GSW w/o Curry blows LAC w/o CP3 & Blake out of water. The former is still likely 50+ win team whereas the latter is literally the 76ers. So, did Lillard himself take advantage of that situation and 'carried' his team to the 2nd round of the playoffs? Lillard averaged 22 ppg on 37.4% shooting and 5.2 assists in the 1st round. 16.8 PER and -3.2 net rating. While CP3 was having one of the best playoff performances of his career against Lillard's defense before he got injured. But Lillard is the man, he carried Portland. That's the narrative.
Yeah, because Harden is the sole reason why the TEAM can't defend. So, you are saying then that Harden is leagues above Butler and Thompson?
He's not the sole reason at all. We were a bad team defensively because our players didn't want to play with each other (which is the point of my thread.) and no, I'm saying Curry, Westbrook and CP3 are better players than Harden.
He is incorrect though, there are at least two other elite SG's (Thompson, Butler) and a few that performed at an elite level this year or are knocking on the door of being in the same group (Middleton, Ginobili). It's not as stacked as PG but need to give Harden proper due for being the best SG in the league.
Westbrook is overrated AF. He was better this season sure, but winning only 55 games with Durant is nothing to praise about. Harden almost alone won 56 games last year. Offensively much less efficient, but also a horrendous defender. I encourage you to read this article. http://www.welcometoloudcity.com/2016/5/7/11614470/russell-westbrook-defense-playoffs-game-three
Yes, so why are we putting that all on Harden again? Do both of you realize that they don't pick based on position, but based on roles? They don't go "2 pgs, 2 sgs, 3 sfs..etc etc." they pick based on roles. We need some creators, we need shooters, we need defenders, we need rim protectors, we need athleticism. They do not pick based on positions, so it is a moot point any ways. Lillard doesn't make the team because he's simply not good enough to make it. Harden simply is. Not only did he make the team became a leader of the team...to say otherwise is just being completely false and shows your bias against Harden. It stops being 'Fair' criticism when you are criticizing his success. That then just becomes what is known as 'Hating'. With that said Team USA is a hard team to make, it's not a knock on Lillard but it is a knock on his skillset. He's not a good enough creator to make the team as a PG and he's not a good enough shooter to beat out guys like well...Curry...and his athleticsm means he's going to lose a spot to the likes of Westbrook. Truth is, he plays more of a one on one game than Harden does and Harden as the more skilled player can play a variety of roles (As we saw during Fiba play) and Lillard can only play one and that is creating his own shot and of course spot up shooting...which well everyone on Team USA can create their own shot usually outside of the few shotblockers that get on the team and there are better deadeye shooters to put on the team than him.
I did read this article and I do concede that WB is a bit overrated. He puts up amazing numbers that doesn't' necessarily translate to wins. Sound familiar? Either way, Yes going all out all the time (moving around the court fast) is often mistaken for good defense. But to circle this back again, part of leadership is putting forth consistent effort. Which Harden doesn't always do (and Harden gave much more consistent effort last year)
There's no bias against Harden. I don't know why we're talking about who is a better player Harden or Lillard, or who has the better skillset. Harden clearly does. I wanted to talk about leadership/intangibles/optics/etc.. how important that is, and how it makes your teammates perform better, and you guys keep bringing up last year or the Olympic team, etc. Will you admit that Harden last year was a much better player than this year despite putting up better numbers this year?
You can criticize Harden for this year's effort, and some of them are very much warranted, but Harden still manage to win 41 games with almost no help. I mean Dwight was supposed to be our 2nd guy, but he was no more than a role player at the end of the season. Given Dwight's decline and lack of overall talent, the narrative that somehow we should've done better is a bit exaggerated. Yes, maybe we should've won 48 games instead of 41, but if Dwight wasn't going to step up, this team was doomed to fail, and in no way was able to contend. Also, Dwight's decline has nothing to do with Harden as McHale already admitted himself. It's due to loss of athleticism and past injuries bothering him. I mean WB had Durant as his teammate and only winning 55 games is not much better than Harden winning 41 games with essentially no help. I know the narrative is vastly different between the two players, but I really do think Harden is getting unfair shake here. Not to mention OKC's pathetic performance in the 4Q and WB being one of the worst clutch time players in the league.
This thread pretty much differentiates the smart posters from the dumb ones. All the evidence suggests Harden is the better player but some posters just insist on sticking with ill-informed narratives and biases.
Gotta love clutchfans... People claiming that Hardens stats are inflated due to having the ball all the time and another hinting because of that CJ wouldn't be the same player. Meanwhile in the real world... Lillard led the ENTIRE league in time of possession with 8.4 minutes withthe ball in his hands per game vs Harden's 6.3 and Harden played MORE minutes than Dame. Not to mention Lillard had more touches per game, more time holding the ball per touch he had and dribbled the ball much more per touch than Harden. Again in less minutes than Harden. Carry on with fantasy land though...
Let's be clear. The argument is not whether Harden is a better basketball player than Lillard - the evidence clearly shows that he is and nobody is arguing he is not. The point is that Dame is a better leader than Harden. He gets his team to play together, which is not what happened with the Rockets this year. Basketball is a team game. This is why a team like the Celtics or the Hornets can do so well while a team with elite players like Harden and Dwight can fall so hard. Everyone harping on the fact that Harden had no help didn't seem to feel that way during the 2014-15 season. Sure, maybe his teammates didn't help Harden this year - the question that is presented in this thread is whether Harden did what he needs to do to get his teammate to buy in. And on that question, the evidence is clear - he did not.
Interesting that the Blazers, Celtics, and Hornets all have what are universally considered to be very good head coaches, while the Rockets do not. Maybe that has something to do with it.
no contest, it's not even close <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kr_Z1J0LE-s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lc6d1t7CeJs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
