Back-to-back 50 pieces

[LoneyROY7]

Manny I have a question for you...

[k0kakw0rld]

He is exhausting himself. First round exit guaranteed.

[SamuraiSWISH]

Nikka is doing everything Kobe's legacy was swooned for in 2006 but....


rebounding, passing, defending, playmaking and most importantly -- WINNING

Except doesn

[Manny98]

Manny I have a question for you...

U mad?

[superduper]

You have to be literally retarded to not be impressed by this run. Despite his flopping ways the dude is incredibly talented. He hits impossible shots

[LAmbruh]

Nikka is doing everything Kobe's legacy was swooned for in 2006 but....


rebounding, passing, defending, playmaking and most importantly -- WINNING

[Gileraracer]

23 free throws with 19 3PA





The agenda should be clear by now. Silver wants Harden to be the next manufactured star SO bad.

[hold this L]

I wouldn't get too upset by these losses bro.

We know Harden doesnt.

Damn

[pauk]

I would take Hardens scoring with a grain of salt, he is good but this dude averages what 20 PPG on simply freethrows, he is the GOAT FT exploiter... with 0 FG attempts he can average 20 PPG....

[coin24]

23 free throws with 19 3PA





The agenda should be clear by now. Silver wants Harden to be the next manufactured star SO bad.

Riveting bball

[Cosmonaut]

I would take Hardens scoring with a grain of salt, he is good but this dude averages what 20 PPG on simply freethrows, he is the GOAT FT exploiter... with 0 FG attempts he can average 20 PPG....

So 10FTM is 20FTM? and 0FG is 10fg?

He isn't exploiting, he is making undisciplined defenders pay for their mistakes. The guy gets fouled and its not his fault defenders can't keep their hands out of the cookie Jar

Anyways love or hate Harden, He has scored 57 points and 58 points in his last 2 games. How many players in the history of the game have accomplished 115 points in 2 games? I can't imagine too many.

[Walk on Water]

You have to be literally retarded to not be impressed by this run. Despite his flopping ways the dude is incredibly talented. He hits impossible shots

You have to be naive to be super impressed by it.

Btw Warriors getting Cousins that is impressive.

Harden is a ball hog. Step back travel three pointers and flops. He has to do all that illegal play to get his number.

[Walk on Water]

So 10FTM is 20FTM? and 0FG is 10fg?

He isn't exploiting, he is making undisciplined defenders pay for their mistakes. The guy gets fouled and its not his fault defenders can't keep their hands out of the cookie Jar

Anyways love or hate Harden, He has scored 57 points and 58 points in his last 2 games. How many players in the history of the game have accomplished 115 points in 2 games? I can't imagine too many.

He cheats....

[Kblaze8855]

You have to be literally retarded to not be impressed by this run. Despite his flopping ways the dude is incredibly talented. He hits impossible shots

Like all else its relative.

Harden is taking around 30 shots a game in this run.

Steph has only taken 30 shots in 6 games of his career and he averages 43ppg. Kemba? 45ppg. Reggie Miller never took 30 shots but in the games he took 28 or 29 he averaged 42ppg. He took 29 in one only of those games and had 57 points. Anthony Davis in 21 games? 43ppg. Barkley? 43 a game.

And if you go check most of them arent like....38-39 shots. Most players barely have any games like that. They are often right at 30. Harden has taken more shots than Barkley ever did 8 times this season alone. Arenas took 30 shots in 11 games. He scored between 36 and 60 points in all but two of them.

It just makes it hard to know what to think of it.

Which scorers you would call great wouldnt be scoring 40ppg if they took 25-35 shots nightly? Maybe not in 1999 when scoring was nearly impossible but today?

I gotta imagine that 01 Paul Pierce given 30 shots today is gonna put in work. With the way he could draw fouls? He took 34 shots on the Nets that gave up 92ppg....and had among the top defensive numbers in the league for the advanced stats types. He scored 48. We have 4 teams giving up 115+ a game. The worst defense in 02 gave up one tenth of a point more than the best defense in the NBA does right now.

How do we account for that when determining how impressed we should be?

There is no way Rileys Heat would allow these games. Not because Harden wouldnt be able to score one on one on those guys(He could)....but because they would slow the game down too much. They gave up 84ppg one year just off playing slower than anyone and beating people up. January 13th 1998 the Heat played the Blazers in a game that ended 68 to 76. The Blazers took only 68 shots. Taking the same percentage of team shots he took last night...in that game Harden takes 22 instead of 34. The Heat only took 16 free throws as a team that game. Harden took 23.

It isnt that its no longer impressive to score a lot....its just that we need time to see what the new standards have to be.

Wilt was ROY and MVP for a 37/27 season because nobody has seen anything like it coming out of the slow ass 50s. By 62 he put up 50ppg and didnt even win MVP. Wasnt second either. Im sure people stopped being blown away by Wilt dropping 40 once they realized that in the 60s he, Baylor, West, Oscar, Pettit, Bellamy, and so on were gonna be able to do it at will because scoring exploded and everyone started to run to copy the Celtics. Everyone now is spacing the floor, running, and shooting threes to copy the Warriors....with the help of the league changing rules to hurt defenses even more.

Its obviously still something that requires tremendous talent but we are in the modern version of 1959. A new era is here and we dont know what to make of these insane numbers yet. 13 people put up 25ppg. It was 3 20 years ago. I promise you prime Grant Hill wouldnt be doing 21ppg in 41 minutes a night in this league.

It would be unfair to act like Harden doesnt require all time great talent to do these things. But everything has to be judged in context.

We need to see if this is the new norm or a new rules outlier like 2006.

If this is the NBA from now on 40 point nights wont even be worth watching the highlights of. Just be a good player having a marginally better than usual night vs a team that gave up 140 for the second time that week. The Nets are better than their reputation but I dont know if they are dropping 145 in too many other times....

They had 46 in the 4th. We were just getting over the Warriors having 51 in a quarter acting like it was because of the Warriors immense talent. Its this league. Its the 3s being extra points of course...its the spacing...its the rule changes...its exploiting illegal screens...its flopping...its the new shot clock rule making you play faster off offensive rebounds..its a lot of things both good and bad. Its a league full of people playing like the late 80s/early 90s Nuggets just trying to outscore you. Which is fine....but we have to consider it when teams score 100 on them in a half or guys have 26 in the first quarter you know?

It doesnt mean the people doing it cant be great. It just means.....you gotta factor it in. Harden would be no less talented dropped into 2004. Hed be a lot less productive though.

It has to count....right?

Nobody seems to give 60s players full credit for their numbers. Its quite possible people look at this league that way in time. Or....it could be the beginning of an even more insane era. Someone might score 40ppg for the year in 2025.

We just have to wait and see. In the meantime its perfectly reasons cheer and support your favorite players. Im sure people went wild for Richie Guerin scoring 30ppg in the 60s before they realized what was happening league wide. Its fine to be happy and make a big deal of it. Its also fair to ask "What the hell is going on?" while admitting the players are still great.

You cant blame Harden for the freedom of movement rules, 14 second clock reset, refs letting you just fall on a 3 to get free throws or an increase in possessions giving a team more shot attempts. 20 years ago the Rockets took 76 shots a game. 10 years ago they took 79. The Rockets just took 70 threes alone last night. Adding 10 shots a game is gonna get the star at least....2-3 more looks. Thats how a hot streak goes from 36ppg to 42. None of that is Harden fault.


Its still fair to acknowledge it though.

[r0drig0lac]

Like all else its relative.

Harden is taking around 30 shots a game in this run.

Steph has only taken 30 shots in 6 games of his career and he averages 43ppg. Kemba? 45ppg. Reggie Miller never took 30 shots but in the games he took 28 or 29 he averaged 42ppg. He took 29 in one only of those games and had 57 points. Anthony Davis in 21 games? 43ppg. Barkley? 43 a game.

And if you go check most of them arent like....38-39 shots. Most players barely have any games like that. They are often right at 30. Harden has taken more shots than Barkley ever did 8 times this season alone. Arenas took 30 shots in 11 games. He scored between 36 and 60 points in all but two of them.

very interesting