CF has been calling for this for years. Moreknee has brainwashed him. What happened to that unstoppable floater? What about that drive and pull up game? Stepback from the elbow? Keep them on their heels instead of just shooting that uncalled for long range 3.
I never claimed Harden was DPOY. And you directly responded to my post when I said RoCo was a better defender than Giannis. Now you are trying to say I ambushed you with RoCo? LOL, c'mon man.
James needs to drive instead of settling for the three. I'm not so sure he didn't get hurt at the start of the series. Shooting that three and getting his legs hit.(knee) He hasn't been the same since. Hopefully, tonight he dispels that notion by exploiting the Lakers weak perimeter D. Not having to deal with the well coordinated/ quick/ bad matchup.. OKC guards should be just what the Beard ordered.
I would love it if Harden would cut back on the step back three. I get it - it's an unguardable shot but also a ridiculously difficulty shot. In crunch time and when the Rockets need a basket, I would much prefer a step back mid range or post up ala Kawhi - he gets where he wants to and you can't stop him from doing it. Harden is too skilled offensively to bail out the defense with a step back three every time. In past years, Harden's post up or step back mid range at the elbow was unstoppable.
No I replied to your pic of Harden blocking Dort vs Giannis putting his hand on Butler's back [Who's DPOY]...... then you brought up ROCO.
If harden just played off ball teams like the warriors (2019) and lakers (2020) can't take him out the game. When was the last time a screen was set for him to get an assisted three. Why doesn't he cut. Why do they post him only one time a game. Westbrook barely has any assists to harden.
Even CP3 barely had any assists to Harden while he was here. It’s because Harden refuses to move without the damn ball in his hands.
It's such a shame also. Such a great shooter and we can't utilize him in tight late game situations because he just doesn't want to put in the effort to get free.
I’ve said it a million times... I wish he’d adopt more of a Klay Thompson style of play. Even 25% of his style would work wonders. There’s times when ISO is fine but not 99% of the game. It’s tiring, predictable and no fun for the rest of the team. Especially when your shot is off. Look how little Klay dribbles when he gets the ball and how much he moves without the ball to get an open look. Whether it’s cutting or running around screens and making quick decisions when he does put the ball on the floor. Just look at the contrasting styles not just in movement but literally almost every bucket of Klay’s was assisted and the exact opposite for Harden.
PG was an mvp candidate because of westbrook last year. Russ as flawed as he is can create for harden. I don't know why we keep bringing in point guards when all we ask them to do is iso. All these years Morey really should have just got a star wing (he tried and failed).
Many on here have been pleading for years for Harden to diversify his game, mainly to incorporate just a FEW midrange options when he's struggling on his stepback and in the paint, and off-ball movement. The latter would have done wonders for Harden to incorporate even to an average league level, but as has been noted by many (including jalen rose), Harden very very rarely has ever moved without the ball in his Rockets' tenure. You'd have to literally skim a few regular season games with cp3 for a handful of transition 3s or a few called plays to fake a handoff and slip to the baseline. There was one sequence in our last reg season game against the warriors in 2017-2018 where he actually flared out for an open 3 on klay and it was beautiful. It was unusual in that he actually replicated the same footwork from his stepback 3, but did so without the ball and you could tell the warriors weren't ready for that. There was one game against the pacers and a reg season game against the thunder where he also had some version of catch and shoot 3s off of a pick n roll kick out from cp3. Both were in the clutch too. These are the highlights of his off-ball movement though. And they virtually went away all of the playoffs. Funny enough, but the most Harden has ever moved without the ball was his first 2 years here with Jeremy Lin ... But because his pick n roll game got so deadly soon after, any of those baseline cuts got lost for several years. It's actually recently in those seeding games that James has shown the most off-ball movement, on top of trying to post up more in the thunder series. But Dort was a little too tough of a matchup for that to continue. Honestly I don't expect him doing the baseline cuts and the types of curl movements that JJ Reddick or Klay do. I don't even expect him to do what Kuzma is showing us this series by making the basic reads when the defense's attention is elsewhere. I would have settled for Harden to just do the bare minimum of spacing 2-3 steps to the open spot off of either cp3/russ' penetration. It was a lot of our hope that when cp3 came over we'd see a lot more opportunities for harden to catch and shoot to more easily catch his rhythm for the rest of his bag. But even if he and MDA insisted harden b the primary playmaker over cp3/russ for most possessions in a game, these opportunities DID present themself and he largely just stood still, looking more disengaged than fatigued.
