It's like Harden hasn't been the same guy in the 4th since game 2 of the WCF. It was the final possession of the game, James had the ball in the open court, he runs directly into a double team of Steph and Klay. This frozen deer in the headlights look came over him. The worst thing you can do in this situation is over think it. I think a part of his competitive drive died in that exact moment. He looks like a defeated player out there, especially in the 4th.
He simply doesn't know how to play off the ball and it seems like we don't have the staff to teach anyone how to play off the ball. Mind you, there are only a handful of players on history who can score individually, constantly move off the ball and play good defense for 35+ minutes a game. JB should have the balls to call Harden on his excuse for not playing defense: he's tired from carrying the offensive load. Well, cut his minutes then. That's the only thing that will motivate Harden, he loves playing and he hates sitting. I don't expect an interim coach to have that kind of leeway with star players but if JB smartened up he'd realize that he's certainly not keeping this job with the way the team is playing.
And miss out on the pass to Ariza with 4 seconds on the shot clock forcing him to drive and throw up a wild shot. NEVER!
Either unhappy with teammates.. But it cant be that since he came into the season this way/same team from last year... Or something is or has happened personally to him or the teammates...
Do you realize that Ariza shoots less than one shot per game when the clock is below 4 seconds. That's under any circumstances, not just a pass from Harden. Clutchfans, where we focus on things that don't happen very often and are insignificant.
What happened to him playing in the post more? He's unstoppable in that position rather running pg at the top of the key. We need someone to command double teams in the post. Harden and Dmo are the only two getting the d's attention down low. They will happily allow Dwight to post up.
Harden's points per possession (PPP) in the post is 0.83. That's not really unstoppable, it's only slightly better than Howard's PPP (0.81) on postups.
Harden needs to play on the ball in all quarters. Stop trying to change what is a strength of the time and focus on what our weaknesses are.
the turnovers by Harden is mounting up and up. It looks like he is playing in another universe where turnovers value the most for MVP contend. and the FOUL, lucky we didn't get killed.
He's turnovers were so bad it looked like he was trying to throw the game. 2 of them in a row where he was threading the pass to the roller looked incredibly suspect.
Bull and Dwight said it in postgame ..... Turnovers must stop - Harden Everyone needs share the ball, and play as a team - Harden Jason Terry Handling the ball...... Harden
Have him play off ball and watch as the offense spends 20 seconds to dump the ball back to him? I think that's worse.
This teams ultimate ceiling is if and only of Harden learns to play alongside Lawson with Lawson the primary ball handler and facilitator Hardens stats will go down and I think that bothers him but it's best for his team
