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

I thought that referred to the 2015 postseason (game 6 against the Clippers).

 

Otis Thorpe.

 

No my post was pointing out that other than 1 season, 2018, Harden has had to essentially be super human in just about every single playoff game in order for us to win.( the miracle clippers game being the glaring outlier)

 

On the Hakeem vs Harden debate:

so what seasons will be extrapolated for an apples to apples comparison???

Hakeem year 1-7 or his best 7 year stretch?
James year 4-11 since he became a starter?

too much room for cherry picking IMO to make this type of comparison.

 

OT was not an all star in the 93-94 season.

In fact he was only an all star once in his entire 18 year career.

 

Did I say he was an allstar in 93-94?

I see you want to get into a gotcha war but you want to tell us why he only went once?

Check out the PF's in the west.

 

I'm not taking a snapshot of 4 games. I'm looking at his entire playoff resume as a Rocket. He consistently plays worse than he does in the regular season.

I consider Harden to be a MVP caliber player. I don't think he is top 10, like Hakeem. I mentioned Hakeem in response to someone saying it is unrealistic to expect your star to lead a team to a title or not consistently play worse in the playoffs. Do you think those are unrealistic expectations?

 

You started this by saying Hakeem always played with all stars while Harden has had to carry a much heavier load. I’d say they had similar loads to bear how about that? Both players for several years had no all star help. Fair?

My only contention in this debate is Harden has had too many passive quarters and halves in the playoffs compared to what I recall about Hakeem. Game 4 in this series is just the most recent example.

 

Then stop responding to my posts. Pretty simple....

He did not have a much better team in 94. Our 2nd and 3rd best players from that team wouldn't fetch either of Howard, CP3 or Westbrook.

 

So do you want me to stop responding to your post or what?

I'm confused?

 

If you want to make that comparison you can pick any year for Hakeem. In most years he played BETTER in the playoffs. He arguably had star support for 3 of his first 11 seasons (season 1, season 2 and season 11). He led us to the Finals in season 2 and won in season 11. He won in season 10, without another star type player on the team (Harden is on his third).

 

Your comment was no one cares what I do or don't want to hear. If that's how you feel then no need to keep a discourse going. Pretty simple.

 

I didn't say he all ways had allstars.

Have you seen all of Hakeems playoff games?

What are you basing this on and why did it take Hakeem 11 years to win chip if it was simply not being passive?

 

Yet you keep replying and still no one cares what you want to hear.

 

He is definitely having his best playoff run so far. I think he has only had one bad game and its not the game that Dort locked him down 1v1. Its game 4. Harden missing shots doesn't equate to him having a bad game in my opinion. I think his bad games are when he decides not to attack, settles for long step backs and commits mental errors. He has only done this for one half of one game so far. That's great. That's championship level play.

 

You are picking a strange time to die on this hill.

Harden is having the best postseason of his career.

Not understanding all the whining and teeth gnashing. It's almost like it is reflexive for Harden haters regardless of context.

 

I don't think he's top 10 like Hakeem either. Plenty of players won MVPs and didn't win a ring. Harden's playoff career isn't over. How many years did it take Hakeem to win a ring? Harden has never lost a playoff series as a Rocket that he was the favorite in except for that San Antonio series where he definitely did not play up to his standards. The reason Hakeem gets brought up is because he's an example of a player who consistently plays well in the playoffs (despite not winning a ring for a loooong time), but like you said, he's a top 10 player of all time and James is not (yet).

So my question is, who is an MVP caliber player right now playing to James' level that has championships AND consistently puts up James Harden numbers? Kawhi might be the closest thing, but he averaged lower numbers than James against the Warriors without Klay or KD and still gets more credit for it than what James did while dragging a shell of Chris Paul and a bunch of role players around. Kawhi had a great supporting cast with two other all stars and a great passing big man to run an offense through.

The fact that only Kawhi and LeBron are in the discussion with James' playoff performances should tell you something about how great he's playing. Would it kill you to give the guy credit since you know... he's on the team you're a fan of and dragged us from mediocrity to contention single-handedly?

 

No one is whining. YOU made a comment about the expectations for Harden being unreasonable. I responded to your comment, noting that it is not unreasonable to expect a star to lead you to a title (still hasn't done that) or not consistently play worse in the playoffs (currently he is not playing worse in round 1 of these playoffs).

If you don't want folks to respond to the comments you make....

 

The better questions are who is leading their team to a title and who is playing as good or better than they did in the regular season. I say that because what I am saying is not unrealistic is for your star to lead you to a title or not consistently play worse in the playoffs.

Kawhi led his team to a title last year and upped his play. He has upped his play this year so far. LeBron James has won titles doing the same. He's upped his play this postseason as well. Giannis played worse last year. If he plays worse again and they get bounced early he will get flamed. Tatum has upped his play this playoffs. Etc. No, I do not think it is unreasonable to expect Harden to not consistently play worse.

 

Yes, but why do you feel the need to take the stance you take NOW?