everybody always focuses exclusively on Harden... Hardens gonna do what Harden wants to do.. personally I'm more concerned with 33yo PJ logging another 38 min night... Thankfully he had a good game after looking sluggish for a few games.. dudes playing the highest mpg of his career this year at 33... smh...
Last year MDA was .4 minutes a game over over on Harden and .2 minutes a game under on Paul; based on the minutes that the Rockets front office and players agreed on before the season started. I wouldn’t call that being horrific with minute distribution at all. This year, the depth has been horrendous for most of the season. He tried going to the bench earlier in the year and the Rockets were slaaughtered. The team was off to a bad start and heavy minutes were needed just to compete. Also why should Clark get any minutes? He hasn’t proven the ability to shoot at a level deserving of minutes. Last I saw he was a 30% shooter. Let’s see how the second half goes after the Rockets make a trade or too. FWIW Harden has asked to be in the game at the end of the game. He is pretty outspoken over it.
I agree with you on PJ. The hope is they trade for someone that can cut down Tucker to 30 minutes a game in the second half.
Nah, at least 4 of the starters were out there. I'm sure Harden wants to, but MDA has the relationship with him to laugh it off and pull him out of the game. It's just really convenient for MDA to blame it on Harden's nature when he's done this to all his players ever, and like with Thibs the players end up depleted faster, and his teams have predictable injuries and tired legs late in playoff series. These are hallmarks of his career. Which is a shame, he's a brilliant coach, better than anyone gives him credit for imo.
and dont forget we also essentially lost another rotation player in a meaningless second to last game of the year...
Amen! Personally, I'd throw Clark 8-10 mins... he was good enough to sign to a multi-year contract... but so bad he cant make it on the court when PJ is logging 38? smh...
Our guys were no more capable of playing 40+ than any other players. They just... played 40 minutes, and they played exactly like players who had played too many minutes. If you ask yourself the top 3 possible negative outcomes from overplaying your players, we faced every single one. Defensive breakdown, no legs for shooting, injuries occurring exactly at the time of fatigue. I don't know how you could possibly see that as a successful plan.
Harden did **** all the final 3 mins. No defense, and Austin was brining the ball up. He was playing off the ball just looking to jack up threes to get to 35 and continue through streak. He wanted to do that, so what is MDA gonna do, take him out and upset his star? People have got to chill a lil with this, he was barely even trying those garbage minutes
