of losing attempts because refs want to play games and Redick won't bite.

It may sound harsh to expect more, but that's what it's like to be a superstar. That's what he signed up for, to carry a team, when the role players don't bring it. He's going to get the blame or the praise, always.

 

He might be shooting better because he's conserving energy on defense.

Rockets have many players playing poorly though.

 

His lack of effort on defense is ruining the team defensive schemes and allowing the other team's guards to light us up every game.

 

This is definitely a time where stats dont tell the whole story, those are empty stats as far as im concerned.

 

Some people can't handle the pressure of the playoff. That is Harden. Maybe he figure it out in a couple of years.

 

look at his game 1 stats, he shot close to 50%....but only a moron would tell you he didn't choke that game.

He has been choking...don't use stats to mislead what the eye test has shown us...all we can do is hope he gets his **** together. the rockets are down 1-2...very much in the game. Its no mystery that Harden plays much worse against the clippers (ever since he got here) but as a runner up in the MVP race thats just not acceptable.

 

People expect him to attack the rim when theres no angle to attack. It's people not understanding how defense works that are complaining.

Clippers all year vs the Rockets have overloaded to Harden's side forcing others to beat them. He's making the right play, but his teammates aren't helping him out. There's only so much space you can drive at when your teammates can't hit an open 3 to save their lives.

Unless you expect him to somehow score over DeAndre Jordan 1 v 1, you are in for a rude awakening.

 

Exactly...why does everyone expect him to always win 5 on 1 basketball on the offensive end?

 

Point is DMO was relied on all year for his offense. Noone really filled that void.

 

harden and austin riviers both had 25 points last night..


i guess that means they both impacted the game in a positive way for their teams.. i mean thats the whole point of the OP post right, stats are the end all of discussion..

 

Those are just numbers. His stats are not coming "at the right time". Scoring when the clippers penis is firmly in his ass is not the right time.