James Harden is quietly having his best playoff run as a Rocket

I think the argument would be a guy like Steph Curry can and has had some terrible games. More than one. And his team still won.

For Harden this is essentially impossible. Aside from the one time 2 god awful shooters turned into the splash brothers. When Harden is bad we lose.

You don’t hear too much about Curry’s **** playoff moments. But they are real. A super team afforded him the luxury to have some bad moments and not really feel any consequence from it.

The expectation for Harden to win it all when up to this point, other than 1 season, the formula for that to happen has been he has to be super human essentially every game.

Sounds a tad unrealistic.

And I by no means disagree/dispute that he has had some pretty awful playoff moments.

 

I think you are being tone deaf.

 

Again, how high and/or realistic are your expectations for Harden this postseason?

Do you expect him to win every game? Are Rockets supposed to have double digit blowout wins with Harden averaging 30+ points/game each and every game?

Do you expect Harden to lead all individual performers in the NBA?

Guess what.

 

Imagine if Harden's twin brother was playing.

 

Don’t worry, when we get a new coach next year, you can complain on someone new. And every year after that... cause who did we have before that is MVP caliber? That’s right, no one after Tmac and Yao.

 

"Houston Rockets Fans" waiting for James Harden to have a 'bad game' :

 

Hakeem had much better and deeper teams he had at least 1 all star on all of those teams.

 

Look at Harden's performance in our 3 wins against the Warriors in the 2018 playoffs:

Game 2: 9-24 from the field and 3-15 from the 3pt line.
Game 4: 11-26 from the field and 3-12 from the 3pt line.
Game 5: 5-21 from the field and 0-11 from the 3pt line.

All wins.

 

Uh who was this mystery All Star that Hakeem played with when he won the first chip in 93-94?

 

How quick some people forget the great Otis Thorpe and his 1 All Star appearance! The real OGs remember.

 

even though the guy will say "that was in 92" and somehow still hold onto his "W"

sigh.

I miss those OT touchdowns though never seen a guy more precise throwing a basketball.

 

36/12/7 in 29 minutes and these clowns are like "But every player I love gets that every single game," with absolutely no proof. Someone find me a player who drops these numbers in the playoffs every single game, including when they don't have their best teammate beside them and I'll criticize Harden for not being as good as that player.

Also, that player has to have already won a championship as the team's best player and have higher averages in the playoffs compared to the regular season every single year.

If you want to "criticize" someone for "reasonable" standards, it should be easy to find a player who does meet this criteria.

 

Its only quietly because the announcers are creaming about Dort

 

Think the bubble environment benefits shooters who are already hot. They get into a rhythm and the constants such as same rim, no crowd, etc can keep them in rhythm. Hope it benefits the rockets and their shooters can remain hot throughout playoffs

 

I think he's got an off-hand chance of pulling of a quad double at some point in the post-season .. or at least a triple double with 6+ steals.

 

Not at all. You said he has unrealistic expectations. I don't think expecting a MVP type player to lead you to a title is an unrealistic expectation. I don't think expecting your MVP player to not have a decrease in play is an unrealistic expectation. Anyone that believes either of those is unrealistic is likely on the tone deaf side. Especially when they root for a franchise that has had a player do those things.

To answer the question in your next post, I don't expect us to win a title this year. We are not favored. I won't knock Harden for losing. If he continues to underperform then I will knock him. This includes from moments that he had in G3 and G4. If we somehow lose this series then I will criticize him for his parts in ****ing off both of those games. I don't just look at boxscores.

 

Hakeem consistently upped his play in the playoffs, no matter who was on his team. Additionally, he did not have a much better and deeper team in 1994. He did play like the best player in Earth in 1994. He played even better in 1995.

I don't want to hear about other players when Harden is consistently playing worse. If this weren't the case then I don't think he would be criticized as much. In that case you could point to the help instead of him. The issue is you can consistently point to his individual play.

 

Another part of my post...

2018 being that 1 season.

 

What was going on with Hakeem when we went down 3-1 against the Suns? Taking a snapshot of 4 games to make your point is crazy. Hakeem got eliminated from the playoffs plenty of times.

If you're going to hold Harden to top-10 all time (which Dream certainly is) than you have to give him credit for being in that class. The first four games of the series, he might not have had a single top 200 player of all time beside him, had to generate the entire offense, played very well on defense, and you still call it "playing worse." Playing worse than a top-10 player of all time? Not saying much.

Playing worse than someone playing now? Who? LeBron against the depleted Blazers? Luka who's sitting at home for the rest of the playoffs? Kawhi who puts up Harden numbers every 3rd playoff game and rests constantly during the season while James carries our team? Giannis who dropped a game to the Magic of all teams and has no responsibility beyond crashing the rim?

Harden is an absolutely elite playoff performer this year and yet our "fans" can't help but find 4/48 minutes they didn't like.

I can think of a big moment James stepped up: Game 5 with the series momentum completely against us. Dropped crazy numbers in 29 minutes on amazing efficiency. What more can the man do?

 

Nobody cares what you do or don't want to hear.

He did have a much better and deeper team in 94 Carl Herrera, Sam Cassel and Ellie were coming off the bench.