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VINO 24 wrote:I’ll be the first to say how much I’ve bashed this guy for the longest time and how he stinks it up in the playoffs. But my lord THE BEARD. WHAT A INSANE PERFORMANCE

Just wait, the PLAYOFF HARDEN will appear any day now

DonaldSanders wrote:

pr0wler wrote:

DonaldSanders wrote:

Or if they just could play GS without Durant in the playoffs and CP3 healthy... oh wait they did and lost

You mean that one whole game in 2019 series vs the Rockets where KD wasn't healthy? Sick sample size bro

CP3 missed game 6, so did Durant. Same situation.

Rockets in 2018 without Paul were gonna beat the Warriors on game 7 until the ref show saved them

would love if someone broke down hardens stats in the playoffs vs regular season and compared it to some of his peers so we get some context of the idea that 'harden stinks in the playoffs'

EmpireFalls wrote:Luka still hasn’t surpassed peak Harden man. He just hasn’t

yes he has

Johnny Fontane wrote:Think of what he could’ve done without those cheat code warrior teams existing

Crazy that people only use Lebrons name as to who got stopped by those cheat code warrior teams but it was always Hardens teams that gave them their hardest challenge.

Amazing considering the talent disparities between the teams and yet its always Harden people like to throw under the bus. Sure he isn't perfect but his teams have far often exceeded expectations when he's been on the court.

Harden has to win two more games this series. I think he will. The question remains when Kawhi gets back to the elite form he was mid season and really make a run for the chip. Denver and Boston are the elite teams. OKC too but a step below those two IMHO

Papi_swav wrote:

EmpireFalls wrote:Luka still hasn’t surpassed peak Harden man. He just hasn’t

yes he has

prove it

bovice wrote:would love if someone broke down hardens stats in the playoffs vs regular season and compared it to some of his peers so we get some context of the idea that 'harden stinks in the playoffs'

Harden’s actual playoff stats aren’t that bad broken down into averages. And in some series he's actually been great, full stop, which helps his playoff averages.

But it’s always been about his high profile no-shows in big games. Take Boston last year as the most recent example: 22-6-8 on good efficiency. But he had only 22 points COMBINED in games 6 and 7.

This is a constant throughline in his career.

GuyverX wrote:Harden has been playing the perfect role for the Clippers since day 1. It's a shame Kawhi just cannot stay healthy at the end of the season. It's always been "what" if with him since he put on a Clippers jersey outside of the bubble season.

With how all the other seasons have played out, would Kawhi have been healthy past about the beginning of the 2nd round in the bubble season if there wasn't a 4.5 month break before the playoffs started?

We cite that as his only healthy season, but it wasn't even a real situation that could be replicated. I bet he could be healthy if he got a 4 month break before the playoffs every season

HotRocks34 wrote:Harden did this in Philly when Embiid was out. He wasn't allowed to do it IMO when Embiid was around.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a Melo/Lin situation in Philadelphia and we know the Sixers will cater Embiid through thick & thin, one playoff failure after another…

To be fair Harden has had good games in the post season before. I'd say this has been his most consistent so far. Let's see if he can keep this up for more than 1 matchup.

Harden's been great I give him that, but if the opposite team's coach is going to make it easy for him in the 4th and bench two 7 foot rim protectors and give him a exploitable cheat code at the rim then that's kind of on that coach. Kidd did that. But he was good from 3 before that even. However Mavs win if they have a coach with a shred of common sense.

Tor_Raps wrote:

Johnny Fontane wrote:Think of what he could’ve done without those cheat code warrior teams existing

Crazy that people only use Lebrons name who stopped by those cheat code warrior teams but it was always Hardens teams that gave them their hardest challenge.

Amazing considering the talent disparities between the teams and yet its always Harden people like to throw under the bus. Sure he isn't perfect but his teams have far often exceeded expectations when he's been on the court.

The one thing that'll always stick out with Harden for me is this: How much greater could he truly have been if he was willing to tone down the partying lifestyle he's known for off the court. I'm all for enjoying life, but in moderation. If he put in more effort into working not only harder, but more importantly smarter imagine how much more lethal he truly could've been especially conditioning wise. Maybe he doesn't suffer those injuries that really slowed him down the last couple of years.

Truly a great player and even though he wants the max, if he's willing to take a lesser deal say 4/120M(dunno what Clips fans would be comfortable with but Ballmer got the money) to allow the Clippers to make moves to get more depth that would be huge.

EmpireFalls wrote:

bovice wrote:would love if someone broke down hardens stats in the playoffs vs regular season and compared it to some of his peers so we get some context of the idea that 'harden stinks in the playoffs'

Harden’s actual playoff stats aren’t that bad broken down into averages. And in some series he's actually been great, full stop, which helps his playoff averages.

But it’s always been about his high profile no-shows in big games. Take Boston last year as the most recent example: 22-6-8 on good efficiency. But he had only 22 points COMBINED in games 6 and 7.

This is a constant throughline in his career.

but he's also showed up in high profile games.

most players have had duds in important games. look at curry in game 7 of the 2016 finals or game 7 vs LAL last year. yeah harden gave up vs the spurs in game 6 a while on the rockets which was a bad look but that team wasn't going anywhere that year anyway. and yeah shooting 20-something % isn't excusable but that's later in his career when he's no longer the primary option. you don't get to a game 7 of WCFs as the best player (vs KD's warriors no-less) and not be a playoff performer. you don't get to a WCF where trevor ariza is ur 2nd best scorer and not be a playoff performer

it's a lazy narrative. there are players that consistently shrink in the playoffs and harden isn't one of them.

another classic harden playoff stat line tn

Hahahaha

Some guys never learn

bovice wrote:

EmpireFalls wrote:

bovice wrote:would love if someone broke down hardens stats in the playoffs vs regular season and compared it to some of his peers so we get some context of the idea that 'harden stinks in the playoffs'

Harden’s actual playoff stats aren’t that bad broken down into averages. And in some series he's actually been great, full stop, which helps his playoff averages.

But it’s always been about his high profile no-shows in big games. Take Boston last year as the most recent example: 22-6-8 on good efficiency. But he had only 22 points COMBINED in games 6 and 7.

This is a constant throughline in his career.

but he's also showed up in high profile games.

most players have had duds in important games. look at curry in game 7 of the 2016 finals or game 7 vs LAL last year. yeah harden gave up vs the spurs in game 6 a while on the rockets which was a bad look but that team wasn't going anywhere that year anyway. and yeah shooting 20-something % isn't excusable but that's later in his career when he's no longer the primary option. you don't get to a game 7 of WCFs as the best player (vs KD's warriors no-less) and not be a playoff performer. you don't get to a WCF where trevor ariza is ur 2nd best scorer and not be a playoff performer

it's a lazy narrative. there are players that consistently shrink in the playoffs and harden isn't one of them.

Harden has had a lot of them though.

Tonight was his 69th playoff game where he shot under 40%.

He’s guard Karl Malone. He has some big playoff games but ultimately you know he’s going to come up short.

No one should be surprised by this. This is who James Harden is now. Feast or famine. No in between

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NZB2323 wrote:

bovice wrote:

EmpireFalls wrote:Harden’s actual playoff stats aren’t that bad broken down into averages. And in some series he's actually been great, full stop, which helps his playoff averages.

But it’s always been about his high profile no-shows in big games. Take Boston last year as the most recent example: 22-6-8 on good efficiency. But he had only 22 points COMBINED in games 6 and 7.

This is a constant throughline in his career.

but he's also showed up in high profile games.

most players have had duds in important games. look at curry in game 7 of the 2016 finals or game 7 vs LAL last year. yeah harden gave up vs the spurs in game 6 a while on the rockets which was a bad look but that team wasn't going anywhere that year anyway. and yeah shooting 20-something % isn't excusable but that's later in his career when he's no longer the primary option. you don't get to a game 7 of WCFs as the best player (vs KD's warriors no-less) and not be a playoff performer. you don't get to a WCF where trevor ariza is ur 2nd best scorer and not be a playoff performer

it's a lazy narrative. there are players that consistently shrink in the playoffs and harden isn't one of them.

Harden has had a lot of them though.

Tonight was his 69th playoff game where he shot under 40%.

He’s guard Karl Malone. He has some big playoff games but ultimately you know he’s going to come up short.

Someone thought it was a good idea to team up Harden with Embiid with Doc coaching. lol

How do you score 7 pts in a playoffs game???