James Harden has redeemed himself these playoffs

[RRR3]

Sure, it's nigh impossible that his Rockets beat the Warriors, but who expected them to even make it this far? And outside of game 3, Harden and the Rockets have been competitive this series.

James Harden has proved he can carry over his stardom to the playoffs.

In the playoffs, he is averaging 28.0 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 7.7 APG and 1.6 SPG. He's also been efficient, shooting .449/.394/.927


Top 5 player in the league?

[ISHGoat]

Sure, it's nigh impossible that his Rockets beat the Warriors, but who expected them to even make it this far? And outside of game 3, Harden and the Rockets have been competitive this series.

But James Harden has proved he can carry over his stardom to the playoffs.

In the playoffs, he is averaging 28.0 PPG, 5.7 RPG, 7.7 APG and 1.6 SPG. He's also been efficient shooting .449/.394/.927


Top 5 player in the league?

No doubt

Lebron
Healthy KD
Curry
Harden
AD

then you got guys like westbrook, blake, kawhi, etc

League is in good hands

[RRR3]

Cp3>>flake and kiwi

I'd put healthy KD first. Bran is getting old.

[Out_In_Utah]

Sure, it's nigh impossible that his Rockets beat the Warriors, but who expected them to even make it this far? And outside of game 3, Harden and the Rockets have been competitive this series.

If it weren't for 1 quarter in game 4, it would have been a sweep.

And they only got this far because the Clippers imploded at just the right time. Mavs imploded too (Rondo), but they would have beat the Mavs either way.

[UK2K]

If it weren't for 1 quarter in game 4, it would have been a sweep.

And they only got this far because the Clippers imploded at just the right time. Mavs imploded too (Rondo), but they would have beat the Mavs either way.

If it wasn't for THE LAST play at the end of game 2, its 2-2.

So whats your point?

[Haymaker]

IDK why he disappeared so pathetically in the 2012 finals.

[Wade's Rings]

I agree OP. I expected him to collapse and choke this Post-Season like he has for the last couple of years. However he has shown up, my only negative would be the fact that Dallas imploded at the right time and he wasn't in the game for the Epic Game 6 Comeback vs the Clippers.

[RRR3]

ISH will never give Harden his due. He gets slammed for a bad game, but no one cares when he is superb. He's a legit superstar and these playoffs have proved it.

[L.A.Hawks]

IDK why he disappeared so pathetically in the 2012 finals.

Maybe it was because it was only his 3rd year in the league at the age of 22 and playing against the super star stacked Miami cheat?

[rhowen4]

I think he's top 3 behind healthy KD/Lebron next season

Super close between him, curry, and AD though

[ArbitraryWater]

If it weren't for 1 quarter in game 4, it would have been a sweep.

And they only got this far because the Clippers imploded at just the right time. Mavs imploded too (Rondo), but they would have beat the Mavs either way.

lol at you trying to erasing a 25-point lead in 12 minutes like its nothing

How about this slightly more realistic angle: If Harden goes up for the shot and hits it, its a tie series right now.......... I dont even have to go to extreme lengths of erasing entire quarters, but simply have Harden hit a shot he's hit hundred times in his career...

to OP, yes, he has.. this WCF at least. Before, I wasnt too impressed... but he's been awesome in 3 of the 4 games, garbage in the other, but fantastic in 3 out of 4.. and I would be REALLY convinced of putting him top 5, had he kept that shot to end game 2, and swished it on them... just cold-blooded. Then this would be a SERIES right now.

[Fallen Angel]

Harden simply doesn't have that many fans on ISH. Of course every Rocket fan is in that pro-Harden group, after that I can probably name on my fingures the number of fans he has that support other teams.

That's what makes him seem so underrated. The in thing seems to be bashing Harden for whenever he has a "bad game". These fools can't swallow the fact that Harden is in the Conference Finals while their team is either in the lottery or had their postseason cut short because they weren't good enough.

The MVP of the postseason is James Harden for what he's been able to overcome being an underdog every series and always come out as the best player in each round. Lebron James is battling against far weaker competition, Curry is doing what is expected, while Harden overcame the doubters that claimed his game doesn't translate in the postseason.

Remember Dallas in 6? Rockets kicked them out in 5.
Remember Clippers in 5? Rockets shattered Chris Paul's heart in 7.
Remember Warriors in 4? Rockets broke that broom in Game 4.

Face the facts, he's doing eons better than you'd imagine before the postseason started.

[kuniva_dAMiGhTy]

Said the same thing in last nights GT. Harden's definitely proved his MVP worth in this series, outplaying Curry in spots and playing up to his level in other key moments.

It's never really been smart to bet that a team that was down 0-3 will come back and win a series, but if there is any team in this postseason that I would like to see comeback and at least make it competitive, it would be the Rockets. When Harden and Dwight are both on the same page, its damn good basketball.

[Milbuck]

He's been very very good. I still think his numbers overstate his game, but he's had some truly MVP caliber games this postseason.

The biggest thing holding Harden back is his mentality. He's incredibly unpredictable in terms of when he's going torch you and when he's going to be totally passive but still get his numbers, and this is still a big concern with him as the #1 option imo. He just doesn't have the mindset to be locked in 100%, a killer every minute he's on the court. That's what's separating him from the Wades, the Kobes, the Wests, etc at his position, not talent. He's capable of lifting a team up single handedly any time he wants and he does it often, but many times he does it when the game is out of hand, when the series is out of hand, etc. Like in game 3...that was when you absolutely needed him to dominate, and he shat the bed. Then he comes back in game 4 and kills it, but it's probably too late.

The best thing for him and the Rockets would be signing a vet to teach him how to compete at a championship level..Terry is good but he's not enough. Someone like KG, who just will not let him play passive, who will call his ass out in the locker room when he's not putting in total effort on both ends.

All in all this has been his first superstar playoff run. He's still not where he could be but the media hype is now justified. He needs to work on his post game more, and really refine his midrange game, and turn up the intensity even more defensively. If he adds those 3 things to what he already has, idk what is stopping him from being the best in the league. Only thing imo would be Anthony Davis being a freak of nature.

[rezznor]

He's been very very good. I still think his numbers overstate his game, but he's had some truly MVP caliber games this postseason.

The biggest thing holding Harden back is his mentality. He's incredibly unpredictable in terms of when he's going torch you and when he's going to be totally passive but still get his numbers, and this is still a big concern with him as the #1 option imo. He just doesn't have the mindset to be locked in 100%, a killer every minute he's on the court. That's what's separating him from the Wades, the Kobes, the Wests, etc at his position, not talent. He's capable of lifting a team up single handedly any time he wants and he does it often, but many times he does it when the game is out of hand, when the series is out of hand, etc. Like in game 3...that was when you absolutely needed him to dominate, and he shat the bed. Then he comes back in game 4 and kills it, but it's probably too late.

The best thing for him and the Rockets would be signing a vet to teach him how to compete at a championship level..Terry is good but he's not enough. Someone like KG, who just will not let him play passive, who will call his ass out in the locker room when he's not putting in total effort on both ends.

All in all this has been his first superstar playoff run. He's still not where he could be but the media hype is now justified. He needs to work on his post game more, and really refine his midrange game, and turn up the intensity even more defensively. If he adds those 3 things to what he already has, idk what is stopping him from being the best in the league. Only thing imo would be Anthony Davis being a freak of nature.

looks like we have finally come to an agreement on harden. he's great, but he tends to lose focus at times. he also needs to just go strong whenever he drives to the basket and just let the fouls comes naturally. he IS getting fouled much of the time, but he's exaggerating so often that refs have become hesitant to call it. that being said, aside from a few bad games he has really shown up this post season.