Jordan was 49%, which is the highest percentage in nba history for anyone with more than a handful of win/lose/draw last endgame shots (example daniels is 100% lol).... In essence, every single player in nba history has missed more than they've hit
He goes hero ball because he is our hero. You think it is a coincidence he had 37 points and we had a chance to win? Harden is the key for us winning.
No one said he was the hero. He takes a lot of shots makes a few and sure he probably hurts us more than helps us. But dwight simply will not allow us to fail. Dwight for MVP!!!! Also I'd take Daniels/lin over harden any day
imagine 09 magic Rashard Lewis went hero ball in crunch time. imagine how pissed SVG would be. Mcfail? lol
Oh joy, another bash Harden thread. On the one hand, he is young and impressionable. This stuff probably gets to his head. On the other hand, he's getting paid $80 million and better show up these playoffs!
I think that's the key. At clutch time, the team need the coach to setup a play that eventually gets the ball to one shooter's hands for easy shot. Harden sometimes chooses the hard way. In the Troy trey possession, for example, with Howard keeping screening for him, Harden chose to go to the strong side, had himself trapped in the crowd, and lost the ball. Before Harden becomes more mature, I hope McHale could go with setup play if possible at clutch time. Unfortunately, McHale has a really thin playbook.
Then your team would be at home watching all of these other teams in the playoffs because they didn't win enough games to make it to the post season.
In you mind, who is it that was lighting Harden up in the 4th and overtime? Harden was primarily guarding Matthews and then once he fouled out then Batum. Mathews didn't score in the 4th or overtime. Batum hit two shots with Harden guarding him. Harden got switched to Lillard twice where Lillard scored. Mo Williams also hit a 3 pointer with Harden in his face. How about assists? Lillard had two assists in the 4th and overtime and on both he went by Lin. Williams had one assist in the 4th on a pick n' pop with Aldridge and they were defended by Howard/Lin. Batum had one assist and he was guarded by Harden on the play. If you think those things indicate that Harden was getting lit up on defense then you're simply ignoring the facts. Go back and take a look at the highlights of what actually happened rather than relying on what you think you saw. The fact is that it was a really ugly 4th quarter and overtime and no player dominated. Portland's scores were pretty much evenly defended by Harden, Lin, Parsons and Howard. In the 4th and overtime Aldridge hit 3 shots, Lillard hit 3, Williams hit 3 and Batum hit 3...that's about as evenly distributed as you can get. There wasn't a single Blazer dominating the game at that point. What hurt the Rockets the most was the fact that they put Portland into the bonus early and allowed them to score 12 points from the line with the clock stopped. Yes, Harden did take 12 shots in the 4th and overtime and scored 15 points on those shots. Do you have a problem with 1.25 points per shot? If so then you probably weren't too happy with Parsons (1.0 pt/shot) or Lin (1.14 pts/shot) in the 4th or overtime either. The idea ( the one that I was replying to) that Harden was a negative in the 4th and overtime is ridiculous. Without those 15 pts and 5 reb we lose the game.
So your expectation is that at "clutch time" the coach is going to draw up a play to get a shooter an easy shot? Have you seen an NBA game before? It rarely works that way. Teams are too well prepared to allow you to get the ball to a shooter for an easy shot. Most every team relies on their star player to created and either to score or to create a shot for a teammate. The fact is that Harden has been phenomenally good in the clutch this year... #1 in the league in fact. Giving the ball to Harden and letting him create has been a better than 50/50 chance of us scoring. We're not going to draw up a play that gives us those kind of odds. Do you think OKC is going to draw up a play or give the ball to Durant? Miami? They'll put the ball in Lebron's hands. San Antonio? They'll isolate Parker or let him play PnR and create. Clips? They'll give the ball to CP3 and let him create. All of the best teams let their start create in crunch time.
Harden has taken on the role of being the team's leader/go to guy and is trying to put the team on his shoulders to secure a win. In the nba, a teams best player comes through in the clutch. So far, he has been struggling, but I'm sure he will come through in game 4
It's funny to me how all these people think you can draw up and run a play in crucial moments late in games. They think there should always be a perfect play to get a shooter open. That's not the real world when it comes to sports. You can go back to junior high school and you ALWAYS put the ball in your best players hands to make the final play to win you the game. I guess you have to play the game to know that. We just need Harden to get going. When he is going he scores and gets others open looks. Nobody is perfect, all players go through struggles. We win tonight, advantage good guys.
you dont have to be a lair/idiot to try to win a internet debate. today mavericks vs spurs carter game winner: http://youtu.be/BLiIYT9k4MI HOU VS POR gm1 2 similar plays of POR to tie the game: http://youtu.be/4D2EhggmU68 http://youtu.be/Qfh1bvJPwCw same play, different variation and development. you are a 99er here, show some decency of a true bball fan.
You do realize that before the Carter shot which was an out of bounds play designed to get a shot off with little to no time, The Spurs with all of their perfect drawn up plays,went with a Ginobili iso, NOT a set play to take the 2 point lead.
What I am referring to is when Harden spends an entire shot clock trying to break down a defender 1v1 and then passes to a guarded, standing perimeter teammate, resulting in a piss, poor contested shot from an inferior scorer. This is not a case where Harden is baiting the help defense before firing off a pass, nor is the teammate assisting by moving around off the ball, This is simply Harden running out of time after not being able to make something happen and just handing the ball off to someone else. I would much rather see a step-back or even a jumper from a contested Harden, then a contested shot from Parsons/Lin/Bev/ect. Only Troy Daniels would be acceptable since he is actually a pure shooter.
Portland was getting MUCH better looks than we were because they were actually running an offense. You are making the mistake of just looking at the end result (the win). Just because Batum and Matthews missed wide open shots when James Harden was supposed to be covering them, doesn't mean he played good defense. He called for someone to switch onto Matthews because he was too lazy to get back on him. Harden ends up on Lillard and gets burned. If Harden keeps playing the way he has the past three games..is that good enough to win a championship? I'm interested in your answer because you seem to think he's Oscar Robertson.
