He turns the ball over the same way he draws fouls. His arms stretched out sweeping the ball up. It's so frustrating to see him turn the ball over like that. And his conditioning looks like ****. It's night and day how he was in the first half of the season to the second half, looks tired as **** out there all the time now. He can't even beat Fisher off the dribble anymore. Needs to swim, bike, and run all day this summer. I hope it's just from him playing banged up and not anything else. He needs to show up in the second half.
I want to believe that Harden will come out in the second half in beast mode to make up for what we just saw.
He looks like he pressing, trying to really force things. It's the only issue I've had with him this season. When he just plays, he's great. But, too often it's like he feels he has to do everything and force the issue and that when he gets in trouble. Look, he'll learn. He;s only 23 and I think it will be amazing what all he absorbs mentally and physically this offseason. Just like in lifting weights, you gain in time of rest. So, let him get a full offseason to absorb all what happened in his first season of being THE MAN, work on his game and he'll be so much better next year. But, in the present.... if I were McHale at half time I would just pull him aside and tell him to just go out and have fun. Don't worry about this being a close-out game in the playoffs, just go out and play free and loose and have fun.
Yes, he had a bad half, McHale commented on this. He's obviously tired but I think we will see a huge 2H from him tonight.
Number 1 thing he needs to figure out is learning to trust his teammates. Despite his physical limitations, he is a world class scorer and can be a very good facilitator. He has proven that plus teams have adjusted to him and his style. The next step is getting everyone on the team involved. That means less of the "holding the ball for 18 seconds", less of driving through 3 defenders hoping for a foul and getting a turnover instead, and less forced step back jumpers. Trusting his teammates will lead to more wide open spaces for him later on and eventually, more team wins, not individual wins.
Okay so can we have a serious discussion about Harden? We know he has the talent to be great, but it doesn't look like he even wants to be. He shrinks away from pressure. I don't see how you can't question his competitiveness after this game.
