Game 3 was HarDen's most impressive playoff game ever, possibly most impressive game ever....Don't believe me? You should after answering the following questions: How many players can start 0/15, finish 3/20, and still end with 22 pts (team leader and 2nd highest scorer in the game), assist on 23 pts, account for over 52% of the teams offense, and win the game? Do you see how great can James be at when at his worst? In a game hyped as an all-time worst, HarDen has provided more proof that he cannot be denied. HarDen was amazing on offense, despite what some might tell you. I know some people might say, "Well he only scored, because he got to the free-throw line." But that is exactly why his game was so impressive. We all know he scores primarily in 3 ways, three-pointers, points in the paint (layups, dunks, and floaters), and free-throws. In a game where he was 0/5 on layups, 0/1 on floaters, and 2/13 from three, HarDen was still unstoppable. If anything, this game proves the effectiveness of his analytically sound approach on offense. Yes he got to the line a lot, but only because he got fouled a lot. As you can imagine, it took a few fouls to keep Harden to 1/7 in the paint with only a breakaway dunk. He probably deserved even more free-throws than he actually got. Not only that, but he did a decent job of taking care of the basketball (2.5 ast/TO ratio), despite the physical play he endured. Somehow, despite the atrocious shooting numbers, James was able to carry the offense; providing stability and clutch scoring. HarDen was also amazing on defense. he got 2 fouls in the first 2 minutes and spent the most of the game in foul trouble, but still led the team in minutes, finished with 6 steals (54% of team steals), 1 block, and did not foul out. The man with a reputation for slacking off on defense was able to be our defensive anchor under the pressure of foul trouble. It was a masterpiece of staying aggressive and taking calculated risks while avoiding careless mistakes.
Did it seem like the crowd did a collective "uh-oh" when james got his slam dunk? I know I did, in a good way.
I just found this comment kind of amusing. Not as knock on our OP. Quite the opposite. You've just summarized Remedial Basketball 101, which would too high level a course unfortunately for your average sports journalist. How many other ways are there to score? Midrange jumpers. That's about it. And even before the massive shift to threes, I'm sure those only accounted for a small minority of points scored. James Harden is breaking the system soooooo much by using the system soooooo standardly. What a monster.
Harden was good in many aspects last game, but let’s pump the brakes let’s be honest, a game like game 3 for Harden better not happen again...u can get away with 3-20 against Utah because they can’t score and we’re a matchup nightmare for them...against GS that will be an automatic L Most impressive playoff game ever, or possibly his most impressive game ever? RELAX
I understand your point, I could have added "unassisted" or "in isolation" to be more specific to show how different Harden is. However, I did say layups, dunks and floaters under points in the paint to exclude post-ups. You should know Mid-Range jumpers and post-ups were the majority of basketball offense until rule changes made them very ineffective. Yes, layups and dunks were always valued, but are not as easy to come by. The rule changes have also made it more difficult to get layups and dunks.
Yes, haha, on the game thread I knew he was ready to take over and commented as such, and on the first 3 he hit after the dunk there's a jazz fan that put their head down and started shaking their head no (in the stands maybe 4th/5th row). Lol, like you could read the fans impression and he knew their team blew their only chance now that Harden was hitting shots, and most likely realized the Jazz were ****ed. Probably the only smart fan I saw.
Most impressive? His game winner at Oracle followed by his 61 against the Spurs. in the regular season there have been countless games that were more impressive than his game 3 against Utah...in the playoffs, games 1 and 2 of the 2015 WCF along with game 4 were easily more impressive so that’s already 3 right there I don’t want to see Harden go 3-20 ever again...that can fly against Utah so we can praise everything else he did and ignore all the misses, but against elite competition that won’t cut it
Hmm, for me, I think this this year's win at Oracle was special for regular season, no CP3 and Harden took that **** over. I don't know about his best ever etc but re-watching the highlights it's something I still get amped up from, especially since he's only 29 and still getting better.
Yes the Spurs game is an excellent one too, I just despise the Warriors more... Hahah and that's hard considering I really don't like the Spurs.
I forgot which gs game last year where he stunk but the team covered him to a win. I like everyone's mentality right now. Kinda feels like no one is waiting for the other to bail them out.
I had to go back and sneak edit my post lol...Idk why I said the SA game was the most impressive, I think it’s the GS game with the Spurs game a close 2nd I appreciate what OP is trying to do, but he’s reaching real heavy if he thinks game 3 against Utah is anywhere close to being his most impressive game or even just 1 of his most impressive it was a game I’m sure many hope doesn’t happen again that can be overlooked since he was making defensive plays, setting up his teammates, and stepped up in the 4th to close the game out
Yeah, I was looking at it through more of a generalized lens based on distance to the goal. You're right about the post game having its own set of characteristics and being very dominant for long time. Still, in the post, you'd look for the opportunity for the layup or the dunk if you could get it. And the hook shot and bank shot are pretty similar in range and application as the floater. The intentionally-chosen midrange jumper or fadeaway have definitely been nearly phased out. I guess, though, while I wasn't intending to go too deep into discussion, I might as make the point I considered making in the first post: you still have to MAKE your free throws. Which Harden does at an 88% clip. It's a legitimate, nay, fundamental part of the game. Teams intentionally foul the worst free throw shooters. And they don't know what to do with people like Harden that are likely to make their free throws anyway. Often,they get caught in between and go for a weak strip where they definitely foul him anyway. If Harden only shot 75% from the line (the league average), his whole offensive presence would be weakened. Tired of hearing about free throws as if they're some sort of shortcut dirty trick in the game.
Exactly, Def agree with you, while harden did what was required to close it out and helped a lot in other areas, Houston doesn't have the luxury of that against GSWs.
I'll believe it when Harden does go 0-15 against GSW and we still manage to beat them while being on the court for 38 minutes. I'd say we should give more credit to PJ and others on the team who did show up so Harden can go a bit cold and still bag the win. Also, this Jazz team doesn't look that great.
You’re either very young or very old with a terrible memory to forget what the most important way of scoring was for most of basketball’s existence. The post up. I appreciate you being edgy, but you really should have a basic understanding of scoring trends if you’re going to critique them. Harden broke the system so completely that the entire system had to change and become more efficient. He took Moreyball to its logical conclusion, so much so that the average fan can’t even tell that the way we play basketball today is completely different than the way we played basketball less than 10 years ago.
This is part of my point. I admit, I exaggerated little with most impressive game ever, but I was serious about playoffs. Most impressive game and best game to me was his 53/17/16 in the 2016 New Years Eve game. I may be a little biased because I was there in person and saw how easy he made it look. To me that was like an early glimpse of 2019 HarDen. But most impressive may not even mean his best. I don't think his most impressive game would be a loss, or a game with a lot of turnovers. Also, I'm a more impressed with all around game and defense. To me what makes last game most impressive is not just his stats, but how he got them. The composure needed to score 22 pts on just 3 made FGs, still hit clutch 3's when the game is on the line after missing the first 11, and to get 6 steals and a block when in foul trouble the whole game is most impressive to me. But as we all know with HarDen the best is yet to come.
