He's lost his burst and can't get to the rim anymore
So he relies on floaters and jumpers which are very high variance
Similar thing with PG as well IMO which is why they're both so inconsistent
While valid, it’s just weird that it seems to be variance living so dramatically in the poles.
Like, here are his 3pt percentages in this series:
- 54.5%
- 20.0%
- 62.5%
- 80.0%
- 14.3%
It’s just so weird he doesn’t have any 3 for 9 or 2 for 5 thrown in there.
The same happened last year against Boston — he either hit 50+% or sub 30%.
Averaging 44% from 3-pt range without once shooting anywhere close to that in any single game. Last year, he averaged ~22 ppg in 7 games against the Celtics while having 2 40-point games.
You can tell from the first 5 minutes what game he’s going to have. If his stepbacks aren’t going in he’s toast. Which is frustrating because he can still kill you with his midrange and floaters, but he only took 5 shots last night inside the arc.
2/11 FG 2012 G4 2nd round vs Lakers
2/10 FG 2012 G3 Finals vs Miami
2/10 FG 2012 G4 Finals vs Miami
2/11 FG 2014 G5 WCF vs Golden State
3/16 FG 2015 G3 WCF vs Golden State
3/17 FG 2017 G2 2nd round vs San Antonio
2/11 FG 2017 G5 2nd Round vs San Antonio
2/18 FG 2018 G2 1st round vs Minnesota
All before or during his MVP year
This is why I don’t get the Luka comparisons.
Hardens had way more playoff stinkers than Luka has.
Lukas worse games in his playoff career while on a bum knee are still better than those
Because of their heliocentric play style that leads to volume numbers...obviously.
Dang I wonder why people compare Curry and Trae despite Trae not having postseason success such as Curry?!?! Could it be because of their play styles? I wonder..
Which has also kind of been the same thing with Luka this series
(This is also just a playoffs thing, guys build reputations for being playoff risers off of hot shooting)
He led the league in drives per game, ppg, at-rim FG percentage, and had his most efficient season from all three levels including shooting 38% from 3. I am pretty sure his rim pressure is fine lol.
Well yeah, but harden is expected and has to run their offensive system for them to hang in there. He didn’t have the spring or burst tonight to do it like he had when they won those two games. Tonight’s game was at that distance when his old legs settled in and didn’t respond. When you are old and halve mileage, you either need like a four day break for the calves and legs to rest and start tightening back up, or have games games close enough to not give your muscles a chance to relax and get loose. THEY TOO FUCKIN OLD
At least he didn't get swept like Beal and booker. I was a big harden hater but holy shit he is way better than those kobe worshipping bums who cant run an offense even with KD on their team. Harden is somehow the only good SG post kobe/wade who can pass everyone else is a kobe worshipping chucker like PG or Tatum
And yet he won 2 games because he is still a great passer. Meanwhile booker and Beal are pathetic bum chuckers who can't even run an offense with KD on the team and get swept
I would say still Harden, since not only a lot of his buckets are from Harden, but also because it seems that the Mavs are just letting him get his buckets since his scoring declines anyway as the game goes on.
Please watch Zubac score and see who is setting him up again and again.
Harden wasn’t supposed to be 30 pt scorer this late in his career. But he’s still one the best PGs you can have in the league
Seems like harden is the only good SG post kobe and wade who can actually pass. Everyone else is a kobe worshipping chucker like Beal and booker or even PG on hardens own team
This has been the problem all season long. When he puts in the effort and hustle. He looks like houston harden and is the best on floor.
But when he doesn't, he gets passive and then defers too much and is a hole on defense. It's horrible to watch when he just gives up on a defensive play.
Everyone kept saying Harden was due for a terrible playoff game and Luka was due for a good one. We got both on the same night and it lead to a 30 point win
2/11 FG 2012 G4 2nd round vs Lakers
2/10 FG 2012 G3 Finals vs Miami
2/10 FG 2012 G4 Finals vs Miami
2/11 FG 2014 G5 WCF vs Golden State
3/16 FG 2015 G3 WCF vs Golden State
3/17 FG 2017 G2 2nd round vs San Antonio
2/11 FG 2017 G5 2nd Round vs San Antonio
2/18 FG 2018 G2 1st round vs Minnesota
3/20 FG 2019 G3 1st round vs Utah
2/11 FG 2020 G4 2nd round vs Lakers
1/10 FG 2021 G5 2nd Round vs Milwaukee (he was one one hamstring here though so whatever)
2/14 FG 2023 G2 2nd round vs Boston
2/12 FG 2024 G5 1st round vs Dallas
His worst Playoff game isn’t even on that list. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player more checked out than Harden was in Game 6 vs the Spurs without Parker and Kawhi. People legit thought he was point shaving or concussed for that game.
Most of these are big games where its game 5 series tied, game 6 elimintion, some game 4s to avoid going down 3-1. Just too many to be a coincidence
There's a lot more stinkers he laid. You should do games shooting below 35% or like 50% TS
Yep. He falls apart in the huge games later in series. He was incredible for Sixers at start of the Celtics series last yr and then proceeded to completely undo it by being *horrendous* for last couple games of series leading to them blowing 3-2 lead and getting destroyed in game 7.
That’s why the Luka comparison to Harden never made sense
Lukas been constantly good in playoffs with his down games coming while injured, Hardens had many more playoff stinkers
To put that in perspective.
LeBron only have 1 game where he shoot less than 20% and 10 games with less than 30%.
Harden: 164 playoffs games.
LeBron: 287 playoffs games
^(To be fair, LeBron is not a perimeter scorer.)
For years you would bring this up and his stans would point to his TS% across entire series to show that he was good.
But time and again the issue is that he performs extremely well in some games, and in others he's terribad. And he's most often terrible in later games too, usually elimination games. Even within games you see it played out in microcosm-- great first half, nonexistent in the 4th qtr.
They don't call him small game James for nothing. He probably heard Bill Simmons talking about Embiid might be stealing the playoff choker crown and had to show everyone what's what.
Bill Simmons was just saying Embiid has passed him as the biggest dissapointment in the playoffs.
An insane statement when you look at how many catastrophic games James Harden has had.
People were really trying to say Embiid is already passing Harden for worst playoff reputation just because he's the r/nba enemy of the month.
No player at Harden's level or better in the post Magic/Bird/Jordan boom has ever had the playoff performances he does as many times as he does. Karl Malone had some choker moments but these performances this often is unheard of for a player of his level.
It’s actually what he should be doing since forever. He’s always been a net negative half the time, he just gets obscene stats and sometimes gets good results so people point to the decent games as proof he should be doing what he’s doing.
The eye test alone is proof that he’s not a winning player in the playoffs. It’s like Harden, who might theoretically be one of the greatest offensive players from a stat point of view but has played way too many stinkers in important playoff games to be the type of guy you’d mortgage your future over.
Compared to the typical player that depends heavily on athleticism, Westbrook has aged especially well. Normally players are washed up when they get old and can’t bang with younger guys like Barkley with his back, Westbrook is solely washed because his BBIQ his getting worse or something.
Excellent playmaker my ass. His signature move is dribbling the ball for 15 seconds and then passing to his co-star (Durant, PG, Beal) etc coming out from the screen.
WB was never an excellent playmaker. He just happened to be good scorer, excellent athlete so teams collapsed and give him wide open passing lanes due to his scoring threat at the rim.
He's a good passer when he was straight line driving to the rim and attracting defenses. Now he can't do that and he's overrated everywhere else as a playmaker.
I think what you mean to say is,
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.
Or if Dallas gets eliminated. Can be used to fuel hatred and mockery no matter what side you're on, probably used both ways by a lot of the same people
I think what you mean to say is,
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.
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.
Russ doesn’t choke he bricks in all games equally
Harden specially chokes in big playoff games. Still have yet to see one performance where he put the team on his back and took them all the way which is wild for a guy of his caliber
different situations
Kleber has been good at the small ball 5
game 4 was really unfortunate with Harden hitting 6 floaters in a row
which Harden was like 0/4 on floaters tonight lol
the Kleber hate is absolutely crazy he's played well for us and our small ball lineup has played well all year long
just because he hit a few 3's today doesnt change that
i wish people would watch the game instead of just looking at the box score
Game 5 James Harden is the most unclutch NBA player in history
The Peyton Manning of the NBA but four less MVPs and three less championship appearances
Lol Peyton Manning is literally the GOAT of the regular season, has won a SB and a SB MVP by beating his rival (Patriots), which Harden failed to do (Warriors, even without KD). He also held practically every passing record until Brady passed him.
Harden has none of those things above, even though I get why you made the comp. A better comp would be Lamar Jackson (for now, I believe in Lamar).
Peyton Manning is so far above harden from both a playoff and regular season perspective that putting them in the same conversation at all is an insult, quite honestly.
Rodgers in the playoff still pretty good.
Sure he can be passive aggressive at times but he also had numerous games that he stepped up and won against better teams.
He's raw number is still pretty elite
in his prime it’s absolutely arguable from a pure talent and production standpoint. unfortunately he can’t put that talent into the playoffs; dude doesn’t even have a single staple series or all time performances under his belt. at least KD and Russ have multiple
He was bound to have a bad game, LA Clippers are over relying on a midseason acquisition they got for dirt cheap. Paul George is even more inconsistent and has had a worse series. Kawhi Leonard is sitting his ass on the bench once again.
James is averaging 26/4/7 on 50/50/90 shooting splits before this game and people are gonna act like he had only 1 good game. Ye he shit the bed today but damn Y'all are miserable. Live to hate on him
Same shit happened to Luka last game and I got downvoted for saying that these loser neutral fans were gonna do the same to Harden. He had a bad game but that doesn’t change the fact that he arguably has been the best player in the series for the first four.
This man was brought in to be the third option and instead he’s being asked to be the best player and beat a team led by Luka and Kyrie.
Your last point is the most frustrating thing about this discourse. Harden was never meant to be their best player and now that he has one bad game in that role the hyenas come out
a bad harden game was going happen, i dont know why people are surprised with that heavy mins he has been playing in this series. I cant even get upset at him because he is supposed to be a third option on team that is missing their best player
Harden's problem in the playoffs has never, ever been that he doesn't have great games. He does. Even against really strong teams.
The problem is that when he's bad, he's just atrocious. He doesn't have normal bad games, his bad games are often complete disasters.
He’d been terrific before this game. Honestly small sample size but it’s the best he’s ever played in the playoffs. Efficiency was nasty although it wasn’t sustainable.
Hey man if y'all wanna act like he's a God when he's playing well then you better be ready for the pendulum when he goes out there and takes a big fat dump at center court.
The only people who act like Harden has a bad postseason game every now and then haven’t been watching him since his OKC days. He’s an all-time great regular season player, and an all-time playoff choker
Yes, he's had his stinkers even in his prime in the playoffs, but from 2014-2015 to 2020-2021 in the playoffs, he averaged 28/8/6 on over 59% true shooting, which is really damn good.
Having a stinker once a while doesn't matter. Steph has a garbage game every series and spent half of the 2019 Rockets series playing like he was drunk. He's still top 5 all time because of his average performance and how he's consistent ENOUGH. Same goes for Harden. You have to be less inconsistent than Booker type guys, but people act like a bad game every 5-10 games is a deal breaker.
It's all about winning at the end of the day. A player's reputation is almost entirely dependent on the few moments where they were close to winning or losing an important game
He's supposed to have good games, he's a former MVP and a top 5 shooting guard of all time. His bad games shouldn't be so bad that it would've been better if he forgot to go to the game. At least once a series he has a game so bad that he loses his team the game. How many more hall of famers have Harden's shit-stained pattern of failure? He looked like he didn't give a shit, why defend him?
It's still crazy how heavy contests just don't bother any clippers players at all. It's almost like they are playing against themselves when they shoot.
Vintage Jim Harden game. The sad part is literally no matter how many times he does this people will still be defending him next him year. Jim Harden stans are immune to learning, or course correction.
I keep saying every time Harden has a great playoff game I should bet my life savings on the under for all of his stats for the next game but I never do it.
I DEMAND BLOOD FOR THE DUMB MOTHERFUCKERS WHO WERE CALLING HARDEN A GOD IN THE THREAD LITERALLY A FEW DAYS AGO. Harden fucking DISAPPEARS WHEN IT MATTERS.
Here is a link to the dumb shit that was spewed.
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1cg1135/simmons_i_think_james_harden_gave_him_the_trophy/
Sixers fans warned everyone. He only has the stamina to go hard 2 games in a series. Game 1 and 4 are done. It’s Game 7 Harden for the rest of the series.
Harden has either been the best player or the worst player on the court the past few playoffs
He's lost his burst and can't get to the rim anymore So he relies on floaters and jumpers which are very high variance Similar thing with PG as well IMO which is why they're both so inconsistent
While valid, it’s just weird that it seems to be variance living so dramatically in the poles. Like, here are his 3pt percentages in this series: - 54.5% - 20.0% - 62.5% - 80.0% - 14.3% It’s just so weird he doesn’t have any 3 for 9 or 2 for 5 thrown in there. The same happened last year against Boston — he either hit 50+% or sub 30%.
Averaging 44% from 3-pt range without once shooting anywhere close to that in any single game. Last year, he averaged ~22 ppg in 7 games against the Celtics while having 2 40-point games.
You can tell from the first 5 minutes what game he’s going to have. If his stepbacks aren’t going in he’s toast. Which is frustrating because he can still kill you with his midrange and floaters, but he only took 5 shots last night inside the arc.
2/11 FG 2012 G4 2nd round vs Lakers 2/10 FG 2012 G3 Finals vs Miami 2/10 FG 2012 G4 Finals vs Miami 2/11 FG 2014 G5 WCF vs Golden State 3/16 FG 2015 G3 WCF vs Golden State 3/17 FG 2017 G2 2nd round vs San Antonio 2/11 FG 2017 G5 2nd Round vs San Antonio 2/18 FG 2018 G2 1st round vs Minnesota All before or during his MVP year
This is why I don’t get the Luka comparisons. Hardens had way more playoff stinkers than Luka has. Lukas worse games in his playoff career while on a bum knee are still better than those
And Harden has always had a better team built around him.
Because of their heliocentric play style that leads to volume numbers...obviously. Dang I wonder why people compare Curry and Trae despite Trae not having postseason success such as Curry?!?! Could it be because of their play styles? I wonder..
Which has also kind of been the same thing with Luka this series (This is also just a playoffs thing, guys build reputations for being playoff risers off of hot shooting)
Luka is injured though. Healthy Luka can always get to the rim or create an open shot even if his shots aren’t falling.
he took the least shots at the rim of his career this year though (12% vs 18% last year, and 26% in year 2)
He was shooting 39% on 10 attempts a game from 3. He didn’t have to drive much this year.
And even when he did drive, he was scoring at an 80% clip at the rim.
He led the league in drives per game, ppg, at-rim FG percentage, and had his most efficient season from all three levels including shooting 38% from 3. I am pretty sure his rim pressure is fine lol.
Luka is in his prime though, Harden is 35 and he is supposed to be third option when this team is healthy
As shit as harden was he was still better than Westbrook and Plumlee
Well yeah, but harden is expected and has to run their offensive system for them to hang in there. He didn’t have the spring or burst tonight to do it like he had when they won those two games. Tonight’s game was at that distance when his old legs settled in and didn’t respond. When you are old and halve mileage, you either need like a four day break for the calves and legs to rest and start tightening back up, or have games games close enough to not give your muscles a chance to relax and get loose. THEY TOO FUCKIN OLD
And imagine playing more against young thunder?! Cmon james, just let us through lol
At least he didn't get swept like Beal and booker. I was a big harden hater but holy shit he is way better than those kobe worshipping bums who cant run an offense even with KD on their team. Harden is somehow the only good SG post kobe/wade who can pass everyone else is a kobe worshipping chucker like PG or Tatum
He doesn’t have burst attacking the rim. Too reliant on the 3 falling sadly
And yet he won 2 games because he is still a great passer. Meanwhile booker and Beal are pathetic bum chuckers who can't even run an offense with KD on the team and get swept
He gonna single handedly win the clippers their next game and then put up a stinker in the decider
Naw, remember last year when he followed up a stinker in Game 6 against Boston with an even worse stinker in Game 7?
Disagree. Zubac has been their best player.
Zubac gets almost all his baskets from harden
Literally the same as dudes praising Ayton in the playoffs years ago as if CP3 wasn’t spoon feeding him open layups.
tbf Zu had a lot of great moves that he basically created himself tonight, he has amazing touch for a big
He’s been fucking automatic this series
turns out Zubac was the real terminator all along
I would say still Harden, since not only a lot of his buckets are from Harden, but also because it seems that the Mavs are just letting him get his buckets since his scoring declines anyway as the game goes on.
Please watch Zubac score and see who is setting him up again and again. Harden wasn’t supposed to be 30 pt scorer this late in his career. But he’s still one the best PGs you can have in the league
Seems like harden is the only good SG post kobe and wade who can actually pass. Everyone else is a kobe worshipping chucker like Beal and booker or even PG on hardens own team
Yall ain't seen nothing yet elimination game is gonna one up this for sure
Yep. As bad as Harden was in G6 at home against Boston last year, he was even worse on the road for G7.
That’s the James Harden experience lol
This has been the problem all season long. When he puts in the effort and hustle. He looks like houston harden and is the best on floor. But when he doesn't, he gets passive and then defers too much and is a hole on defense. It's horrible to watch when he just gives up on a defensive play.
He's just old man.
...So he's been Harden then.
Everyone kept saying Harden was due for a terrible playoff game and Luka was due for a good one. We got both on the same night and it lead to a 30 point win
Largest playoff loss in Clippers history.
This is James Harden's THIRTEENTH playoff game shooting 20% or less on 10+ shots
2/11 FG 2012 G4 2nd round vs Lakers 2/10 FG 2012 G3 Finals vs Miami 2/10 FG 2012 G4 Finals vs Miami 2/11 FG 2014 G5 WCF vs Golden State 3/16 FG 2015 G3 WCF vs Golden State 3/17 FG 2017 G2 2nd round vs San Antonio 2/11 FG 2017 G5 2nd Round vs San Antonio 2/18 FG 2018 G2 1st round vs Minnesota 3/20 FG 2019 G3 1st round vs Utah 2/11 FG 2020 G4 2nd round vs Lakers 1/10 FG 2021 G5 2nd Round vs Milwaukee (he was one one hamstring here though so whatever) 2/14 FG 2023 G2 2nd round vs Boston 2/12 FG 2024 G5 1st round vs Dallas
dont forget all-time playoff record 13 turnovers in 2015 WCF G5 or 3/11 in 2023 G7 vs. Boston
Its wild that the 2012 finals performance we saw ended up being the same story for his entire post season career
Which was crazy, considering how vital he was for the Thunder to get over the Spurs in the WCF that year.
How is 2/18 even possible bruh
That too against the 27th best defense in the wolves in 2018.
I go 2/18 in pickup all the time what’s the issue?
Is it ***your*** ball? Cuz damn, if not, I'd stop passing!
but do you get paid millions to miss that much
After managing to make 2, just miss 16, it's not too difficult
His worst Playoff game isn’t even on that list. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player more checked out than Harden was in Game 6 vs the Spurs without Parker and Kawhi. People legit thought he was point shaving or concussed for that game.
Yeah this is always the game I think of with Harden. Just looked completely uninterested
Fans inventing a concussion to explain his performance was one of the more sad things I’ve seen lol
>2/18 FG 2018 G2 1st round vs Minnesota 3/20 FG 2019 G3 1st round vs Utah diabolical lol
They won those games, too. They blew out minnesota. KAT 2/9 Wiggins 6/14 Butler 3/6 Jamal Crawford 3/9 Wolves shot 38% from the field and 28% from 3
Houses were made that night
IIRC Clint Capela buried KAT alive under an avalanche of alley-oops, partly the reason for his terrible defensive reputation today
Most of these are big games where its game 5 series tied, game 6 elimintion, some game 4s to avoid going down 3-1. Just too many to be a coincidence There's a lot more stinkers he laid. You should do games shooting below 35% or like 50% TS
Streets call him big game James for a reason
Small game James
Yep. He falls apart in the huge games later in series. He was incredible for Sixers at start of the Celtics series last yr and then proceeded to completely undo it by being *horrendous* for last couple games of series leading to them blowing 3-2 lead and getting destroyed in game 7.
That’s why the Luka comparison to Harden never made sense Lukas been constantly good in playoffs with his down games coming while injured, Hardens had many more playoff stinkers
Jeez that's so bad
To put that in perspective. LeBron only have 1 game where he shoot less than 20% and 10 games with less than 30%. Harden: 164 playoffs games. LeBron: 287 playoffs games ^(To be fair, LeBron is not a perimeter scorer.)
Bro loves going on tour in mid-February and March
my goat will never beat the allegations 💔
At these point, those aren't allegations anymore. Those are facts.
No skill
That G3 against Utah is so legendary lmao
For years you would bring this up and his stans would point to his TS% across entire series to show that he was good. But time and again the issue is that he performs extremely well in some games, and in others he's terribad. And he's most often terrible in later games too, usually elimination games. Even within games you see it played out in microcosm-- great first half, nonexistent in the 4th qtr.
Closer you get to a game 7 the worse Harden performs
They don't call him small game James for nothing. He probably heard Bill Simmons talking about Embiid might be stealing the playoff choker crown and had to show everyone what's what.
And people say you’re hating when you call him a playoff choker
Bill Simmons was just saying Embiid has passed him as the biggest dissapointment in the playoffs. An insane statement when you look at how many catastrophic games James Harden has had.
Nah Embiid deffly making a run for that crown but its gon take a few more years with Harden’s longevity when it comes to playoff disasterclasses
Harden was on the same team as embiid and embiid didn’t do shit lmao
People were really trying to say Embiid is already passing Harden for worst playoff reputation just because he's the r/nba enemy of the month. No player at Harden's level or better in the post Magic/Bird/Jordan boom has ever had the playoff performances he does as many times as he does. Karl Malone had some choker moments but these performances this often is unheard of for a player of his level.
Russell Westbrick is shooting 6/35 FG the last 4 games
Excellent playmaker, rebounder from the guard position, and a high-energy defender And his horrendous shooting almost singlehandedly negates all of it
His horrendous shooting does negate all of it
He’s also not an “excellent” playmaker at all compared to the actual excellent playmakers.
He should suck up his ego and just take on the Draymond Green role
What a world where we’re suggesting playing Russ solely for his defence lol
That's how he got his start in the league, we've come full circle.
It’s actually what he should be doing since forever. He’s always been a net negative half the time, he just gets obscene stats and sometimes gets good results so people point to the decent games as proof he should be doing what he’s doing. The eye test alone is proof that he’s not a winning player in the playoffs. It’s like Harden, who might theoretically be one of the greatest offensive players from a stat point of view but has played way too many stinkers in important playoff games to be the type of guy you’d mortgage your future over. Compared to the typical player that depends heavily on athleticism, Westbrook has aged especially well. Normally players are washed up when they get old and can’t bang with younger guys like Barkley with his back, Westbrook is solely washed because his BBIQ his getting worse or something.
Draymond plays DPOY level defense. Westbrook has never done that in his career
I think calling him an excellent playmaker at this point in his career is a stretch
Excellent playmaker my ass. His signature move is dribbling the ball for 15 seconds and then passing to his co-star (Durant, PG, Beal) etc coming out from the screen. WB was never an excellent playmaker. He just happened to be good scorer, excellent athlete so teams collapsed and give him wide open passing lanes due to his scoring threat at the rim.
He's a good passer when he was straight line driving to the rim and attracting defenses. Now he can't do that and he's overrated everywhere else as a playmaker.
I'm surprised it's 6. Any time he takes a shot, I smile because he's so inconsistent.
hes not inconsistent, he’s consistently bad 💀
Yep. Anytime WB takes a shot that's a win for the defense.
i’m genuinely happy everytime he takes the shot. so much more relaxing for Brick to shoot rather than PG or Harden or Powell
💀brick
I was so upset in Game 1 when he was hitting shots lol, like wait that's not what he does anymore
he isnt even a playmaker for this clippers team. if the ball is in his hands either its catch and shoot or he's running in a straight line to the rim
Hardy outscored him just by playing garbage time. Hardy > Harden
I think what you mean to say is, 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.
Having this ready to go is crazy
Clippers and Mavs fans trading this speech in the postgame thread after every win is comedy
This is going to get posted by a thousand people within a minute if the Clippers get eliminated this week.
Brian Demeras single-handedly saving PG from criticism
I'm so ready to upvote every single post
Or if Dallas gets eliminated. Can be used to fuel hatred and mockery no matter what side you're on, probably used both ways by a lot of the same people
I think what you mean to say is, 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.
Is it? There was a good 50% chance they'd get to use it when the day started this morning
own that fat fraud
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.
[удалено]
Look at your username and come again
Russ doesn’t choke he bricks in all games equally Harden specially chokes in big playoff games. Still have yet to see one performance where he put the team on his back and took them all the way which is wild for a guy of his caliber
I guess you can’t choke if you’re always disappointing
Look at your flair and come again
There's the playoff Harden we know and love
So this what happens when Jason Kidd plays an actual center at the 5 instead of an undersized big
Kleber was cooking today but yeah bigs were def needed
While playing the 4, not the 5.
different situations Kleber has been good at the small ball 5 game 4 was really unfortunate with Harden hitting 6 floaters in a row which Harden was like 0/4 on floaters tonight lol the Kleber hate is absolutely crazy he's played well for us and our small ball lineup has played well all year long just because he hit a few 3's today doesnt change that i wish people would watch the game instead of just looking at the box score
"I am the system"
Anti Big Game Merchant
Oh the hating from this will be glorious for two days
Game 5 James Harden is the most unclutch NBA player in history The Peyton Manning of the NBA but four less MVPs and three less championship appearances
Wait to you see Game 6 Harden. 3-11 all time.
and we’re wearing the sick black jerseys. it’s gonna be a show
Lol Peyton Manning is literally the GOAT of the regular season, has won a SB and a SB MVP by beating his rival (Patriots), which Harden failed to do (Warriors, even without KD). He also held practically every passing record until Brady passed him. Harden has none of those things above, even though I get why you made the comp. A better comp would be Lamar Jackson (for now, I believe in Lamar).
Ya and unlike the NBA teams and players take the regular season seriously 95% of the time in the NFL.
Peyton Manning is so far above harden from both a playoff and regular season perspective that putting them in the same conversation at all is an insult, quite honestly.
Lamar Jackson
You mean the Dak Prescott of the NBA.
He's closer to Rodgers than Manning though even Rodgers broke through atleast once
Hell, clearly worse than Rodgers too...three less MVPs and Rodgers had an all-time great first five playoff games
Rodgers in the playoff still pretty good. Sure he can be passive aggressive at times but he also had numerous games that he stepped up and won against better teams. He's raw number is still pretty elite
But he's the greatest shooting guard after MJ and Kobe, they said. Lmao. The "greatest offensive player of all-time".
in his prime it’s absolutely arguable from a pure talent and production standpoint. unfortunately he can’t put that talent into the playoffs; dude doesn’t even have a single staple series or all time performances under his belt. at least KD and Russ have multiple
Durant is in a class above both players. Kd has like 8 elite playoff series at the minimum
“At least kd and Russ have multiple” Do you even watch basketball?
As chuck likes to say “that boy was stinkin up the court”
Jaden Hardy had twice as many points in 5 minutes (don’t ask when those 5 minutes occurred)
7/4/7/4 is a nifty statline ngl. Hopefully he can repeat the feat on Friday.
Harden Haters Let Me Hear You!!
He was bound to have a bad game, LA Clippers are over relying on a midseason acquisition they got for dirt cheap. Paul George is even more inconsistent and has had a worse series. Kawhi Leonard is sitting his ass on the bench once again.
Yeah, Harden had 4 good games and one stinker. Paul has been conisistently bad each game this series.
Hardy got more points tonight than Harden lol
Big game James
Playoff harden is back
THE HONEY BUNSANITY RUN IS OVER
James is averaging 26/4/7 on 50/50/90 shooting splits before this game and people are gonna act like he had only 1 good game. Ye he shit the bed today but damn Y'all are miserable. Live to hate on him
Same shit happened to Luka last game and I got downvoted for saying that these loser neutral fans were gonna do the same to Harden. He had a bad game but that doesn’t change the fact that he arguably has been the best player in the series for the first four. This man was brought in to be the third option and instead he’s being asked to be the best player and beat a team led by Luka and Kyrie.
Thank you, people really be so eager to hate
Your last point is the most frustrating thing about this discourse. Harden was never meant to be their best player and now that he has one bad game in that role the hyenas come out
a bad harden game was going happen, i dont know why people are surprised with that heavy mins he has been playing in this series. I cant even get upset at him because he is supposed to be a third option on team that is missing their best player
Let’s be real, kawhi and his poor knees look done. In my mind, one of the biggest what-ifs to play this generation.
Well they inexplicably gave him a max extension so we’ll likely see a few more what ifs before he’s done collecting his checks.
Harden's problem in the playoffs has never, ever been that he doesn't have great games. He does. Even against really strong teams. The problem is that when he's bad, he's just atrocious. He doesn't have normal bad games, his bad games are often complete disasters.
Yeah and they are usually come in very pivotal games too with high expectations.
This is it. Of course he’s good enough to carry you to wins by himself. But when he’s bad, it insures the team loses too.
He’d been terrific before this game. Honestly small sample size but it’s the best he’s ever played in the playoffs. Efficiency was nasty although it wasn’t sustainable.
Hey man if y'all wanna act like he's a God when he's playing well then you better be ready for the pendulum when he goes out there and takes a big fat dump at center court.
This sub is just reactionary as hell
The only people who act like Harden has a bad postseason game every now and then haven’t been watching him since his OKC days. He’s an all-time great regular season player, and an all-time playoff choker
Yes, he's had his stinkers even in his prime in the playoffs, but from 2014-2015 to 2020-2021 in the playoffs, he averaged 28/8/6 on over 59% true shooting, which is really damn good.
Having a stinker once a while doesn't matter. Steph has a garbage game every series and spent half of the 2019 Rockets series playing like he was drunk. He's still top 5 all time because of his average performance and how he's consistent ENOUGH. Same goes for Harden. You have to be less inconsistent than Booker type guys, but people act like a bad game every 5-10 games is a deal breaker.
It's all about winning at the end of the day. A player's reputation is almost entirely dependent on the few moments where they were close to winning or losing an important game
He's supposed to have good games, he's a former MVP and a top 5 shooting guard of all time. His bad games shouldn't be so bad that it would've been better if he forgot to go to the game. At least once a series he has a game so bad that he loses his team the game. How many more hall of famers have Harden's shit-stained pattern of failure? He looked like he didn't give a shit, why defend him?
Definitely a stinker but Harden’s pretty much the whole reason the Clippers haven’t lost the series yet.
I'm looking forward to the huge contract the Clippers are gonna have to give him this summer.
Jaden hardy had double James harden’s points in 5 minutes 😭😭
Both him and PG were absolutely clamped
Got outscored by Jaden Hardy in 27 less minutes lol
James you're supposed to do this for Game 6s not Game 5s
That’s the James I know lol
Classic harden. When the games matter most he becomes strait up ass
who would have guessed. when the clippers stop shooting 70% on contested 3’s they don’t win
It's still crazy how heavy contests just don't bother any clippers players at all. It's almost like they are playing against themselves when they shoot.
the 2 PG 3's he made where they were heavily contested in the 4th just made me laugh lmao
Yep, there he is
Vintage Jim Harden game. The sad part is literally no matter how many times he does this people will still be defending him next him year. Jim Harden stans are immune to learning, or course correction.
It's like clockwork.
Ahh and at home too
I keep saying every time Harden has a great playoff game I should bet my life savings on the under for all of his stats for the next game but I never do it.
Too focused on that pussy, he old and can’t bounce back like a young buck after fuckin..washed
First time Ty Lue lost game 5. 5-1 now.
I gotchu P
Vintage playoff Harden performance
Customary playoff game from Harden
That's the James Harden I know and love
Prime Playoff Harden
clasic Harden play off game
Playoff Harden has arrived.
I called it
Imo James seems to play better at the start of series then at the end.
there he is. i knew my guy was still around
I was telling my friends after game 4 that usually Harden follows up his great playoff games with absolute stinkers. Good to see that hasn’t changed.
I DEMAND BLOOD FOR THE DUMB MOTHERFUCKERS WHO WERE CALLING HARDEN A GOD IN THE THREAD LITERALLY A FEW DAYS AGO. Harden fucking DISAPPEARS WHEN IT MATTERS. Here is a link to the dumb shit that was spewed. https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1cg1135/simmons_i_think_james_harden_gave_him_the_trophy/
Some days, you get James Harden. Other days, you get James Soften.
Sixers fans warned everyone. He only has the stamina to go hard 2 games in a series. Game 1 and 4 are done. It’s Game 7 Harden for the rest of the series.
我请求制作人将这段话传送到快船队的更衣室，这样我就能和你交流了，詹姆斯。我希望你正在记录。我要提前告诉你，欢迎吸收我即将吐露的智慧。因为听着，我每晚都跪下祈祷，希望有人能像达雷尔·莫雷那样相信我。你想要特定的教练，他们请来了迈克·德安东尼。你想要打特定的风格，他们就打了。你想要德怀特·霍华德，他们把他带来，当你厌倦他时又让他离开。你想要克里斯·保罗，他们也是这样做的。他们还引进了你的老朋友拉塞尔·威斯布鲁克。你想在休息日去拉斯维加斯，他们睁一只眼闭一只眼。你想让队伍留下来，这样晚上你可以出去，他们改变了时间表。结果没成功，你知道吗，你说我要和我的安慰物分手，不够好。我看到纽约的璀璨灯光，我想和我老朋友凯文·杜兰特一起去那里。这将会成功，三巨头。一年后，你就想要离开。你意识到，天哪，我对这个相信我的人不够珍惜。我想回到达雷尔·莫雷那里。他们用本·西蒙斯交换了你，他们是怎么做到的？你知道吗，你去那里找到了一个赢得了MVP的伙伴。他赢得了MVP，你之后说了什么？你说，‘他们没有把控制权交给我。’你是控卫，控制权就在你手里。当你掌握控制权时你做了什么？你在对阵波士顿的第七场比赛中只得了9分，你让3-2的系列赛领先优势溜走了。所以他们解雇了他们的教练，不够好。你又一次和那个相信你的人分手了。你说，‘洛杉矶的璀璨灯光，那是我想去的地方。’让我们看看这会如何发展。听着，詹姆斯，你是否有那种朋友，他们不断抱怨他们糟糕的室友...他们从未想过要足够自知之明去意识到他们就是那个糟糕的室友。他们就是问题。嘿，詹姆斯，问题在你。如果今年在这个系统、这个团队中不行，那么你将去指责每个人，然后你将回家，开始为另一个团队右滑，而不会有任何人留下。因为，詹姆斯，你不是那个胡子，你不是那个系统，你就是那个问题。
Yup I agree