How do you think it's possible for Durant to not win player of the month? 35/8/6 on 63%TS v 27/7/5 on 67%TS both with the same record. Durant is going to win, especially with the 51 points + game winner in Toronto. If Harden needs some rest, then this is definitely the game to sit him.
Nope. Play everyone. The Philly game is coming off of 2 days rest and there is a day between that and the LAC game. Both games are at home, so traveling is not an issue.
When the playoffs arrive, Harden will play 40 minutes a night, so it's not that helpful for the team to work on playing without him.
See, I wouldn't say our team is humming along. Harden is playing at a superhuman level, but nobody else can really consistently create a shot. I want the rest of the team to will themselves out of their slump instead of passively watch Harden score 50. I don't expect it to be an easy game without Harden, but let's see if the other players can rise to the challenge.
They're not the same team they were back then, and neither are we. Both teams have gone in opposite directions. I'm not saying we should rest Harden, but this is hardly a game that needs be circled on a calendar.
When the play off seeding is this close, I don't think it makes sense to rest Harden. We're not in the East where the #1 and #2 seeds have a 12 game lead on everyone else. That said, if Harden needs rest then McHale should just reduce his minutes for some games. Have Harden on the bench, push the team to run up the score, then take your time subbing him back in. Of course, this is McHale. He's had a rather nasty habit of running players into the ground over the last couple seasons. He's gotten better over the last few months, but still runs Harden and Parsons WAY too many minutes for my taste.
OK, OK. I should have framed the thread differently. I should have just asked everybody how do we get more from our offensive initiators not named James Harden, because they have sucked while James Harden has shined. We are going to need more than Harden in the playoffs, for certain. I remember back in '92 I believe: Hakeem got injured, and we had to rely on our guards a lot more. I vaguely remember the guards gaining confidence & it helping out when Hakeem returned. I don't think we got very far in the playoffs unfortunately, but that's the example that comes to mind of the supporting cast having to step up & benefiting from it.
Harden has a better FG% and 3PT% than Durant. He takes 5 less shots per game than Durant. Harden has two players of the week awards this month, and Durant already has a couple of player of the month award (voter fatigue). This award is for Harden to lose.
I doubt the minutes are really much of a wear on Harden outside of back to backs on the road. He just doesn't show it in my opinion. Parsons, he seems to be wearing out. If anyone could use the night off or significantly reduced minutes fro the Rockets, it is him. I suspect the Rockets monitor medical information in practice and use the SportsVu data to determine if a player is wearing down physically. For Parsons, there has not been a good backup until Hamilton (and even he is still a little shaky as times). Caveat: I have no medical data to back up this point. Only my eyes limited to the games I go to, national games, and games I see at local BW3 are the basis of this post.
It won't hurt if he plays 30 minutes against philly, it might be more bad to not play Harden and he loses some of this hot momentum he's on know.
this game has trap game all over it for the rockets. a crappy team with one more loss will tie the losing game streak in nba history. I'm not saying we'll lose, but it might be closer than we all think it'll be. after all, these are nba players and they'll have pride and I think they'll play their hardest to not be tied with the record. Not to mention, we have clippers after this, so our players could be thinking ahead. I'm just speaking in terms of what the definition of a trap game is in the betting world. Of course I could be wrong, and we beat them by 20+
Would this be a solid enough lineup to beat the 76ers though? IMO, yes. Beverly / Canaan Hamilton / Lin Casspi / Garcia Jones / DMo Asik Harden / Parsons / Howard can play spot minutes if necessary. We have a big game against the Clippers next.
The Spurs rest their star players all the time. Old age I know, but the concept isn't that bad. Definitely allow others to step up and give them a chance at getting back into the grove. Sure help Asik in the past 3 games prior to Howard returning. Help Lin in a few games when Harden was out with injury.
Sit no one. Last time I checked we haven't beaten philly in like for ever and it would be an utter shame to lose to this sorry tankers.
i'd not rest anyone as long as our standing is not set, maybe w/ 4 or 5 games left we will have nothing to win/lose and then harden/parsons/howard will be rested. and anyway if we play well enough vs sixers the game will be over after 3 and starters will sit the 4th
Harden is in a groove right now. We don't need to rest him because it looks like he isn't even trying that hard. He is actually coasting and practicing some of his gametime moves and 3s by the looks of it.
