He has shown tendencies of an alpha dog during the regular season. He put the team squarely on his shoulders to help lead them to the No. 2 seed. It's some sort of mental block in the playoffs. That's when he becomes a disappearing star. Dude needs to see a sports psychologist or something.
Harden's not without blame. It is absurd to think he's the problem, though. Entire team + McHale has abandoned defense. There's not a team in the league who wins like this.
Three games I thought Harden should have had come out with some fire and just have a monster game: 1. After the 1 game suspension 2. After not receiving MVP 3. After Barnes talked trash to his mom All resulted or will result in a loss with a piss poor performance.
People want him to jack up shots like Kobe did in game 7 of the finals when Doc doubled him this way? Do they want him to attack Deandre all game which very likely won't go well for him. The sad truth is that Harden is the entire offense for this team and if he gets doubled the shooters have to knock down shots. He just can't be as effective trying with Jordan in the game.
I was so pissed I nearly forgot Barnes talked crap to Harden's mom. I guess Barnes will talk some more smack to his mom after the game. *kiss kiss*
i've said before but say it agian. Harden is not a type of guy that plays well when things are not going his way. far from lighting fire in his heart, it actually creates very opposite effect. he shrinks down and becomes very timid and despondent. he has very streaky personality just like his shooting. Harden only plays well when there are no hurdles to overcome. he's not meant to be a leader and we should seriously consider demoting him to a 2nd option or trade him for a legit superstar.
Harden is getting absolutely owned. First Barnes tell his mom to suck his D and then Austin Rivers going hams on him and does his patented pot stirring move. DAYUM.
Austin rivers made Harden his b**** tonight, i guess playoff austin > playoff harden, reg season harden > reg season austin rivers
It's on Morey to get Harden a real point guard so he can be the scorer we need instead of always creating the offense.
Harden's personality is definitely the reason nobody's playing defense or playing competent offense or the bench giving production or the coaches making proper adjustments.
Read the thread and my posts. I kept saying we needed a better leader on this team to fix our problems (McHale, Harden, Howard, anyone). Posters kept dismissing that since we were winning and saying Harden was the leader of this team. Our problems still aren't fixed and becoming more and more exposed against a more complete team than Dallas was.
Draymond Green scored his share on Anthony Davis in the first round of the play-offs, does that make him better than Anthony Davis? Houston still believes Austin Rivers has no talent. The team and coaching staff are waiting for him to come back down to earth because they are too stupid to make any coaching adjustments. They are more worried about JJ Reddick and the Clippers pick and roll offense than about Austin Rivers and are getting killed by all 3 problems. The questions to ask is why is Brewer getting burned by everyone he's guarding? Why is Josh Smith not playing aggressively good or bad? Why is Terrance Jones not finishing at the rim at all? Why is Houston allowing the Clippers to score so many second chance points? Harden could be more aggressive, but with no game plan he really is not sure how to be. Also somewhat discouraged with many of his teammates because they are blowing lay-ups and mishandling rebounds especially defensive ones, that would keep them in the game. In addition to that having star players intentionally foul early in the game putting them in foul trouble and in essence taking them out of the game are bigger reasons for concern for Houston, than Austin Rivers being a front runner.
The Rockets' stars are also their biggest playoff question marks The Rockets have superstar talent and a winning regular season formula, but they've failed to find playoff success because they lack something that can't be measured. Spoiler The Houston Rockets have a core that we know can rank among the best in the league in the regular season. Houston finished with 54 wins a year ago and 56 wins this season. Most NBA champions finish with at least 55 wins, and there are five teams who hit that mark per year on average. It's a loose break point for determining contenders. Houston can hit that level, even in a season featuring injuries to major players. Two weeks ago, as the Clippers faced elimination, I argued that teams with this level of success should remain patient so long as remaining at that level is sustainable. It takes a good amount of luck to win a championship. If you remain in the mix for a number of years, the odds of grabbing at least one title grows. The Clippers have three straight years as a contender and reason to believe their success can continue if they pay big to keep DeAndre Jordan. The theory goes that Houston should also stay the course and preserve this core as long as possible. But there's a wrinkle here. The Clippers have Chris Paul, a noted leader voted to run the players' union by his contemporaries. He's in many ways an idyllic point guard, the cliché'd coach on the floor who leads by example as a defender and unselfish player. The Rockets ... do not have that. They have the brilliant, but untrusted James Harden, and the perennially-maligned Dwight Howard. Personality-wise, Howard is a bit similar to Blake Griffin, at least as far as we know. Both show immature streaks and a general goofy aloofness typically not associated with reliable leaders. But Griffin has CP3 to lead the charge and an extraordinarily involved coach in Doc Rivers. Howard has Harden, who continues to inspire little confidence, and Kevin McHale, who exists in a very weird place. The regular-season work of both Harden and McHale were worth heralding loudly, yet neither has met that level in the postseason, especially against a Clippers team that should be exhausted after a first-round war and CP3's hamstring injury. There's something really odd about our perception of Harden. We know why everyone doubts Howard's ability to lead. We've seen it in action. (We've also seen him carry a team to the Finals, but that seems to have been forgotten.) Harden is different. For some reason, the attitude is that he is not real. That his dominance as a scorer and playmaker are tricks, mirages. Is it because he draws so many free throws and has such a herky jerky style? Is it because his top rival for MVP, Stephen Curry, plays such an aesthetic style? Is it because Harden's playoff performance over the years has been mediocre? Is it because, before this season, he was an atrocious defender? Is it because he seems to exaggerate contact consistently? Is the concern about Harden real, or is it the same silly stuff that was once thrown at LeBron and CP3 until two weeks ago? They once said Kevin Garnett was a choker who couldn't perform in the playoffs. They once questioned Michael Jordan's worth given his gaudy regular season performance and lack of postseason results. They once called Magic, "Tragic Johnson." The deniers only shut up when you shut them up. For Magic, MJ, Garnett, LeBron and CP3, the talent seemed so undeniable that the harsh critiques were easily couched as just that. Eventually, the stars won the argument. Can Harden? We go back to Harden's personality and his leadership qualities, or lack thereof. This assessment is so hard because there's no real tangible assessment to make. This leadership trait is intangible. Ah, that loaded word, swollen with even more meaning given Houston's status as the official basketball team of the quant class. It'd be absurd to argue Rockets GM Daryl Morey completely disregards personality, leadership and maturity when building his team. It's worth asking, however, if he holds those concerns in lower regard than he should, given the team he has built. It's worth asking whether his model is flawed in its relative lack of emphasis on the human element. That Morey treats players like stocks in a hedge fund is a common critique from a social position. What if that also has strategic implications? That's the question Houston has to answer this summer, assuming the Rockets don't find miracles in Game 5 and beyond. The Rockets know they can win games with a team built around Harden and Howard. But can they win meaningful, tough games with them? For Morey, this may be more hunch than science.
I don't know why Howard still gets a lot of bad rep in the press. Maybe it's because of his Orlando days. He's definitely stepped up in two postseason appearances with the Rockets. Can't say the same for Harden...
At this point, Harden's personality reminds me of another Rockets player, TMac. Both have a great skill, play well during the regular season, but perform in the playoff is just another story. At least TMac had a better number during the playoff.
