Dwight didn't give us anything in the regular season, whereas Harden gave us everything, so if you're going to use that sort of relative positioning, you've already set it up so only Dwight can win in your opinion.
Howard, as good as he was, we should expect more from and Harden as well. This is my opinion, not objective statement or fact! Hardens improvement will come, he's only 25 and will soon find out that quiting and half assed effort on defense or deferring in clutch moments will never get him a title. If he doesn't want it bad enough, he will remain the same player he is now. Dwight gave his all, of that I have no doubt, but he needs to be mentally stronger and become more mature. I expect more poise and commitment to winning like pick and roll offense, running back even if you get fouled etc.
I'm not a huge fan of Harden or Howard. I'll say Harden was the top performer. He put up career numbers in the playoffs (based on his previous playoffs outings). He made the team go for the most part. Yes, he had a dud in game 5 but overall, his performance was very good. I was disappointed in Howard's performance. Yes, he was good on defense and rebounding, that was expected. However, he failed to meet expectation on the offensive end. He was awful in the post and FTs. He is very fragile mentally as well. For a so called "Superstar", you really can't count on him to score if the need teams a bucket desperately. Majority of his points came on putbacks and alley-oops.
it's pretty surprising to see numerous people not realizing what Howard clearly acknowledged when he returned from injury. he said he was adjusting his role for the sake of the team. this is not something recent and should not be a surprise to anyone who has been following houston regularly
Yes, he adjusted his role on the team. Does that mean that the team shouldn't expect any points from him in the post? His post up game is nonexistent. He was still getting touches in the post. Tim Duncan adjusted his role over the past few years on the team, yet, if the team needs him to score on a possession, he can still get points even at age 39. You are making it seem like he gave up on offense to better help the team.
It all depends on what you value and to what standards you hold a player. As a runner up MVP I expect a lot from Harden and while he was great in most games, his defense was overall non-existent, he played defense like T-mac: when he felt like it. The effort overall was below par. That's why I think Ariza deserves the award for best performer, not best player. This guy performed at a high level, 90% of the games on both sides of the ball and effort is part of once's performance.
As well as Howard played, he REALLY hurt the team with his free throws. It broke momentum, slowed the game down and really took away a lot of players' rhythm. Of course, he had a great playoff run overall but he really needs to make at least 50% of his free throws.
I agree. And I don't think we can go back into battle when our most hack-proof squad still includes a Corey Brewer. We don't just have a Howard FT problem. We have a Howard, Smith, Brewer problem. We have three guys our opponents can hack at any time and they're all vets; they're not likely to overcome their FT problems if they haven't by now. Howard does need to make at least 50%. But we can't have three major rotation guys that make around 50% (or worse). I mean I guess we can since we got pretty far being such a poor FT shooting team but that would certainly be a thing you'd look to correct. And Howard's not going anywhere. As great as their performances have been otherwise it's something to consider when considering the futures of Smith and Brewer with this team.
Agreed. Harden obviously carried our team on offense more than Howard carried our team defensively. I'm not sure how you would measure this besides defensive rating and the like, but I don't think opposing teams were afraid of attacking the paint as much in the postseason. He got in foul trouble or refused to defend the paint out of fear. Howard had a pretty weak postseason offensively. Harden dominated the majority of our wins offensively. We couldn't have advanced so far without either of them but to discount Harden's offense and claim that Dwight was the Best Playoff Performer by a wide margin is ridiculous. Most consistent performer as some have proposed? Possibly, but he wasn't necessarily integral to our success in the games we lost. He was the best center of the playoffs but not good enough.
Harden, like the regular season, played better and was more important over the course of the playoffs.
Harden had a stinker in Game 5 and a bad shooting game in Game 3. If not for Harden though, we are not even in a position to steal Games 1 and 2. For stretches there (also in Game 4) he did all the scoring and assisting - pretty much played 1on5 with some great defenders on him and took over the game. The first 2 games in GS could have been won. The series should have been tied at 1-1 at the very least, but unfortunately that didn't happen. At the end of the day the outcome of a game is what it is. It think it is just not very smart to say that the Clippers series should have been won 4-2 instead of 4-3 if Harden played well. For the first 4 games the ENTIRE team came out with low energy (save for a qrt. here and there). So no, you don't put the blame on one player. He might not have been beasting like he does so often, but Harden was actually shooting close to 50% the first couple of games of that series. His % went down after he came down with the flu (and still had a triple double). I for one (other than game 6) thought he did pretty good against the clippers, especially considering how he has played against the Clippers historically. His shooting % against them went up from past seasons, as did his scoring, rebounding and assisting. Harden needs to play good for the Rockets to win, thats the thing. If he does, the Rockets stand a chance to beat everyone, if he doesn't and this is was needs to change this offseason, the Rockets are doomed (Game 6 miracle vs. Clippers aside).
