I think he is frustrated because he`s not contributing the way he expects himself to. He´s tried different things, from being overaggressive to pacing himself, but he just can`t figure it out. I think a lot of it comes down to being out of breath. He has played big minutes and has done a lot during the season and the playoffs - but I think he has poor conditioning, or at least subpar to how much he is playing. During the regular season he took plays off on defense. In the playoffs, he doesn`t have enough breath to play offense and defense. This is a learning process for him and I really hope he learns something. And I am pretty sure Dwight will push him a bit.
I think it's a combination of what a lot of posters have already noted. 1) He's getting smothered on defense. Some of that defense generates foul calls in the regular season. He needs to adjust. 2) He is in a massive shooting slump. 3) He's logging big minutes, per usual, but playoff minutes probably take their toll a little more 4) All that combined is getting in his head. He's lost his confidence. I don't think he's really been sulking, I think he's been down in himself. He's gone through shooting slumps before and not hung his head like this. Granted, those were games during the season so maybe it really is the playoff pressure getting to him as the big dog of the team. I think all it's going to take is a stretch of made buckets, layups or a few monster dunks and he'll get a little confidence back.
Honestly this team does require Harden to score 30 points per night to win this series. There are enough talent to outscore Blazers. If Harden can play defense at Matthews' level, we might have already moved to the next round.
Mathews is owning him at this point. He's totally got Harden out of his comfort zone by crowding him and Portland coach is switching between Batum and Mathews giving him different defensive looks constantly. Give Portland credit. This is a huge learning process for him and Im sure Morey will be looking for a pass first PG who can get him and the rest of team easier buckets this offseason.
Until Harden gets his groove back, it's good to keep distributing the ball - we had 22, 15, 15, 15, 12 shot attempts this game which resulted in the most decisive win so far out of either team. Game 5 was not as exciting as the first 4, but I'd much rather wins like this over having heart-attack-wins (enough heart attacks already for this series). I hope the pressure coming off Harden this game results in him playing better in Game 6. If both Harden and Lin-off-the-bench can put up just a decent Game 6, and we win our rebounds as we should be doing, we're coming home for Game 7.
I do think there is something to the idea that Harden may be hurt. The biggest evidence being the ZERO eurosteps for the entire playoff series. No dunks, minimal crossovers, virtually no blow by's for Harden and getting blown by almost every play on defense. Settling for jump shots and not making many of them. This is typical of the way Harden has played when he tried to play on a sprained ankle in the past and couldn't move laterally. Harden's defense has always been bad, but he has had the ability to play some when he wanted to get focused. This series, Matthews has just out played him, and while Matthews is a good defender, he would have been defensive player of the year and an all star if he played like this all year. That doesn't excuse Harden from settling for so many 3's and looking so "disinterested" for lack of a better word, but it might explain some of the lack of production.
He's clearly frustrated. To me his game is attacking the rim and creating contact. When that isn't working and his jump shot isn't falling, he has to find other ways to beat them and obviously it really hasn't happened yet. I expect this little slump to end. How Harden got his groove back.
Whatever it is, it needs to be fixed ASAP! I don't think we can win in Portland without him scoring 30+.
If Harden is the best player of this team, don't ever expect Rockets to win a championship. Harden is a good player and plays really well since Allstar weekend. But he is no superstar, not even close
Thanks for this post. This precisely summarizes my observations throughout this series and supports my OP. I wouldn't be surprised if Howard and Harden are at a "conflict" because of them wanting shots. That's normal for top dogs on any team in any sport. Let's say that your conjecture is spot on. Then what? I mean where can we see this "rift" headed? Is it a coaching change issue that can fix this? By the way, I love the way Howard has played this series. But the Dump-it-to-Howard resulted in a loss in game 2 while the "gun-it" Harden resulted in a win in game 3. I know this could just be coincidence but I've felt that it's too late to change the way we play in the playoffs. Harden seems (for lack of better word) aloof and disengaged. Is there a precedent for a player of Harden's caliber acting this way on a big stage and then everything "working out" for the better in the end?
Harden looks mentally defeated out there. Like he doesn't have the will to overcome the challenge and his confidence is shaken. I think the pressure has gotten to him. He's never had to lead like this. He's never succeeded on the big stage. He looks lost on D. He looks frustrated and scared. What can you do but hope he learns from it.
Its simple. Matthews especially and Batum have gotten in his head. Anyone on here remember Brad Lidge getting smoked by Pujols? Right now Harden is simply getting smoked by the defense and offense of Batum/Matthews and its beating him up mentally to the point where he's having regular season-like mental lapses on the defensive end that he shouldn't be having. Drama in the locker room????? We obviously live in a TMZ/Real Housewives era. People on here LOOOOOOVEEEEEE petty drama, and its pretty sad. Look... every locker room in every sport has some personality issues. Its going to happen, but what separates the Rockets are the few guys that really glue all these personalities together, and make the engine turn. Parsons, Bev, and some other guys just seem SOOOO important to keeping the mood, and energy in the right place, and dissolving personalities by being positive leaders in the locker room people look up to. Of all the locker rooms in professional sports, I'm not there, but I think the Rockets have one of the stronger locker rooms in the game, and THEY WILL BE FINE. Harden WILL BE FINE. So settle down drama queens.
Thank You! They have been bear hugging and wrestling him off the ball on damn near every possession and the refs have seemed to make it a point to not give him any calls (not blaming refs). He gets bumped coming around every pick and I think that has caused him to be signifigantly less aggressive because he knows he's going to get contact and no whistle. He does however need to go in strong instead of looking for contact. I think it's just been a tough adjustment for him because the combination of hyper aggressive/physical off ball defense with no whistles and getting hit with no whistles has definitely frustrated him and caused him to abandon his aggressive style of play.
Ok, my question is why are the officials collectively (regardless of the crew) letting Harden get wrestled, bumped and held? I mean I get that it's the playoffs, but is it too much to ask for the officiating in the regular season and playoffs to be done with the same consistency? This is such BS. Why would the NBA allow for this crap to go on in the post season and not the regular season?
I am not too worried. I am confident Harden will come out of this. Remember before the Indiana game at home when everyone was saying Paul George owns Harden since Harden has never been able to do well against PG. Harden then came out and absolutely demolished whatever PG had to offer. All he needs is to get a few shots early and then his confidence will be right back up. McHale needs to run some plays early on to get Harden going and into rhythm. He is too good of a player to go an entire series with a single good game by his lofty standards. That is the aboslute positive for the Rockets.
I agree with the notion the Rockets won't ever go far in the playoffs if this is the James Harden that shows up in the playoffs. You can't go from being on fire in the regular season to being a trickle of water and expect the rest of the team to make up for it. But, that's pretty much what is happening. The rest of the team is having to make up for his lack of offense out there. I couldn't believe our leading scorer was sitting on the bench in the second half for what appeared to be significant minutes but he really did deserve to be there. At least he came through at the end of the game. But, we really need him to show us something this next game in Portland...or Rockets will be out unless the rest of the team just flat out overcomes his lack of offensive output. It was nice to see him make a defensive block at the end of this last game, though. I was shocked.
Lack of effort, just lazy. It doesn't work in the playoffs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s80dywRFRb4 Start at 0:35. Fastbreak for Portland after TO of Harden. Harden is standing around for 1 sec but this is enough for Harden's man to get away for a 2 vs 1 . At the same time Asik is running at full speed.
