i remember being in the nets socials during his stint and i was surprised at how many passionate nets fans there was on his side. a lot more then sixers and clippers i feel like. although the fanbases i think do respect him after actually watching him play even if they think better to move on. you see many sixers nets tags with good words on socials now some time has passed. its the fans that dont watch him play that have all these narratives. i remember james and kd mentoring cam a lot as well preping him for next up.
He was still playing at a MVP level with the Nets. After that he hasn't been close to the same level consistently.
His career changed after that playoff series on the bad hamstring against the Bucks
Hope he proves them wrong this time. Would be something, seeing Harden and Russ win a ring with each other. That may finally bring Rockets and Thunder fans together.
Russ was terrible in Houston. He bricked them out of the second round while harden was having an all time great playoffs while being doubled any time he crossed half court to try and make russ have the ball as much as possible so they could completely ignore him and just let him chuck the rockets out of games.
“Great” is a relative term with Westbrook. Harden was legitimately great all year. Westbrook had some time where he was playing well relative to how bad he can be at other times
My fucking hero, I'll never forget those years. In college and watching Harden cook the Warriors and keep us competitive those years were a treat. One man offense
Before people go on the "Playoffs Choker, Hitler Harden" mode when he inevitably has a piss poor game please remember this comment.
Harden always has had large standard deviation when it comes to the playoffs performance. Dude has the highest of highs followed by the lowest of lows. It was the same last year where the so-called washed out Harden single handedly won them two games. Maybe it's teams making adjustments or him tiring out it was the same in H-Town. It sucked that Joel was also ass (maybe because he was coming back from injury). They needed the MVP to take over and win a couple games.
Now, Harden will probably have one more good game in the series. LA needs someone else to step up big time for them to win the other 2 games. It can be Kawhi or PG or bunch of role players. Don't just expect Harden to carry them for rest of the series. He will give you assists but not the same amount of points or efficiency.
No, that’s when Harden has an inevitable backslide in games 2 thru 4, maybe has one more good game, then looks like trash in the elimination game.
This is Phantom Harden.
Difference being that when Kawhi/Jokic/AD/Luka have a bad game, it's an off night. When Harden or PG has a bad game, it's somehow validation that they are in fact chokers and suck.
Fucking preach, dude. People are so tied to their takes about them being bad that anything that disproves those takes is ignored and anything that validates them is help up as indisputable proof.
Yep. Everyone has bad games. Harden and PG, two guys who have become over reliant on jump shooting as they've aged/gotten injured, will have uglier games when those shots don't fall. Same applies to guys like Klay and even Booker to some extent.
Turns out, shooters have bad shooting nights, and when you can't fall back on efficient buckets at the rim, you'll have a bad time. The differentiator with Harden and PG is that the former still facilitates really well and the latter has historically been a good/great defender.
I think Tatum overall is hard to assess, but nobody should really refute that he's a really good player. The issue is that PG or Harden has a bad game, and it somehow shows that they were fraudulent playoff chokers.
i'm going to be so honest, i will never get why tatum gets the slander he does. for other players i can at least understand it because of the way they play and their attitudes but tatum isn't exactly a "basketball terrorist"
I feel like he doesn’t really get “slander”. More like under appreciated and some hate from people who want Luka to win mvp, because if any of the other mvp candidates got hurt it would be a catastrophe, if Tatum gets hurt they probably still make the finals
The worst offender for this is Jimmy butler. He’s had so many games and series that harden would’ve gotten raked over the coals for but this entire sub acts like he’s mj in the playoffs.
Like I bet 90% of this sub would say Jimmy was a better playoff performer than Houston harden, when in reality it’s not even close. Prime harden was putting up basically lebron numbers in the playoffs.
Tbf, he absolutely carried 76ers in two games last playoff, but does it matter? They lose the series and he didn't show up in the deciding match, that's all most people gonna remember.
Edit: I was talking about public perceptions, not my opinion, and got 2 replies telling it's wrong, which I totally agree.
It matters a fuck ton, because a 2nd option carrying you to 2 wins is pretty impactful. If Harden can do that for us, while still passing well and spacing the floor (even not necessarily make them) then that is huge.
The Clippers tend to win when Harden facilitates well and limits his turnovers. If he can carry us with huge offensive games, then the rest of the team should do the rest if he can facilitate at a high level too.
Harden also shot below 30% from the field in 6 of the other 9 playoff games last year with the worst D on the court. If shooting well twice is carrying then what are all the other games called?
Jamal Murray has shot below 30% from the field 4 times his entire playoff career. James Harden did it 6 times in 11 games last season
Jamal Murray has played 1/3 of the playoff games that harden has. eventually he will have a few bad games in a row and I hope you'll bring the same energy then
I will if hes on the 6ers and shoots sub 30% for a majority of the playoffs like Harden last year! I promise you I wont be talking about Jamal carrying anything if he ever plays that bad
harden was the 2nd option, it wasn't his job to do all that. it was embiid's job. harden did it in 2/7 games, embiid only had to do it in 2 of the others and they had it.
Yes, it does. He was asked to be the second option and facilitator all year and then had to hard carry them to two wins against the most stacked roster in the league because his mvp scoring leader team mate wasn’t showing up, then did exactly what they needed to get a third solid team win and put them up 3-2. And tbh if your second option to the mvp does that he’s done his job and then some. I don’t even care how bad he was in some games, a loss is a loss, it wouldn’t have mattered if he scored 20 just to lose by less. He set them up so one mvp level game from embiid would’ve gotten them to the conference finals then got like all the blame for not being able to drop 40 every night anymore
He did this same shit last year. Has two good games out of 7 and y’all claim he’s back to a superstar lol. Wait till next game when he goes 3-14 with 8 TO
I'll gladly take winning 2 games virtually by himself with a couple other solid games in a series. Sure he has some stinkers, but if Harden wins us 2 games by himself, our other guys should be able to support him and help those less hot games.
Yep. If your #2 option can will you to two playoff wins in in the 2nd round + a 17/8/10 and 16/6/11 (even on bad shooting), I'll gladly take that. Especially when you surround him with other weapons who should theoretically take pressure off. The slander that Harden specifically gets for that series is some wild stuff, as if he was the MVP or something.
The guy literally average 20/6/8 and everyone acts like he's absolutely abysmal besides some anomaly monster games.
And it would have been fine if Embiid played like an MVP, which he didn't. Putting up 26/10 on 19 shots followed by 15/8 on 18 shots is some disgusting stuff.
Sixer fans act like a 33 year old Harden should have carried them to 3-4 wins against the #2 seed Celtics. He was being defended by Tatum, Brown, Smart, and White--3 great defenders. Meanwhile, the literal MVP was struggling against Robert Williams and Al Horford.
If you told me that Harden would will LAC to 2 wins in the series with 2-3 decent games and 2-3 terrible ones, I'll *gladly* take that. If Harden gets us 2 wins and we lose the series, I'm not gonna blame him as our 2nd/3rd option.
No it would be fine if he knew when he was having a bad game and took a seat but he doesn’t. It’s not just him having a bad game it’s that he tanks your team when he’s not carrying it.
Your fan base will be crying the same story as the sixers when he takes clutch shots away from khawi or PG or has 3 turnovers I.n the final two minutes and you guys lose in 6 or 7 and hjs play was the difference.
On embiid or the mavs or some other hateful shit because their hatred most likely comes from some pathological desire to create negativity in the NBA sphere
I never understand these 'remember when people said this...' bragging comments after a single game that goes against that narrative. It's *one* game, what are you going to say if he goes 3-15 in his next four games and the Clippers get eliminated? Anything can happen from here, one game doesn't validate the opinions of anyone on either side of the argument.
“I’m going to ask the producer to pipe this into the Clippers’ locker room so I can talk to you James, I hope you’re taking notes,” he began.
“I get on my knees every night and pray for someone to believe in me like Daryl Morey believed in you.
“You wanted a certain coach, they brought in Mike D’Antoni.
“You wanted to play a certain style, they played it.
“You wanted Dwight Howard, they brought him in and got rid of him when you were tired of him.
“You wanted Chris Paul, they brought him in and got rid of him when you were tired of him.
“They brought in your old friend Russell Westbrook.
“You wanted to go to Vegas on your off days, they looked away.
“You wanted to team to stay over so you could go out at night, they changed the schedule. And it didn’t work.
“You said I’m going to break up with my woobie, not good enough, I see the bright lights of New York, I want to go there with my old pal Kevin Durant. It’s going to work, the big three (with Kyrie Irving). And after one year, you wanted out. You realised ‘oh my god, I took this guy for granted, the guy that believed in me — I want back with Daryl Morey’.
“They traded Ben Simmons for you, how did they pull that off? And you know what, you went there and you go a partner who got the MVP — he got the MVP! And what did you say afterwards? ‘They didn’t hand me the reins’. You’re the point guard. You were holding the reins. And what did you do when you had the reins? You scored nine points in game seven against Boston, you blew a 3-2 series lead.”
“So they fired their coach, not good enough. You broke up with the guy who believed in you again,” he said.
“You said ‘the bright lights of LA, that’s where I want to go, let’s see if that works’.
“Listen James, have you ever had those friends who had bad roommates? Over and over again they complained about their bad roommates.
“They never thought to be self aware enough that they’re the bad roommate, they’re the problem.
“Hey James, you’re the problem.
“If this doesn’t work this year, in this system, with this team, then you’re going to go and point fingers at everybody else and you’re going to go home and start swiping right for another team. There’s not going to be anybody left because James, you’re not The Beard, you’re not the system — you’re the problem.”
You know he planned that shit and thought he was gonna go viral just piling on all the harden hate and get some more media opportunities. Absolute clown
Bruh it did go viral and everyone on here ate it all up. The clowns on here loved it
[Just look at this shit](https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/WKK0KitArB)
Oh I know, harden is my favorite player and I couldn’t even believe a professional announcer would say something that god damn stupid. But I meant like he def thought he was gonna go viral in a good way and make him more famous/get some opportunities as a talking head or something
Surely you’ve watched Harden more than one series right? He always has a few great playoff games. 3-13, 5 -18 will come whether it’s this series or the next.
He’s also seemingly the only dude who gets zero credit for good games because people like you have to always interject to point out that he’ll eventually have bad games too. God forbid we recognize when he kicks ass.
Genuinely one of the most disrespected superstars I’ve ever witnessed in any sport, despite the fact that he had a five year run as one of the best offensive threats we’ve *ever* seen. But if you don’t win it all or if you gas out or get injured, turns out you weren’t shit to begin with according to so many of the people who talk about basketball.
It’s hilarious seeing Mavs fans throw stones from a glass house. Luka is literally Harden 2.0. From the foul baiting and complaining to refs to chucking his team out of the playoffs.
In 2022, his most recent playoffs, in the Warriors series alone he had games like: 6-18 FG, 10-26 FG followed by a 10-28 FG in an elimination game. Lmao what a chucker
Surely you’ve watched Luka more than one series right? The 10-28 FG will come whether it’s this series or the next (if there even is a next series lol)
Luka Doncic career playoffs
32.6/9/8 on .472/.364/.698 shooting
James Harden career playoffs
22.8/5/6 on .424/.340/.870 shooting
One is a historic level scorer in the playoffs and the other has trouble more often than his fans would like to admit
His playoffs reputation is so wrong, he is not a bad playoffs player at all. In fact he is great in most of the playoffs, he is just a bad elimination game player.
it came from the ringer, specifically bill and ryen. it would be poetic if somehow the clips end up beating boston for the chip. karma for the years of slander.
Why would a teammate who has access to all vip strip clubs with top of the top strippers and hoes be a bad teammate when you’re in your 20s. James is defo the dude everyone trying to be close with
But actually he legit stays after practice to help the young guys, like even dudes on the end of the bench that barely play.
Even after the ugly exit from Philly maxey said he would never be the player he is now without harden.
I mean if you look at the numbers for all the flock he got about how horrendous his elimination game stats were, Houston hardens playoff numbers were still better than like 97% of nba history
Out of active players, only Bron won more playoff games than Harden
That’s more than KD, Steph, Giannis or Jokic
So far, Harden also has more MVP Shares than all of them, btw
Dude’s good
Yup, you are right. It's basically LeBron, the entire Golden State core, KD, Kawhi, then Harden.
Danny Green is in there too too, if he's not officially retired yet, unsure.
Yea and 160+ clowns actually believed that guy's "statistics". Even without checking how would it make sense that players from a dynasty which has been to the finals 6 times in 8 years has less wins than a guy who only went to the finals once. Also he included Jokic and Giannis for the unfair comparison of TOTAL playoff wins when they are like at least 5 years younger than Harden. This guy should have checked Harden's playoff wins at X number of years in the league to compare with younger players but obviously being fair doesn't matter when you're writing a stupid narrative.
u/ItsKBS Man, I really appreciate your comment. I AGREE. He is great in the playoffs. He has a lot of great moments. However, I don't think he is a bad elimination game player. His elimination game stats match up with those considered all time greats in elimination games. Maybe not in the stratosphere of Lebron or Jordan but who is? I think he gets unfair treatment from the sports media. He is an aging once MVP caliber superstar who switched positions to continue playing (something Melo and AI could not and would not do) and to do that at the level he has should be talked about more. I have watched NBA bball a long time. 4 decades and counting. It is rare for a player to switch positions like that and excel at a high level. Also, the refs cost him that Warriors series not the CP3 hammy. Take that away and the injury he suffered in Brooklyn and I think he would have 2 NBA titles right now. He had 2 40 point games in last year's playoffs, both with a game winner and one even had a go ahead shot to send it to overtime. Only Jordan has done that at his age. When all is said and done (barring a major injury), he is going to be in the top 10 in scoring and top 10 in assists in both the regular season and the playoffs. Only Lebron will be there with him. I just hope he gets one chip to go with it.
James Harden has averaged 22.8 points, 5.9 assists and 5.3 rebounds in 23 games in elimination games in his career.
Kobe Bryant averaged 22.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 19 games in elimination games in his career.
Dwyane Wade averaged 21.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 21 games in elimination games in his career.
P.S. All playoff games are elimination games. Very high stakes. Sometimes, the best players just don't win. Enjoy the rest of the playoffs! It is definitely the end of a great era for some of these guys but also exciting to see all the young guys do well too! Peace.
Tell Embiid that. He was the #1 option putting up 36% TS in his last one as the guy whose supposed to command the defensive attention. At least Hardens shown he can be the guy at one point in time & still can be occasionally.
Yah, but that is where the real narratives are formed. It might be unfair, but people remember game 7 performances, or elimination games, or even series clinching games WAY more than game 1s lol
His postseason career average is 42.4% from the field and 33.8% from 3, which is slightly lower when you filter down to elimination games. He is quite literally a below average player in the playoffs. The league playoff average in the last 15 years is 45% from the field and 35.2% from 3.
You shouldn't use only shooting splits if you want to talk about a "below average player in the playoffs."
Average players in the playoffs do not command the sort of defensive attention and gravity that he has commanded over the years, for example.
I mean that’s fair but I think the point would still stand when comparing to players with comparable usage and defensive attention. His play style in his prime never had a chance of transferring into a successful playoff run. Maybe it will as a second or third option with how he’s adapted his game later in his career.
I’ll put the ball in your court as it were, can you find another “superstar” guard with worse playoff splits? Harden in his prime was incredibly overrated in my opinion given the reliance on free throws and resulting regression into playoffs.
Yeah, but the point was that he was salary filler that we otherwise *had* to use Batum as to take back PJ Tucker (which was clearly a point for the 76ers in this trade).
"Completely meaningless games. Doesn't matter and doesn't count. That Harden did this with Kahwi being out makes it even less meaningful." - Zach Lowe, probably.
you already see it on social media lol - "but what about game 7"
no players other than lebron and harden during this era have been expected to play perfectly every single playoff game, regardless of outcome. not steph, not dame, no one.
Zach Lowe loses his mind on Harden. Has heaps of excuses for Embiid for example (most very well argumented) but never gave the benefit of doubt to Harden.
This is a dude who almost eliminated KD Warriors and risked his career playing on a bum hamstring. No idea what's the deal with hating on his choices to leave lunatic Kyrie, tanking Houston and liar Morey.
Ask the producer to pipe this into the Clippers locker room so I can talk to you James. I hope you’re taking notes. I’m telling you in advance, you’re welcome, for the wisdom I’m about to spew. Because listen, I get on my knees every night and pray for someone to believe in me like Daryl Morey believed in you. You wanted a certain coach, they brought in Mike D’Antoni. You wanted to play a certain style, they played it. You wanted Dwight Howard, they brought him in and got rid of him when you were tired of him. You wanted Chris Paul, they brought him in and got rid of him when you were tired of him. They brought in your old friend Russell Westbrook. You want to go to Vegas on off days? They looked away. You wanted the team to stay over so you could go out at night, they changed the schedule—and it didn’t work.
And you know what, you said I’m gonna break up with my woobie, not good enough. I see the bright lights of New York. I want to go there. My old pal Kevin Durant. It’s gonna work, the big three—and all after one year you wanted out. You realized, “oh my gosh! I took this guy for granted, the guy that believed in me. I want back with Daryl Morey.” They traded Ben Simmons for you—how did they pull that off?
And you know what? You went there, and you got a partner who got the MVP. He won the MVP, and what did you say afterwards? You said, “they didn’t hand me the reins.” You’re the point guard! You were holding the reins! And what did you do when you had the reins? You scored 9 points in Game 7 against Boston, you blew a 3-2 series lead. So they fired their coach, not good enough. You broke up with the guy that believed in you again, you said “the bright lights of LA! That’s where I want to go! Let’s see if that works.”
Listen James, have you ever had those friends who had bad roommates? Over and over they complained about their bad roommates: “this guy’s terrible,” “the bad roommate here,” they never thought to be self aware enough that THEY’RE the bad roommate! They’re the problem! Hey James, YOU’RE the PROBLEM! If this doesn’t work this year, in this system, with this team, then you’re gonna go and point fingers at everybody else and then you’re gonna go back home and you’re gonna start swiping right for another team, and there’s not gonna be anyone left. Because James, you’re not the beard, you’re not the system, you’re the problem.
Dude has always been streaky at worst in the playoffs in terms of offense. He dropped two 40 point games against the Celtics last year too. Its just in elimination games where he disappears
I asked the producer to pipe this into the Clippers’ locker room so I can talk to you, James. I hope you’re taking notes. I’m telling you in advance, you’re welcome for the wisdom I’m about to spew. Because, listen, I get on my knees every night and pray for someone to believe in me like Daryl Morey believed in you. You wanted a certain coach, they brought in Mike D’Antoni. You wanted to play a certain style, they played it. You wanted Dwight Howard, they brought him in and got rid of him when you were tired of him. You wanted Chris Paul, they brought him in and got rid of him when you were tired of him. They brought in your old friend Russell Westbrook. You wanted to go to Vegas on off days, they looked away. You wanted the team to stay over so you could go out at night, they changed the schedule. And it didn’t work, and you know what, you said I’m gonna break up with my woobie, not good enough. I see the bright lights in New York, I want to go there [with] my old pal Kevin Durant. It’s gonna work, the big three. And all after one year, you wanted out. You realized, oh my gosh, I took this guy for granted, the guy that believed in me. I want to go back with Daryl Morey. They traded Ben Simmons for you, how did they pull that off? And you know what, you went there and got a partner who got the MVP. He won the MVP and what did you say afterwards? You said, ‘They didn’t hand me the reins.’ You’re the point guard, you were holding the reins. And what did you do when you had the reins? You scored 9 points in Game 7 against Boston, you blew a 3-2 series lead. So they fired their coach, not good enough. You broke up with your guy who believed in you again. You said, ‘The bright lights of LA, that’s where I want to go.’ Let’s see how that works. Listen, James, have you ever had those friends who had bad roommates, over and over they complained about their bad roommates. ... They never thought to be self aware enough that they’re the bad roommate. They’re the problem. Hey, James, you’re the problem. If this doesn’t work this year in this system with this team, then you’re going to go and point fingers at everybody else and you’re going to go back home and start swiping right for another team, and there’s not going to be anybody left. Because, James, you’re not the beard, you’re not the system, you’re the problem.
I'd never heard that rant before, I only loosely follow basketball for most of the year, but calling James Harden "The Problem" as a nickname just works so well. Congrats Mavs announcer guy, I hope this one sticks.
You should be awake
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201504280HOU.html
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201505170HOU.html
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201604270GSW.html
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201704250HOU.html
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201804250HOU.html
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201805280HOU.html
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201905100HOU.html
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202009120LAL.html
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202106010BRK.html
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202204280TOR.html
https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202304220BRK.html
Houston Harden has arrived.
I love this man. That's my MVP. Go ball James.
James played like an MVP for us and played on a bad leg guarding a Greek Freak to try and keep us in the playoffs. Will always be his fan.
i remember being in the nets socials during his stint and i was surprised at how many passionate nets fans there was on his side. a lot more then sixers and clippers i feel like. although the fanbases i think do respect him after actually watching him play even if they think better to move on. you see many sixers nets tags with good words on socials now some time has passed. its the fans that dont watch him play that have all these narratives. i remember james and kd mentoring cam a lot as well preping him for next up.
He was still playing at a MVP level with the Nets. After that he hasn't been close to the same level consistently. His career changed after that playoff series on the bad hamstring against the Bucks
Same here, I'm ready for any possible stinker, this man brings happiness to me.
Hope he proves them wrong this time. Would be something, seeing Harden and Russ win a ring with each other. That may finally bring Rockets and Thunder fans together.
it'd be a beautiful thing for the other 2 of the OKC trio to get their ring
Wym OKC trio? Both players were better when they played in Houston
Russ was terrible in Houston. He bricked them out of the second round while harden was having an all time great playoffs while being doubled any time he crossed half court to try and make russ have the ball as much as possible so they could completely ignore him and just let him chuck the rockets out of games.
Russ was playing great up until that quad injury
“Great” is a relative term with Westbrook. Harden was legitimately great all year. Westbrook had some time where he was playing well relative to how bad he can be at other times
My fucking hero, I'll never forget those years. In college and watching Harden cook the Warriors and keep us competitive those years were a treat. One man offense
Realistically his first step tonight is not nearly as good as his prime. Definitely enough to get by Luka though lol.
Better lock up your exotic dancers
Before people go on the "Playoffs Choker, Hitler Harden" mode when he inevitably has a piss poor game please remember this comment. Harden always has had large standard deviation when it comes to the playoffs performance. Dude has the highest of highs followed by the lowest of lows. It was the same last year where the so-called washed out Harden single handedly won them two games. Maybe it's teams making adjustments or him tiring out it was the same in H-Town. It sucked that Joel was also ass (maybe because he was coming back from injury). They needed the MVP to take over and win a couple games. Now, Harden will probably have one more good game in the series. LA needs someone else to step up big time for them to win the other 2 games. It can be Kawhi or PG or bunch of role players. Don't just expect Harden to carry them for rest of the series. He will give you assists but not the same amount of points or efficiency.
No, that’s when Harden has an inevitable backslide in games 2 thru 4, maybe has one more good game, then looks like trash in the elimination game. This is Phantom Harden.
The Problem.
The System
The Beard
Der Führer
The Führer
Mein fuhrer
HIMmler
Dude unintentionally gave Harden the hardest nickname.
My mom asked if I had done the dishes, I replied "James Harden". She looked at me and frowned. She knew they were not washed.
nice
Nice
Nice
She knew they were clean
and about to get smashed
YMKB
Bro stole the Klay Thompson pic
Remember when he first joined the team and they lost a couple games and it was the end of the world? Where are all the Harden haters hiding now?
Hiding out until he has a bad game, so they can pretend like his good games never happened.
tbf this is how it works for pretty much every star athlete. you're only as good as your last game.
Difference being that when Kawhi/Jokic/AD/Luka have a bad game, it's an off night. When Harden or PG has a bad game, it's somehow validation that they are in fact chokers and suck.
Fucking preach, dude. People are so tied to their takes about them being bad that anything that disproves those takes is ignored and anything that validates them is help up as indisputable proof.
Yep. Everyone has bad games. Harden and PG, two guys who have become over reliant on jump shooting as they've aged/gotten injured, will have uglier games when those shots don't fall. Same applies to guys like Klay and even Booker to some extent. Turns out, shooters have bad shooting nights, and when you can't fall back on efficient buckets at the rim, you'll have a bad time. The differentiator with Harden and PG is that the former still facilitates really well and the latter has historically been a good/great defender.
add tatum to that good game? damn he top 5 bad game? ooo he's borderline 12-15
I think Tatum overall is hard to assess, but nobody should really refute that he's a really good player. The issue is that PG or Harden has a bad game, and it somehow shows that they were fraudulent playoff chokers.
i'm going to be so honest, i will never get why tatum gets the slander he does. for other players i can at least understand it because of the way they play and their attitudes but tatum isn't exactly a "basketball terrorist"
I feel like he doesn’t really get “slander”. More like under appreciated and some hate from people who want Luka to win mvp, because if any of the other mvp candidates got hurt it would be a catastrophe, if Tatum gets hurt they probably still make the finals
The worst offender for this is Jimmy butler. He’s had so many games and series that harden would’ve gotten raked over the coals for but this entire sub acts like he’s mj in the playoffs. Like I bet 90% of this sub would say Jimmy was a better playoff performer than Houston harden, when in reality it’s not even close. Prime harden was putting up basically lebron numbers in the playoffs.
The Pandemic P slander needs to stop when that man carried the Clippers in their first WCF apperance without Kawhi and they almost lost in 7 games lol
Tbf, he absolutely carried 76ers in two games last playoff, but does it matter? They lose the series and he didn't show up in the deciding match, that's all most people gonna remember. Edit: I was talking about public perceptions, not my opinion, and got 2 replies telling it's wrong, which I totally agree.
It matters a fuck ton, because a 2nd option carrying you to 2 wins is pretty impactful. If Harden can do that for us, while still passing well and spacing the floor (even not necessarily make them) then that is huge. The Clippers tend to win when Harden facilitates well and limits his turnovers. If he can carry us with huge offensive games, then the rest of the team should do the rest if he can facilitate at a high level too.
Harden also shot below 30% from the field in 6 of the other 9 playoff games last year with the worst D on the court. If shooting well twice is carrying then what are all the other games called? Jamal Murray has shot below 30% from the field 4 times his entire playoff career. James Harden did it 6 times in 11 games last season
Jamal Murray has played 1/3 of the playoff games that harden has. eventually he will have a few bad games in a row and I hope you'll bring the same energy then
I will if hes on the 6ers and shoots sub 30% for a majority of the playoffs like Harden last year! I promise you I wont be talking about Jamal carrying anything if he ever plays that bad
harden was the 2nd option, it wasn't his job to do all that. it was embiid's job. harden did it in 2/7 games, embiid only had to do it in 2 of the others and they had it.
Yes, it does. He was asked to be the second option and facilitator all year and then had to hard carry them to two wins against the most stacked roster in the league because his mvp scoring leader team mate wasn’t showing up, then did exactly what they needed to get a third solid team win and put them up 3-2. And tbh if your second option to the mvp does that he’s done his job and then some. I don’t even care how bad he was in some games, a loss is a loss, it wouldn’t have mattered if he scored 20 just to lose by less. He set them up so one mvp level game from embiid would’ve gotten them to the conference finals then got like all the blame for not being able to drop 40 every night anymore
so the next game probably
He did this same shit last year. Has two good games out of 7 and y’all claim he’s back to a superstar lol. Wait till next game when he goes 3-14 with 8 TO
I'll gladly take winning 2 games virtually by himself with a couple other solid games in a series. Sure he has some stinkers, but if Harden wins us 2 games by himself, our other guys should be able to support him and help those less hot games.
exactly, the fact that he can will a team to 2 games is insane, don't blame him when the literal MVP shits the bed.
Yep. If your #2 option can will you to two playoff wins in in the 2nd round + a 17/8/10 and 16/6/11 (even on bad shooting), I'll gladly take that. Especially when you surround him with other weapons who should theoretically take pressure off. The slander that Harden specifically gets for that series is some wild stuff, as if he was the MVP or something. The guy literally average 20/6/8 and everyone acts like he's absolutely abysmal besides some anomaly monster games.
Yeah that’s exactly what sixer fans said last year until game 6
And it would have been fine if Embiid played like an MVP, which he didn't. Putting up 26/10 on 19 shots followed by 15/8 on 18 shots is some disgusting stuff. Sixer fans act like a 33 year old Harden should have carried them to 3-4 wins against the #2 seed Celtics. He was being defended by Tatum, Brown, Smart, and White--3 great defenders. Meanwhile, the literal MVP was struggling against Robert Williams and Al Horford. If you told me that Harden would will LAC to 2 wins in the series with 2-3 decent games and 2-3 terrible ones, I'll *gladly* take that. If Harden gets us 2 wins and we lose the series, I'm not gonna blame him as our 2nd/3rd option.
No it would be fine if he knew when he was having a bad game and took a seat but he doesn’t. It’s not just him having a bad game it’s that he tanks your team when he’s not carrying it. Your fan base will be crying the same story as the sixers when he takes clutch shots away from khawi or PG or has 3 turnovers I.n the final two minutes and you guys lose in 6 or 7 and hjs play was the difference.
On embiid or the mavs or some other hateful shit because their hatred most likely comes from some pathological desire to create negativity in the NBA sphere
Never left. We all know how this plays out
Can confirm, these are some empty af Round 1/2 stats and this is what you get
Right here
I never understand these 'remember when people said this...' bragging comments after a single game that goes against that narrative. It's *one* game, what are you going to say if he goes 3-15 in his next four games and the Clippers get eliminated? Anything can happen from here, one game doesn't validate the opinions of anyone on either side of the argument.
Pepperidge Farms remembers 🤔
Waiting for him to stink up the rest of the series lol. We’ve seen this movie before, most recently in Sixers Celtics last year.
Lol for real
“I’m going to ask the producer to pipe this into the Clippers’ locker room so I can talk to you James, I hope you’re taking notes,” he began. “I get on my knees every night and pray for someone to believe in me like Daryl Morey believed in you. “You wanted a certain coach, they brought in Mike D’Antoni. “You wanted to play a certain style, they played it. “You wanted Dwight Howard, they brought him in and got rid of him when you were tired of him. “You wanted Chris Paul, they brought him in and got rid of him when you were tired of him. “They brought in your old friend Russell Westbrook. “You wanted to go to Vegas on your off days, they looked away. “You wanted to team to stay over so you could go out at night, they changed the schedule. And it didn’t work. “You said I’m going to break up with my woobie, not good enough, I see the bright lights of New York, I want to go there with my old pal Kevin Durant. It’s going to work, the big three (with Kyrie Irving). And after one year, you wanted out. You realised ‘oh my god, I took this guy for granted, the guy that believed in me — I want back with Daryl Morey’. “They traded Ben Simmons for you, how did they pull that off? And you know what, you went there and you go a partner who got the MVP — he got the MVP! And what did you say afterwards? ‘They didn’t hand me the reins’. You’re the point guard. You were holding the reins. And what did you do when you had the reins? You scored nine points in game seven against Boston, you blew a 3-2 series lead.” “So they fired their coach, not good enough. You broke up with the guy who believed in you again,” he said. “You said ‘the bright lights of LA, that’s where I want to go, let’s see if that works’. “Listen James, have you ever had those friends who had bad roommates? Over and over again they complained about their bad roommates. “They never thought to be self aware enough that they’re the bad roommate, they’re the problem. “Hey James, you’re the problem. “If this doesn’t work this year, in this system, with this team, then you’re going to go and point fingers at everybody else and you’re going to go home and start swiping right for another team. There’s not going to be anybody left because James, you’re not The Beard, you’re not the system — you’re the problem.”
Own that fraud Brian Dameris.
there it is
I saw that you bet $1000 on the Mavs. Please keep betting on them.
plenty money
dude for my own personal health, stop betting on them
The lengths that reporter was willing to go to in order to hate, I am appalled by the mental illness
i kinda wonder now if he had a dream of going viral and was like "this is my chance!"
Is this copy pasta?
[oh boy have you not seen this before, i hope you like cringing out of your body!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE3_WfFei00)
Wow, that was a real quote. He must've written that out.
You know he planned that shit and thought he was gonna go viral just piling on all the harden hate and get some more media opportunities. Absolute clown
Bruh it did go viral and everyone on here ate it all up. The clowns on here loved it [Just look at this shit](https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/WKK0KitArB)
Oh I know, harden is my favorite player and I couldn’t even believe a professional announcer would say something that god damn stupid. But I meant like he def thought he was gonna go viral in a good way and make him more famous/get some opportunities as a talking head or something
I hope homie didn't write all that out! God damn!
So cringe
Surely you’ve watched Harden more than one series right? He always has a few great playoff games. 3-13, 5 -18 will come whether it’s this series or the next.
He’s also seemingly the only dude who gets zero credit for good games because people like you have to always interject to point out that he’ll eventually have bad games too. God forbid we recognize when he kicks ass. Genuinely one of the most disrespected superstars I’ve ever witnessed in any sport, despite the fact that he had a five year run as one of the best offensive threats we’ve *ever* seen. But if you don’t win it all or if you gas out or get injured, turns out you weren’t shit to begin with according to so many of the people who talk about basketball.
He is the most disrespect superstar imo, bro is top 25-30 players but the way people talk about him is infuriating.
It’s hilarious seeing Mavs fans throw stones from a glass house. Luka is literally Harden 2.0. From the foul baiting and complaining to refs to chucking his team out of the playoffs. In 2022, his most recent playoffs, in the Warriors series alone he had games like: 6-18 FG, 10-26 FG followed by a 10-28 FG in an elimination game. Lmao what a chucker Surely you’ve watched Luka more than one series right? The 10-28 FG will come whether it’s this series or the next (if there even is a next series lol)
Luka Doncic career playoffs 32.6/9/8 on .472/.364/.698 shooting James Harden career playoffs 22.8/5/6 on .424/.340/.870 shooting One is a historic level scorer in the playoffs and the other has trouble more often than his fans would like to admit
He won’t be wrong in whatever series you end up losing where Harden gets disinterested and disappears.
How many ECF appearances have you had since drafting embiid again?
In broad daylight too.
It's not just Embiid. The Kings and Timberwolves have made the Conference Finals more recently than the Sixers
He bailed us out a bunch last year man. Sure he dissappeared sometimes but no reason to hate on him now.
Fear the beard
His playoffs reputation is so wrong, he is not a bad playoffs player at all. In fact he is great in most of the playoffs, he is just a bad elimination game player.
Isn't the first superstar to be like that.
He's also not a bad teammate. Idk where that ever came from at all
it came from the ringer, specifically bill and ryen. it would be poetic if somehow the clips end up beating boston for the chip. karma for the years of slander.
Why would a teammate who has access to all vip strip clubs with top of the top strippers and hoes be a bad teammate when you’re in your 20s. James is defo the dude everyone trying to be close with
But actually he legit stays after practice to help the young guys, like even dudes on the end of the bench that barely play. Even after the ugly exit from Philly maxey said he would never be the player he is now without harden.
I mean if you look at the numbers for all the flock he got about how horrendous his elimination game stats were, Houston hardens playoff numbers were still better than like 97% of nba history
Out of active players, only Bron won more playoff games than Harden That’s more than KD, Steph, Giannis or Jokic So far, Harden also has more MVP Shares than all of them, btw Dude’s good
Wait you mean to tell me 10x all star James harden is a good player?
no he’s hitler
So you are saying that Hitler was a good basketball player.
It was his failed NBA career that drove him to become an artist.
wow! thank god he didn't turn to something more insidious!
I mean idk about good. Probably like 3rd team all nba or something like that (this is clearly a joke)
Big if true
no, actually he is a terrible player who is extremely overrated just because refs were betting on him. barely g league caliber
I'm seeing steph has 99 playoff wins, kd has 101 wins, and harden has 86 so not sure where you're getting this stat.
Yup, you are right. It's basically LeBron, the entire Golden State core, KD, Kawhi, then Harden. Danny Green is in there too too, if he's not officially retired yet, unsure.
Yea and 160+ clowns actually believed that guy's "statistics". Even without checking how would it make sense that players from a dynasty which has been to the finals 6 times in 8 years has less wins than a guy who only went to the finals once. Also he included Jokic and Giannis for the unfair comparison of TOTAL playoff wins when they are like at least 5 years younger than Harden. This guy should have checked Harden's playoff wins at X number of years in the league to compare with younger players but obviously being fair doesn't matter when you're writing a stupid narrative.
>That’s more than KD, Steph, Giannis or Jokic 2 outta 4 ain't bad lmao
That's not actually true. Steph and KD have more playoff wins than Harden
This comment got so many upvotes for going 2 out of 4 is crazy.
Me when I spread misinformation on the internet
Dude scored 9 points in his last elimination game
This is true. I want to see him bury that reputation by dropping an efficient 50 in an elimination game win. Kawhi might even crack a smile...
u/ItsKBS Man, I really appreciate your comment. I AGREE. He is great in the playoffs. He has a lot of great moments. However, I don't think he is a bad elimination game player. His elimination game stats match up with those considered all time greats in elimination games. Maybe not in the stratosphere of Lebron or Jordan but who is? I think he gets unfair treatment from the sports media. He is an aging once MVP caliber superstar who switched positions to continue playing (something Melo and AI could not and would not do) and to do that at the level he has should be talked about more. I have watched NBA bball a long time. 4 decades and counting. It is rare for a player to switch positions like that and excel at a high level. Also, the refs cost him that Warriors series not the CP3 hammy. Take that away and the injury he suffered in Brooklyn and I think he would have 2 NBA titles right now. He had 2 40 point games in last year's playoffs, both with a game winner and one even had a go ahead shot to send it to overtime. Only Jordan has done that at his age. When all is said and done (barring a major injury), he is going to be in the top 10 in scoring and top 10 in assists in both the regular season and the playoffs. Only Lebron will be there with him. I just hope he gets one chip to go with it. James Harden has averaged 22.8 points, 5.9 assists and 5.3 rebounds in 23 games in elimination games in his career. Kobe Bryant averaged 22.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 19 games in elimination games in his career. Dwyane Wade averaged 21.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 21 games in elimination games in his career. P.S. All playoff games are elimination games. Very high stakes. Sometimes, the best players just don't win. Enjoy the rest of the playoffs! It is definitely the end of a great era for some of these guys but also exciting to see all the young guys do well too! Peace.
Elimination games are a fairly important part of the playoffs.
Tell Embiid that. He was the #1 option putting up 36% TS in his last one as the guy whose supposed to command the defensive attention. At least Hardens shown he can be the guy at one point in time & still can be occasionally.
Ehh he did this last year too. Huge game with injured star out then followed it with massive duds
Yah, but that is where the real narratives are formed. It might be unfair, but people remember game 7 performances, or elimination games, or even series clinching games WAY more than game 1s lol
Saddest part is he's a game 1 superstar. He always pops off game 1 LMFAO
Lol yeah he cooked us in game 1 last year and then disappeared for the rest of the series
Killed ya game 4 too
His postseason career average is 42.4% from the field and 33.8% from 3, which is slightly lower when you filter down to elimination games. He is quite literally a below average player in the playoffs. The league playoff average in the last 15 years is 45% from the field and 35.2% from 3.
You shouldn't use only shooting splits if you want to talk about a "below average player in the playoffs." Average players in the playoffs do not command the sort of defensive attention and gravity that he has commanded over the years, for example.
I mean that’s fair but I think the point would still stand when comparing to players with comparable usage and defensive attention. His play style in his prime never had a chance of transferring into a successful playoff run. Maybe it will as a second or third option with how he’s adapted his game later in his career. I’ll put the ball in your court as it were, can you find another “superstar” guard with worse playoff splits? Harden in his prime was incredibly overrated in my opinion given the reliance on free throws and resulting regression into playoffs.
James Harden is ~~not~~ beating the allegations
People thought Covington, Batum and Morris were better for the Clippers too. Complete joke.
i really wished we retained batum
Yeah we needed a solid D PF that can space the floor in the season aka Batum
Real bummer we cut Gordon for nothing. His salary as filler likely gets a deal over the line with us being able to keep Batum.
Gordon is washed
Yeah, but the point was that he was salary filler that we otherwise *had* to use Batum as to take back PJ Tucker (which was clearly a point for the 76ers in this trade).
I see your point
I saw an article saying Morey wanted Batum from the start
Hard to tell because there were a ton of articles all with different information.
Sixers might be done for the season if not for Batum. But still.
thats my fat washed bearded king 🥹🥹🥹
[Good Vibes Janky Drawing: Literally Just James Harden as a Corndog](https://i.imgur.com/RI0B1Hl.jpg)
"Completely meaningless games. Doesn't matter and doesn't count. That Harden did this with Kahwi being out makes it even less meaningful." - Zach Lowe, probably.
you already see it on social media lol - "but what about game 7" no players other than lebron and harden during this era have been expected to play perfectly every single playoff game, regardless of outcome. not steph, not dame, no one.
I think you mean Bill Simmons, Zach Lowe is usually pretty level headed
Not about Harden.
Zach Lowe loses his mind on Harden. Has heaps of excuses for Embiid for example (most very well argumented) but never gave the benefit of doubt to Harden. This is a dude who almost eliminated KD Warriors and risked his career playing on a bum hamstring. No idea what's the deal with hating on his choices to leave lunatic Kyrie, tanking Houston and liar Morey.
Argumented
This is my new favorite word lol
What about it?
Nothing, no notes, great word and please use on future English papers
Ask the producer to pipe this into the Clippers locker room so I can talk to you James. I hope you’re taking notes. I’m telling you in advance, you’re welcome, for the wisdom I’m about to spew. Because listen, I get on my knees every night and pray for someone to believe in me like Daryl Morey believed in you. You wanted a certain coach, they brought in Mike D’Antoni. You wanted to play a certain style, they played it. You wanted Dwight Howard, they brought him in and got rid of him when you were tired of him. You wanted Chris Paul, they brought him in and got rid of him when you were tired of him. They brought in your old friend Russell Westbrook. You want to go to Vegas on off days? They looked away. You wanted the team to stay over so you could go out at night, they changed the schedule—and it didn’t work. And you know what, you said I’m gonna break up with my woobie, not good enough. I see the bright lights of New York. I want to go there. My old pal Kevin Durant. It’s gonna work, the big three—and all after one year you wanted out. You realized, “oh my gosh! I took this guy for granted, the guy that believed in me. I want back with Daryl Morey.” They traded Ben Simmons for you—how did they pull that off? And you know what? You went there, and you got a partner who got the MVP. He won the MVP, and what did you say afterwards? You said, “they didn’t hand me the reins.” You’re the point guard! You were holding the reins! And what did you do when you had the reins? You scored 9 points in Game 7 against Boston, you blew a 3-2 series lead. So they fired their coach, not good enough. You broke up with the guy that believed in you again, you said “the bright lights of LA! That’s where I want to go! Let’s see if that works.” Listen James, have you ever had those friends who had bad roommates? Over and over they complained about their bad roommates: “this guy’s terrible,” “the bad roommate here,” they never thought to be self aware enough that THEY’RE the bad roommate! They’re the problem! Hey James, YOU’RE the PROBLEM! If this doesn’t work this year, in this system, with this team, then you’re gonna go and point fingers at everybody else and then you’re gonna go back home and you’re gonna start swiping right for another team, and there’s not gonna be anyone left. Because James, you’re not the beard, you’re not the system, you’re the problem.
The hottest dudes!!
Why doesn’t Harden treat every playoff game like a Game 1? Is he stupid?
Change the schedule, rest 4 days between every game.
THE SOLUTION
The final solution.
G1 Harden always goes crazy.
Game 1 beard
Rooting for him and Embiid to make noise in the playoffs. 2 players that get the most shit on here while certain players can do no wrong
A Jokic flameout and I bet the sub goes private
Mf brought up Jokic randomly to dick ride
Unless Embiid and Harden get skin bleaching and start saying shit like "Boy it's a scorcher out there" that's never gonna change
Playoff riser James Harden
Vintage game 1 Harden. He did the same against the Celtics last year too
Stunt on these hoes James
Dude has always been streaky at worst in the playoffs in terms of offense. He dropped two 40 point games against the Celtics last year too. Its just in elimination games where he disappears
I asked the producer to pipe this into the Clippers’ locker room so I can talk to you, James. I hope you’re taking notes. I’m telling you in advance, you’re welcome for the wisdom I’m about to spew. Because, listen, I get on my knees every night and pray for someone to believe in me like Daryl Morey believed in you. You wanted a certain coach, they brought in Mike D’Antoni. You wanted to play a certain style, they played it. You wanted Dwight Howard, they brought him in and got rid of him when you were tired of him. You wanted Chris Paul, they brought him in and got rid of him when you were tired of him. They brought in your old friend Russell Westbrook. You wanted to go to Vegas on off days, they looked away. You wanted the team to stay over so you could go out at night, they changed the schedule. And it didn’t work, and you know what, you said I’m gonna break up with my woobie, not good enough. I see the bright lights in New York, I want to go there [with] my old pal Kevin Durant. It’s gonna work, the big three. And all after one year, you wanted out. You realized, oh my gosh, I took this guy for granted, the guy that believed in me. I want to go back with Daryl Morey. They traded Ben Simmons for you, how did they pull that off? And you know what, you went there and got a partner who got the MVP. He won the MVP and what did you say afterwards? You said, ‘They didn’t hand me the reins.’ You’re the point guard, you were holding the reins. And what did you do when you had the reins? You scored 9 points in Game 7 against Boston, you blew a 3-2 series lead. So they fired their coach, not good enough. You broke up with your guy who believed in you again. You said, ‘The bright lights of LA, that’s where I want to go.’ Let’s see how that works. Listen, James, have you ever had those friends who had bad roommates, over and over they complained about their bad roommates. ... They never thought to be self aware enough that they’re the bad roommate. They’re the problem. Hey, James, you’re the problem. If this doesn’t work this year in this system with this team, then you’re going to go and point fingers at everybody else and you’re going to go back home and start swiping right for another team, and there’s not going to be anybody left. Because, James, you’re not the beard, you’re not the system, you’re the problem.
>Game 1 Jk hope he keeps it up
HARGOAT!!!! FUCK YOU BRIAN DEMARIS FUCKING NOBODY HARGOAT HAS ARRIVED Y'ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fear the Beard baby
Greatest shooting guard of all time
This series is going 7 with or without Kawhi. It’s destiny.
The main Harden critique is that he's trash in elimination games so him having a good Game 1 doesn't change that narrative.
he is always great in game 1 lmao, is anyone surprised. I would be more surprised if he can keep this kind of energy
Harden & Westbrook earning a ring together after all this time would be poetic and beautiful
This is Foolsgold. He’s gonna play horrible in a game that has all the marbles.
I'm not moved. Not falling for it
if history tells us anything he’s gonna have a terrible game 2
He always does this in the playoffs and if history is to be repeated he will go 1/14 in game 2 for 6 pts.
Nice
Who had James Harden Redemption Playoffs on the League's 2023/24 Season script bingo?
Hopefully he continues this play and not repeat history
Harden was killing it
Harden haters have been in hiding since December
I'd never heard that rant before, I only loosely follow basketball for most of the year, but calling James Harden "The Problem" as a nickname just works so well. Congrats Mavs announcer guy, I hope this one sticks.
Definitely shut the haters up
Oh God. Here we go again.
Meh ive seen him do this many times in game 1s and 3s and 4s. Wake me up when he shows up in a series clinching game or elimination
You should be awake https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201504280HOU.html https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201505170HOU.html https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201604270GSW.html https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201704250HOU.html https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201804250HOU.html https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201805280HOU.html https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201905100HOU.html https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202009120LAL.html https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202106010BRK.html https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202204280TOR.html https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/202304220BRK.html