34.8 points, 8.6 assists, 6.3 rebounds, 2.1 steals over the season.

This year he’s doing 44 pts, 9.25 assists, 8.6 rebounds in 8 games.

Credit where it’s due. It’s incredible.

yes, i'm hating. don't @ me.

Not a big fan of his game.

Any scorer that gets the green light like that can put up similar #'s. Dude took 17 THREES in one game, not shots, just THREES...that's a certified chucker

Also, his patented move is a blatant push-off.

Dude can score, but I'm not really impressed

And he hit ONLY 1? Come on
I get that everyone is banged up, but dude loves to chuck no matter who's on the court.

.

niggas never get to touch the ball unless its a catch and shoot.

it wasn't a diss to anyone involved...but i KNEW from Melo's interviews during that season with OKC and his exit interview shit...he was NOT trying to wait in the corner until James dribbled the clock down to 4 seconds and gave him a kickout...IF that even happened, at all. But...dudes told me that it was just Russ and that the GAWDZ was gonna make it work. Shit, at least he played a full season with us. Mofo lasted like 12 games in Houston.

..

I don’t like harden’s game either, but he’s in one of the all time runs right now and deserves nothing but awe.

Chuckin' ass...dude deserves critique like everyone else
Let's not act like if Kobe was doing this, people wouldn't be trashing him. And he was passing to Smush Parker at one point

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

in his system. Because this gotta be such an outlier to his brand of play.

but in any case, this is amazing. you would THINK someone whose game is like this could not prosper like this.

they actually lost to the nets last night, smh

is the game is called and played a little differently come playoff time

But I just want to GOAT shout at those numbers:

37/5/4.6/2.9/1.5
35/5.5/5.9/3.2/1.6
32.5/8/8/2.9/.8

All before his 26th Bday. Only got 1 MVP for those numbers but also a DPOY.

And this Nugget here: https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/198811260DEN.html

Dude literally had NO help, even with Scottie and Horace on the team (to be fair, they were like rookies). Single-handedly brought them back while shooting 70% to do so. Came up short.

Carry on.

>But I just want to GOAT shout at those numbers:
>
>37/5/4.6/2.9/1.5
>35/5.5/5.9/3.2/1.6
>32.5/8/8/2.9/.8
>
>All before his 26th Bday. Only got 1 MVP for those numbers
>but also a DPOY.
>
>And this Nugget here:
>https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/198811260DEN.html
>
>Dude literally had NO help, even with Scottie and Horace on
>the team (to be fair, they were like rookies).
>Single-handedly brought them back while shooting 70% to do so.
> Came up short.
>
>Carry on.

its legitimately a travel
traveling is a pretty simple rule - its easy to spot, you just have to be able to count to 3

that's why i don't cyse him no more. he's indefensible in the regular season...

...and the playoffs.

and to all y'all who thought he was fat and slow and soft for getting eliminated with a trash ASU team..."HI"

Harden has scored 115 points in the last 2 games...not ONE point was assisted. LMAO! It's just 4 guys standing still, watching one guy go nuts.

Ya'll some funny-type, weird hating ass dweebs. Sideline hating, in here saying "if Kobe gunned like that...". ........

MUHFUCKER, KOBE DID GUN LIKE THIS. And he lost more and scored less.

If any one of you guys' teams' bum-ass "superstars" EVER did anything like this (and don't tell me Russ did because his team lost a fuckton the year he did anything resembling this, and he did it on a much worse FG% and even higher usage rate on the year), this place would be a literal shrine to Jamal Murray or Rie or Cemented HOFer Joel Embiid or whichever little loser you guys obsess over because you vicariously live through Coach K or Sam Hinkie or what the fuck ever.

Yup, I'm mad, and you would be too if your guy was out here dropping 50 a fucking night, putting his name on lists with Wilt Goddamn Chamberlain and no one else, and the boards wanted to talk about a damn FT rate.

Y'all lame.

>MUHFUCKER, KOBE DID GUN LIKE THIS. And he lost more and scored
>less.
>
>If any one of you guys' teams' bum-ass "superstars" EVER did
>anything like this (and don't tell me Russ did because his
>team lost a fuckton the year he did anything resembling this,
>and he did it on a much worse FG% and even higher usage rate
>on the year), this place would be a literal shrine to Jamal
>Murray or Rie or Cemented HOFer Joel Embiid or whichever
>little loser you guys obsess over because you vicariously live
>through Coach K or Sam Hinkie or what the fuck ever.


that's what makes it AMAZING to me. this is supposed to be "bad". but Harden is making it work. and if the Rockets sail through the playoffs doing this shit? off one dude's sheer will?

we might have to start talking Beard in the Hall of GOATS...

https://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.fcgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1_hint=Russell+Westbrook&player_id1_select=Russell+Westbrook&y1=2017&player_id1=westbru01&idx=players&player_id2_hint=James+Harden&player_id2_select=James+Harden&y2=2019&player_id2=hardeja01&idx=players

why is Harden's season better?

Besides Russ's inflated boards and slightly better assists (with what is still, even after this run, a higher USG rate)? Better TS%, EFG%, WS/48, any RPM stat you wanna find, and also just the traditional shooting metrics like PPG, FG%, and 3PT%.

The only advanced stats Harden doesn't lead in are the cumulative ones (win shares), so, you know, get back to me in 35 games.

Also, if none of the stats YOU just posted are enough to prove it, how about their projected win totals and current seedings? Also, let's see if my boy gets knocked out in the first round by... well, I guess Harden can't eliminate himself like he did Russ in 5 that year, huh?

He'd get the whistle on every possession back when refs called games according to basketball rules.

Well done, fellas. History will remember your contributions to the game.

Not a fan of watching him dribble for 15 seconds on every other possession but it’s still crazy to watch him drain 3’s and drive to the hoop

Didn’t he score 61 and none of his scores were assisted by other teammates?

What’s really crazy is OKC had Harden, Westbrook and Durant and never won a chip.

above it says 115 but i think he had another monster game of ISO ISO ISO after that

If you're ever in LA during the summer I suggest making a trip to the Drew League on a weekend. As long a Harden is in town and not on a promotional trip and/or vacay he'll more than likely be there.

Sitting a few rows up and watching his first step against relatively respectable defenders who are actually trying is a sign to see. His first step combined with ridiculous lower body strength (seems like he lucked out in the genetic lottery there) makes him completely unstoppable. TV doesn't really do his game justice imo. Dude is kind of a freak.

... the rest of his game isn't spectacular to see. He gets by on an unbelievable understanding of a mastery of the craft of scoring and manipulating every aspect of his individual matchup, including how to draw any foul call.

He's got to be one of the craftier players to ever put on an NBA uniform. He's not an explosive athlete, at least not the way that LeBron, Kobe, Russ, and even Kyrie are. So, he's not awing fans with sheer athletic ability. And why he has that great crossover, he doesn't seem like he has great handles like Kyrie or Steph, so his game is ordinary in many respects, at least relative to how other stars are judged.

But if there was a player who maximized every aspect of the modern game it's Harden.

Like you were saying, it's a minor basketball tragedy that the group of Harden, KD, and Russ only made the one Finals appearance and never won a title. Because that Big 3 would rival the one in Golden State now or a lot of historic teams. Looking back the handful of millions the owner didn't spend on luxury tax fees team broke up a team which had potential to be legendary.

Jorn
Kobe
Mmmmmaybe TMac
Durant
Peak steph

Who’d I forget? Don’t say something stupid like Bron, Melo, or AI.

>Jorn
>Kobe
>Mmmmmaybe TMac
>Durant
>Peak steph
>
>Who’d I forget? Don’t say something stupid like Bron,
>Melo, or AI.

The greatest joke of our time is Lebron conning yall
into thinking he couldn't hang 35 a night on everyone.

Lebron is legitimately one of the best pure scorers to
ever play. He just happens to also be one of the best
passers at the same time. He takes intelligent shots.

To be clear, lebron could do something like 35/14/12 for a month or something that’s more valuable than what Harden’s doing, but Bron has never shown he can pure score like this.

>To be clear, lebron could do something like 35/14/12 for a
>month or something that’s more valuable than what Harden’s
>doing, but Bron has never shown he can pure score like this.

He put up 31 game WAAAAAAAAAY before his game was even
refined. AT 48% LMAO.

He COULD EASILY hang 35+, but that isn't how he DECIDES
to play the game. He's more Magic Johnson than he is a
mindless chucker. He COULD EASILY put up cartoonish scoring
numbers.

Its why his career is so comical: he actually isn't even
a score-first guy. He's a "right decision" guy. He just HAPPENS
to be one of the 3 best pure scorers ever....because he's
just that good.


----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

agree, he def could Lebronto these other teams on the reg if he really wanted to, but no reason to do it and get burnt out by playoff time

And that's not to diminish Harden or anyone else. Harden is a very special player who will likely win MVP again this season and will have earned it.

But we're still doubting Bron's abilitity to score at will? In 2019??? I mean cmon.

and that's including Jorn at the peak of his ballhoggedry when he was trying to score every time down the court. but it's insane to think Bron couldn't do this? lolz.

Peak steph?

you mean like this year... when he basically leads the league in true shooting percentage but he also takes the furthest shots from court?

and chucks up 75 footers 3x a night lol

Really?

steve nash
jeremy lin
harden

all had very very very overrated runs and are a function of dantonis system that dont work come playoff time

Harden: He not wrong

Damn, I miss Kobe.
https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1092543503819857920

5 years ago

Right now, they'd be a 1st round matchup w/POR

I would take HOU in that series

I think it could work

He's seeing these teams multiple times in the regular season and nobody's figured it out

IMO, they'd have a better chance playing this way than going 0 for 27...

he's talking about not being able to win with 1 guy doing THIS much...and Harden himself agreed.

In this new NBA, I think it could work.

in a 7 game series....the same team every other day.

We saw him turn Steve Nash from a borderline all-star to a 2-time MVP.

We all remember Linsanity.

At one point during his brief Laker tenure Kobe was averaging a triple-double.

Harden was already a great player, it stands to reason that Antoni’s system will take him to another level.

The whole point has been they can't even run the PnR anymore because teams switch it because it was so effective. And people even stopped switching so much because of how they were leaving their bigs on islands to get cooked.

The answer for Harden now is selective trapping and using multiple defenders so that they can all expend all their energy on him. And ball denial (or an inspired night from a Paul George or Jrue Holiday that just turns an insanely efficient 45 into a less efficient 38). D'Antoni gets credit for Harden's 12 assists in Y1 of his tenure in Houston; since then, the Harden/Capela PnR has been so good, teams started using entirely different defenses for it. D'Antoni creates set plays, he tells guys where to be, he runs the rotations. Alla this scoring, he has about as much to do with as Phil did with a fadeaway from Jorn over a double team.

>The whole point has been they can't even run the PnR anymore
>because teams switch it because it was so effective. And
>people even stopped switching so much because of how they were
>leaving their bigs on islands to get cooked.
>
>The answer for Harden now is selective trapping and using
>multiple defenders so that they can all expend all their
>energy on him. And ball denial (or an inspired night from a
>Paul George or Jrue Holiday that just turns an insanely
>efficient 45 into a less efficient 38). D'Antoni gets credit
>for Harden's 12 assists in Y1 of his tenure in Houston; since
>then, the Harden/Capela PnR has been so good, teams started
>using entirely different defenses for it. D'Antoni creates set
>plays, he tells guys where to be, he runs the rotations. Alla
>this scoring, he has about as much to do with as Phil did with
>a fadeaway from Jorn over a double team.

Scottie Pippen broke it down on ESPN. You basically have to sit on his left hand and force him right to TRY and slow him down then deny.

The reality is the real key to Harden's success has been the legalization of the 2-step stepback jumper. That was considered a travel up until a few years ago.

And he dropped 42 efficiently on them.

Man, watch games before you come in here and talk ball. You want to talk 0 step vs. stepbacks prior to the gather step rule, you have a discussion. If you're talking about the kind of blatant shit he did against Rubio, that tells me you watch little more than Sportscenter highlights and whatever your preferred IG channel puts up. Dude's stepback is mostly clean, and he gets away with the occasional one because of how tight the usual footwork is.

https://youtu.be/UwNlgTZM3oI?t=107

First one's one of the four stepbacks he has in the arsenal, the next play is the famed double stepback, a blatant travel that he just gets away with here b/c the ref's looking at the elbow for possible contact. That second one is not exactly a frequent occurrence (hence my ability to remember one of the only other times I saw him get away with it this year). The main stepback that people have a problem with is the left foot tap stepback where he fades right because people question when he's picking the ball up and whether you can get more steps in between the dribble and gather. This double stepback bullshit is a red herring.

in any other era.