Oh so we shouldn't count Howard and Paul then because they were past their primes and declining too? Yeah I thought so. I'm not going to argue with a Rockets fan about Harden. There is plenty of bs narrative which thank god never enter's Harden's mind and I bet Westbrook is the same. If we listened to narrative, we wouldn't have been in the last 2 series, we would have packed up and retooled like everyone else. If we listened to narrative Harden wouldn't be an all time great scorer. Seriously he has nothing to prove, unless the charge is he can't beat more talented teams than his in the playoffs.
Crown is with Durant. The Warriors are out. Harden is king among active players, no one else even sniffed that crown.
So now he's not "the one true king" he's the "king among active players"? You're the gift that keeps on giving....this is comedy at its finest. Have a good weekend....
Howard didn't play anywhere near his best for the Rockets. CP3 missed a lot of games..... and Westbrook has also missed a lot of games. That's not 3 at their best when healthy. Westbrook has probably given us 3 months of playing at his best.... the rest he's been average to poor. CP3 didn't play all that well last season, especially in the playoffs. CP3 also missed key games in the playoffs. Westbrook has probably been the first all-star Harden has played with still in his prime.... and even he's missed games. I knew you'd bring up that game against the Spurs. He played terrible in 2 games.... the rest he actually played well in. So him turning up for 4 out of 6 games isn't bad at all..... he just didn't have the support Kawhi did. I can bring up a ton of games where Kawhi has played awful in, but I'm not going to nitpick. Please don't make out Kawhi is some kind of goat or something. I seem to remember him hiding in the corner guarding Tucker when he should have been guarding Harden. Aren't elite players like Kawhi supposed to take up the responsibility to try and stop the main threat? No.... he just sat in the corner being scared. Put it this way.... if Harden had the support and rest like Kawhi's had, he would now have around 3 or 4 rings.
You said those teams had 3 players playing at that level. They didn't. Howard, CP3 and Westbrook were all still elite players here. He has to prove he can win a title to be listed amongst the greatest of the great. It was the same way for Hakeem.
He didn't, but he still played at an elite level while here. And they still gave elite seasons and or playoffs when they played. If you want to say CP3 wasn't elite in the postseason last year I may agree, but he sure was his 1st year here. Howard was his first two seasons here. Trying to pawn off all of Harden's teams as average is laughable. No, he didn't have as much talent as teams that he lost to most of the time, but he did in other times and still took L's, and his production decreased every year. You can't blame the help when you are consistently playing worse. Bro, he lost the series while playing like garbage with Kawhi and Parker in suits. Kawhi is still writing his legacy, similar to Harden. But at this point one upped his play and led a team to a title and the other didn't. And if Kawhi rings again...with a franchise that ever won again...he's gonna get a huge legacy bump. Only things making excuses keep mentioning the supporting casts. Again, damn near every team that wins has a great player with a great supporting cast. Guess what....Jordan never won without an elite team either.[/QUOTE]
James Harden has not had one playoff run where his performance exceeded what Kawhi did last postseason. 31, 9, 4, 1.7 49%, 38% and 88% shooting 55% eFG 62% TS 28 PER ALL WORLD, SERIES CHANGING DEFENSE Please highlight the playoff run where Harden was better?
Crown is Harden's. The 2 players Harden joined are Wilt and MJ. Even Durant or Kobe cannot claim to be in this elite club.
He should have said the Warriors WITH Kevin Durant active because if that’s the case then absolutely no one has challenged them like Harden and the Rockets have regardless of what everyone wants to say.
All world changing defense give me a break. His defense has been overrated for awhile. The Raptors and Nick Nurse have the second best record in the league right now. And are second in defensive efficiency WITHOUT him. You put Harden on that team and he kills. Harden is a much better offensive player who impacts his team offense more than Kawhi can influence the court on either end. Harden had better stats against a better Golden State team. Don't talk about Kawhi's defense cause it hasnt been that good for awhile. Vs Utah who was a top 3 defensive team, the Rockets posted a better offensive rating then the Raptors did against either of the Sixers or the Bucks. Kawhi can get his scoring numbers but he'll never have the impact Harden does offensively.
Kawhi's post season run was great last year and you could certainly make an argument based on advanced stats that it's better than any postseason Harden has had. However, keep in mind that his run to the finals was much easier in the East and he never faced a fully healthy Warriors team (even in SA he was injured that series). There's no way he would have won last year had the Warriors been healthy and his stats would have probably been much worse.
CP3 for 1 whole season is the only elite level teammate Harden has had. If we are counting this SEASON as elite for Westbrook then a lot of really shitty players have had elite seasons. Dwight?..... Not worth the effort...
Hmm, so I say PLAYOFFS and you try to only focus on one round. Interesting. In that series: Kawhi 29, 10, 4, 2, 1.2 on 43%, 36% and 91% shooting 18 turnovers 61% TS and 50% eFG Elite defense Harden 35, 7, 6, 2, 0.5 on 44%, 35% and 82% shooting 23 turnovers 59% TS and 53% eFG Non elite defense G6, Q4, when Curry started going bananas Harden went ghost (shocker). Simply go back and look at the game thread. Woulda been nice to have a elite defender like Kawhi at that moment. Again, he shifted a series when they put him on the MVP.
Facts don't care about your opinions or feelings! Harden will have to prove you guys wrong again. Role players have to step up, period!
