And they are calling this guy the best offensive player of this generation?

He gets most of his points from free throws. 24/24 from the line.
Shoots below avg for his career and the season. 44%

Players on that team are looking like they have had enough of just watching him dribble.

if you look at the numbers and style of scoring harden actually is more effective.
more assists, too.

so where does that leave him if this goes on like this for 2-3 more years?
right behind MJ?

or does he need the rings to be in the convo?
give him shaq, pau or pippen and he might get some.
82 points?

i don't even like his game at all and i hope he flames out in the playoffs with westbrook like they both did last year.
but that type of ball been cultivated by the league and he is taking full advantage of it.

that's always been the criticism w/ him. his game is actually cold as fuck when he just plays straight up.

but you can't cheese the rules like this in the playoffs because the refs dont go for that shit.

there was a window of time (in which he won MVP) where they got rid of illegal defense, people would just camp out under the rim so you had to find other places to score. this was prior to the "illegal screens are now mostly legal" pussyball era.

Kobe used to take shots that were on paper, bullshit... but make them to get around the new defense.

In retrospect, his "Michael Jordan Standom" shouldn't have worked but it did.

OKC Durant routinely would get 15+ free throw attempts while shooting under 40%
but go off
looks different...less scammy but same thing

And shoots 50 percent for his career.

Kawhi is essentially shooting the same percentage as Harden this year (~43/44%) - but nobody has really mentioned it.

-->

He doesn't even necessarily have to win a title -- but he has to be competitive and perform better in the biggest moments. His game has been built for the Regular Season - but the cadence of his game completely changes in the playoffs as defenses lock in and tighten on every possession.

-->

He just makes the game so hard for himself. It just bad basketball. I have never seen a guy work so hard just to get a basket

Where as his peers are way more efficient....by a long ways.

Harden and Westbrook combined for 16 for 68 shooting.

Other players look to not draw contact, so there is no wear and tear on the body. He looks to draw contact and put up as many shots as possible. So in the postseason his body is shot.

It’s like eating cereal with a fork.

Shooting 45% from the field with 10 attempts from 3 as he did just a couple years ago is pretty good. But agreed most of his game is predicated on FTs and it's never worked in the 'offs.