<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">In 199 minutes Harden played in the WCF, the Rockets had a net rating of -0.6 per 100. Basically even. In 41 minutes he sat, they were -45.9</p>— Zach Harper (@talkhoops) <a href="https://twitter.com/talkhoops/status/603790478509608960">May 28, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> Harden's not the problem.
Look, the current Harden is good enough for perennial WCF exits. If that's all you desire as a fan then by all means be satisfied with his performance. But he WAS the problem in an elimination game where if we won we would be talking about game 6 rather than the off-season.
I don't desire a team that is entirely dependent on the rise and fall of one player. Not every team should be built like they have Lebron, Harden is Lebron, most people aren't Lebron Harden is a great player, but I feel people set their expectations too ridiculously, some people are born passive and front runners, there are nothing wrong with that and not much we can do to change their personality per se. You work with what you have
I understand this, but I hope Morey does also. Either Harden changes his personality into a mentally tough player or we need to be on the hunt for superstar option 1 with Harden being Robin...
Sure. He lost us Game 5. He also won us Game 4. He also single handedly kept us in Games 1 and 2 when very few others showed up. One performance does not make an entire series performance. Of course I'd like a championship. I don't think Harden alone is limiting us from that goal. I think most would agree.
No one is saying Harden alone is hindering us from winning a ring. We aren't going to the promise land ever with the current pg rotation. However, even with improve pg play, Harden needs to do a deep introspection this off-season if Harden wants to be the man leading a NBA team to the championship. These drastic inconsistent performances by a team's best player are absolutely debilitating to a team's chemistry.
I think what he did this year shows he's more than capable of leading us to a championship. Had Bev and Dmo not gone down or Morey got him some actual help besides a broke down Jet and a 38 year old back up PG we would probably be in the finals right now. It was a daunting task to even get to the WCF with this team as currently constructed.
Thank you, lol. People are really posting like we lost in the first round, and not in the WCF to a team that has been head and shoulders above every other team in the league all season I guess whatever works to push your agenda, but pretending this was a disappointing season to do it is a Stretch Armstrong level reach.
This is true and it was a good season all things considered. You just hate seeing the season end with the star player setting a turnover record and really not show up. Very anticlimatic.
WCF was great. Above my expectations. Harden was great. Above my expectations. However if you are not concerned with the level of heart Harden played that last game then you should switch your username to Pollyanna
I'm still waiting for something to come out about him playing with a broken foot since game 7 or something. It was baffling seeing this performance after the one he gave at toyota center earlier this week.
Article more on the biased side, but may be seeing it as that due to being a rocket's fan. It wasn't the fact that it was a historically bad performance in an elimination game, amidst a pattern of disappearing acts that happens way too often...it was the fact he shrunk from being seen as the team's best player and runner up in MVP to Terrence Jones disappearing act not even looking for his shot. I don't even mind a 1-40 shooting night , or so many bad Turnovers...but body language and the message he was sending is something you don't see from number one options. http://www.sbnation.com/2015/5/28/8676429/james-harden-turnovers-video-highlights-rockets-warriors James Harden's amazing season made his horrible exit so painful to watch <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mx1oMrrzPPs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
It's obvious Harden can't do it by himself. He needs a coach who can provide the fire and motivation for him, or an alpha dog teammate who can. I think Bev provided that for him that first season's playoff series vs OKC. At least this year he had great performances and not-so-great ones.
Sooo .. . overcoming the -45 to bring it to EVEN is not enough he needed to be a personal +46 Come on son . . . Rocket River
Definitely. Harden isn't blameless, but him and Dwight are the best we've got. Considering that both of them spike the net rating trending positive that just means we need to upgrade our supporting cast with a third star or at least another playmaker. If the numbers were reversed and they played better without Dwight or Harden, that would signal a much more dire problem.
