i said last year that i was worried about harden's progression in his offensive game and i was criticized. ya'll are saying all these things he needs to work on but how do we know harden has that motivation to work on those things? how do we know if harden isn't content with being the player he is now? he's exactly the same player he was last year. i want him to succeed but it's got to be up to him and nobody else but him.
I'm just baffled, this guy was so clutch and decisive all season long, what the hell was that on the last possession? He wanted the step back but he didn't pull hard enough to his right, and then hesistated to shoot
i don't get why they didn't continue to run the 1-2 pnr. When it came down to the stretch inn previous games and this one as well, they ran the lin and harden pnr, and it works! Mismatch to harden draws the opposing guards away as Lin gets enough space to use his quick first step to explode through the arc and into paint to a layup/dish inside to the 5. Maybe a pick and pop situation for either harden or lin as they both hit the midrange J at a high rate... WH?!?!?! why go with the iso?
He was derpy all night last night. I think it had to do with him not getting all the fouls called on drives that messed with his rhythm. I distinctly remember a bunch of drives where he just shorts his layups he usually makes. And that rushed 3 pointer was terribad
I think he came out to amped last night. He made his first step back jumper got a little too confident and went on to miss his next 8 or so shots, before hitting the 3 to take it into the half. His 3rd quarter while not great, he was aggressive and playing his game. He missed some easy shots he usually always makes but still got us a big lead and scored 13 points. I truly believe Harden will be that guy we all have seen the last 35 games of the season. He won't go 3-14 on the 3s weds, he won't be as jittery, we have to remember this is his first yr being the man on a contender. All eyes are on him I think a lot of ppl are waiting for him to make that leap to consensus top 5 player, which can only be accomplished with a deep playoff run. I think the guy is a real competitor and we all know he's one of the most talented players in the league. We'll see a very different harden weds I see know reason he can't hit. 3 more shots be it 3s or. 2s when taking 28 shots. He does that we win by atleast 4 harden has atleast 33 pts we're all happy that we won knowing harden didn't even play his best. We just saw the worst harden we could get on offense last night. I'm Not worried at all the rockets are still the better team with the better players. I'm confident harden will play much better and I'm confident lma is not going for. 48.
The Harden I saw in game 1 was disappointing. Nowhere near the Harden we know. He was most inefficient and most hesitating driving to the rim. His excuse of being rusty is unacceptable. He should know that everyone are on the same level playing field not just himself that lacked match practice.
He was off. It's ok. It can happen to the best player. Also lets credit Portland's D and O through Harden. Coaching needs to make an adjustment. LMA cannot get 40+ points, no matter what.
I like it. Whenever you can trade the most clutch player in the league(this year at least) who was in a class just below Lebron and Durant in shooting efficiency for a less efficient player who is 5 years older, you HAVE to get on that.
He's added a stepback and he looks quite good in the post though we rarely post him up. I think he has progressed a fair amount.
