Maybe in Oklahoma City the other players will play better. Houston has so many weapons, they made that big run when Harden was on the bench, take Westbrook out and OKC has no chance.
Warriors live by the 3 so if somebody is or two of them are off then they have a hard time winning. Portland looks like an entirely different team in the playoffs. More energy and hunger.
westbrook's so much better than harden; will be a real travesty if he doesn't get the mvp over him. it's already ridiculous that leonard is barely in the conversation.
17 shots for 35 points 43 shots for 51 points Guess the player. He's literally a league made star and it's annoying. They were desperate to find someone to replace Kobe as the best SG in the league. Take away his FTs and you have an better than average guard.
i would just say that if he were officiated like anyone else, he's a part-time allstar, and his teams are finishing 11th in the conference. but yeah, someone REALLY wanted this to happen. it helps that the media's in morey's pocket, imo. nobody really takes the nba to task publicly for harden's shenanigans.
Hey, evil NBA Collusion Team, let's make this career 6th man, who's career high is averaging under 17 ppg, just choked majorly in the Finals, and comin to Houston, a city not vital for NBA success like NY, LA or Chi, the MVP. Because he has a cool beard and that nifty euro step. He was averaging 10 ft attempts in 13, his first full year as a starter. Conspiracy theorists, and resident FT disparity counter, abeer, go!
Yawn. unless you're being serious--in which case, you made a good argument. his FTAs track his production perfectly. making the argument that the FTAs came first is easy. had you presented evidence that he was a 25ppg scorer prior to getting all the ref love, it might have made more sense. make friends with logic, then yawn. btw, houston's a big market and a fairly storied nba franchise, relatively speaking.
Ohhhh I get it. The NBA wanted to make a career 6th man, who averaged less than 17 ppg, got demolished in the Finals, and wasn't going to be in a major market where people say that things are better when that team is good. Makes perfect sense.
I also thought the same thing watching Russ last night. Last night despite the loss again solidified to be why he is the MVP this year. Not the stat line but the value he brings to his team. When he's off the court his team sucks against HOU.
I see your yawn and raise you this s***: I don't know what the motive for manufacturing Harden was. He IS reffed differently than nearly anyone else in the history, save perhaps for Wade... but you know that one already.
Mash is sticking to holier-than-thou attitude or something...? I actually felt ashamed for reading this: https://www.theplayerstribune.com/trevor-ariza-james-harden-nba-mvp-2017/ Trevor should know better. He played, and probably owns quite a bit, with a player so vastly vastly superior that... I don't even...
I'm not really interested in the personal war going on with member of LB but I did want to chime in on this message. Here's the thing, Harden is a baller no doubt about it. The guy literally can do just about anything on the court and is, when he wants to be, impossible to guard. He has handles, he has strength, he can finish around the rim as good as anyone in the league and he has crazy range from all over the court to include a mid-range game. Offensively, talent wise, he is as good as the league has going today plus he has that "stand out and be noticed thing" going for him with that beard. That is simple. That being said, Harden is a manufactured superstar and MVP and, just like the above stuff, isn't really arguable. He is officiated differently than nearly anyone in the game outside of Lebron. He flops (suppose to be a fine), runs into people (suppose to be a charge), flails and hits people (Kobe got suspended for unnatural basketball acts) and he lives at the free throw line yet doesn't live in the paint. Conspiracies aside only a blind person wouldn't see the disparity of the calls. A guy like Westbrook is literally on attack, very much Allen Iverson like, 95% (yup made that up) of the time and doesn't get as many calls as Harden does on any given day. Look at the NBA's current golden boy Lebron James in the last 3 seasons he has attempted 528, 491 and 531 freethrows in the regular season. James Harden in that same 3 year span has attempted 824, 837 and 831 free throws. In fact Harden has made in his lowest total from that time 714 (out of 824) was still 183 more than Lebron James attempted this year (his highest) of 531 free throws. By the way Harden's lowest in that time frame was 2014. I don't think Lebron is the GOAT like many say but to look at his game and Hardens game and see that type of disparity is alarming. It also shows a favoritism for Harden. Call it what you will but the eyes aren't lying conspiracy or not.
I'm with you Zen and abeer3 .... f*** Harden and all of that s*** and his beard. C'mon Mash. On what planet is that not a foul on Harden? He "initiates" the contact in a manner where by the book he should be called for it .... as an integral part of his game now and the refs let him do it. That's why he was a deserved recipient of this. Sorta.
Can we go back to the time where no foul or an offensive foul was called when the offensive player initiates the contact.
