Too much time at the strip clubs and not enough time resting, eating right and conditioning. Shawn Kemp 2.0... Gonna call brook lopez bbq chicken? Gonna call harden CHEESEBURGER.
I'm certainly not surprised. Harden was playing like that in a lot of the regular season games; the difference in the playoffs is that opposing team have more time to game plan to exploit those flaws. James is going to need to do a lot of self reflecting after this is over, and dedicate more time in breaking those bad habits and improve his game. It will also doesn't hurt that Les find another coach who won't be an enabler, and who can actually coach.
I saw that as well....on one play he had barely crossed halfway when Howard already had the ball....walking so slowly...McHale should have subbed him out right then.....
Too much partying? <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Someone at the game tonight with a lot of credibility told me Hardin was partying hard all weekend. Selfish.</p>— Nate Fitch (@UNCLENATEFITCH) <a href="https://twitter.com/UNCLENATEFITCH/statuses/459195425447108608">April 24, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
straight up...the man does not have stamina issues... James just isn't interested in playing D....and if he's not got his before you get yours, he pouts on offense.... When Dwight was besting that 1st quarter, his body language was so poor.....he wasn't happy for Dwight, he was pissed he didn't get his shots...
This is the absolute truth. Last year around this time a lot of Harden apologists made the same excuses saying he was tired, overused, worn out from not being used to playing heavy minutes in the regular season, OKC knowing how to play him, not having enough help yada yada yada. No emotion, terrible leader, not a lick of defense, doesn't communicate with his teammates, zero hustle, non existent effort, pathetic body language, if there's a 50/50 loose ball you can forget about it. Normally when a player sucks I get over it pretty quickly because either they 1) Take ownership of their faults. 2) They actually tried their hardest. 3) They're just not very good to begin with. For Harden it's none of the above and frankly it's infuriating.
Well, he is still young. He is no Kobe. You don't see that fire and competitiveness in him. I don't think he doesn't care. I think he is overwhelmed not knowing how to take the matter in his hand whether be that scoring or defending. Unfinished product. But, we should not give up on him yet, given him another 2-3 seasons.
harden will never be kobe...as much as I detest Kobe's shot selection....Kobe would never loaf on D like James....plus Kobe has ridiculous fire!!!! Even as a rookie!! He's confused because: 1. He's not getting calls when he drives... 2. His j isn't falling as he is out of rhythm... 3. His offense to a degree fuels his defence... 4. If he doesn't score or feel he can score, he doesn't make attacking passes, as in when he makes his move it's to score not to assist... With the current Houston coaching setup, he won't improve...as regular season success will mean it's difficult for him to make changes...
I agree with this. The coach's job is to blend the talents of the players together. The team's shouldn't be either/or when it comes to Harden and Howard. If either guy feels that way, it is on the coaches to correct it.
I said it in the Harden defense video thread, his problem on defense is not that he cannot play good defense, or too tired. The problem is that he is mentally checked out when he is not having the ball in his hands. It looks like he just can't wait for the defensive possession to be over so he can play offense again.
