SI: After Game 3 loss, onus on Harden to show some fight

I personally thought Game 1 was a must win as well. Mostly for psychological reasons. But I'll backtrack on that somewhat since the Rockets didn't seem mentally rattled after that loss. They looked great in Game 2 and took it to the Warriors.

As for your question, aside from an elimination game which obviously is a must win, I think any game that is pivotal in terms of momentum or putting a team in an insurmountable hole is a must win. Take Game 4 tonight for example. If the Rockets lose this one, they'll be down 3-1 against one of the greatest teams ever assembled. Does that mean they can't come back? No, as the 2016 Cavs proved against the 73-win Warriors. But let's be realistic here. A 3-1 deficit is virtually impossible to recover from. It's happened only 11 times in the 71-year history of the league. So if the Rockets do lose Game 4, it's a historical improbability they come back to win the series. In other words, it's a must win.

Hell yeah, Dirk was ridiculed for years. Especially after blowing a 2-0 lead in the 2006 NBA Finals(with a little help from the refs giving Wade a ton of free throws) and then winning 67 games the following season only to lose to the 8th seeded Warriors in the first round. That upset only looked worse when Dirk won the MVP and had to accept the award at a press conference after his team had been eliminated from the playoffs.

The irony is when he and the Mavs finally broke through and won the title in 2011, all that criticism of Dirk was redirected at LeBron for choking away what was considered a very winnable series. At least until he himself finally broke through a year later.

 

Ah yes. I stand corrected. I was thinking more along the lines of as the leader of a team.

 

Harden's defense performance in this playoffs ,better than 68% of the players:


Curry's defensive performance in this playoffs, better than 37% of the players;


Advanced Stats for this playoffs:



All you said is pure BS and largely affected by recency bias, Harden's playoff performance, both on offensive end and defensive end, aren't bad at all.

Even in last game, he played really poorly, he is still the one that managed to keep us in reaching distance in the first half.

 

I don't think it is all about championship. It's about the fight. LeBron quit on his first Cavs team and bolted. That stained his reputation tremendously. I don't think he fully gained back the respect at Miami because people felt that he just joined up a stacked team, kind of like Durant although not as extreme. It was until he took his team to beat a 73-win team to win it all when he finally redeemed himself.

Look at what LeBron is doing in this year's playoffs. Even if he ultimately does not win it all at the end, people will still remember how he has brought it EVERY game. Harden's problem is that he appears (fair or not) to NOT bring it sometimes and it is glaring when you are in the conference finals which a lot of people feel is the real finals.

 

We agree that game 4 is a must win. I think every game is a Must win in this series. If we were say in the same situation with the Twolves, it'd be less of a must win because we can beat that team 3x in a row, hard to believe we'd be able to do that to the Warriors. So yeah, I get your point.

I just thought Game 1 was a must win and we had so many guys missing layups, missing open shots (just like game 3...) and Harden showed up for that one. We should be up 2-1 right now with all the pressure on the Warriors...and that team has shown that when they face a little pressure they can bend a bit.

Here is what I believe.

If Harden wants to dominate this series he needs to let CP3 dominate it.

Game 2 was a masterpiece by CP3, his numbers weren't amazing...but he controlled that game like a puppet master. I mean we look at his statline there and it just looks very ordinary...but that's because it was a blowout because CP3 owned that team...and Harden still got his points.

You're right. It's not solely about a championship. Say Harden is 35 years old and still a Rocket but the Rockets are still stacked and he's playing like a bench role and we win, it would not do much for his legacy. Context matters. I agree there. I don't think Durant's championships will be worth more than Jordan's or Lebron's.

I do get the narrative for Harden, I get it because it does seem like at times he just doesn't give a F. I just think that even if he does show out and we lose the series it won't matter.

I think the main thing with Harden is his ups are really ups and his downs are really down. His bad playoff games just stick out because they are so bad.

 

Right on! James will have to be someone he never gets himself to be - that’s trusting. He did it in game 2. Everyone scored. This is not about James redeeming himself. It’s about getting his own ass out of the way. The only way to prove himself is to stop trying to prove Himself and trust his team! Look at last year when we came back with Harden on the bench!!!! Then it became again about Harden Vs. the spurs. You can see the pattern here.

 

His reputation is not about winning or losing, and it won't be in this series either because Warriors are expected to win.

It is about effort vs indifference. If he has 8 turnovers, 15 points, and his body language says he doesn't care, or some of those turnovers are his typical nonchalant passes, then he will cement his reputation as a quitter. If he has 8 turnovers, 15 points, and he gets to the rim, makes the right passes, and plays D, then he will live to prove himself another year.

 

I disagree... because most people are a terrible judge of what actually happens on the court .

No matter what hardens performance is . Most people will believe whatever narrative is crafted .

In game 1 , the narrative was that James was selfish even though hes been one of the most unselfish players over the last 2 years .

The narrative has been that he doesn't play defense ... and even when he has a good game , you can always pick out a play or two that looks bad . You can do this for every player .