Hey man love the videos and I know this is nit-picky but it’s a word you use a lot and it’s “Herculean” you pronounce the end like it’s “Ian” where it’s supposed to sound like “Lay-an”. Not tryna be an ass I’m just saying
Can you PLEASE make the intro shorter?!?! People dont give a shit if you ask them to like, if they appreciate the video, THEN they'll like it. So please, shift that section to the end of the video - Humble subscriber
From what I can gather, the hate is his play style. Many people strongly dislike the foul baiting he perfected. Everything else gets overshadowed by that and always will, whether it’s fair or not lol
@@colewrld901 he choked 1 series vs the spurs and yall call him a playoff choker. There's a difference between his team being beat and completely choking
Luka foul baits all the time I never see this much hate towards him? Only black players like lebron, embiid, trae, and harden get hate for the foul baiting
@@sac1211 lol there isn’t racism towards black players in the nba community really. Probably more so to white players like jokic. Obviously not representative of real life though
As somebody who watched almost every Rockets game at Harden’s peak, he was a freak of nature. I’ve never seen somebody score as easily as he did. I even see non-Rockets fans starting to come around to how great he was at his peak; watching him these days is jarring compared to the dude who used to sleepwalk to 40.
As a Rockets fan I love this video, Harden despite his critics will likely always be my favourite player due to how he dragged us into contention year upon year
Word. Always been a rockets fan but Harden made me LOVE basketball. People that hated his play style were watching twitter highlights and not full games. He was beyond disrespected during his prime and will go down as one of the most underrated players of all time despite how truly great he was.
@@LeeGHThomas I'm from San Antonio. This dude never gave any effort on defense. It's like after he left Okc, he decided he would only play one end of the court
@@LeeGHThomas Facts but not only that he will go down as a top 30 player of All Time if he was to retire today and a top 15 player of All Time if he gets a ring and Finals MVP before the end of his Career I will have him at 14 behind Jordan, Duncan, Bird, Russell, Magic, Wilt, Kareem, Shaq, Kobe, Hakeem, Steph, LeBron and KD on my All Time Greatest players list if he was to win a ring and Finals MVP this season.
Harden really started to get a lot of respect from me once I saw him drop 56 points in person and he was absolutely killing it, made me really respect him as an all time great scorer
I don’t think people realize that even though they literally went 0-27 from 3, it was still a 9 POINT GAME! If they go 10-44 rather than 7-44 from 3 then they go to overtime. It also took 27 from steph AND 34 from KD with both having good to great shooting games. Stop disrespecting this team and harden. Also some funny stats for you: Harden, Gordon, and Trevor were really the only ones that caused such terrible shooting numbers. In total those 3 ALONE went 4-34 from 3. That’s 11 percent from 3 with Trevor Ariza going 0-9, PJ tucker going 2-12, and Harden going 2-13 (on a side note the only person taking shots with any difficulty was harden. Ariza and Gordon mostly just bricked wide open 3s). James Harden went 12-17 from 2 point land, Gordon went 9-12 on 2’s, Clint Capela was 9-10, and PJ was 5-6 on 2s. (If you look at the game it’ll also tell you that the rockets were DOMINATING the warriors in the paint) It’s also funny to me that draymond went 0-5 from 3 this game I’m still in the camp that Trevor Ariza was the biggest choker that game
Harden couldn’t do it by himself and wit Chris Paul out it fucked shit up for them but they could’ve won the game in game 7 but we all know refs were on the warriors nuts too heavy so calls weren’t going there way it was a 9 point loss but the warriors would’ve lost by double digits that game had the game been called right way
@@kingdinodragonite3470 illegal screens to be exact. I think I remember 2 of them being hardens fault since he didn't really wait for the pick to be set.
The Rockets didn't lose to trash teams except for Portland in 2014. They lost to Golden State 4 times (out of those 4, they won the title 3 times), the Spurs (who went to the wcf finals), the Lakers (who won the title that same year) and the Thunder in 2013 who were the favorites to come out of the west. The rockets were never better than those teams and yet, they went toe to toe with them.
It could be argued that Harden's role has changed as opposed to him falling off. He isn't the 1st option on the 6ers and wasn't the 1st option in Brooklyn. I still think Harden can take over offensively any night, but his role will be setting up Embiid and others. I say let the upcoming season play out before calling Harden washed or saying he's fallen off
Nahh bro , 2021 Nets Harden was amazing before the hamstring injury , it was a clear diff from 21 nets Harden to 22 Nets Harden , 2021 Harden was a step quicker , more efficient , more in control , the fall off didnt show until after the hamstring
@@baseupp12 Yeah. People forget how great he was playing and how he elevated the Nets game as a playmaker when KD was injured and Kyrie disappeared. I still remember when he cooked the Suns lol
I think both can be true. He probably has fallen off a bit (understandably, he is 32 after all), and he doesn't seem to have much interest in "taking over offensively" by my eyes. But he's been playing around primary scorers like KD and Embiid, so I think he's using his skills well and changing his game to be a more pass-heavy player. I actually like him more as a #2 option than a #1 option.
Harden overachieved for his career, ppl forget he was drafted to be a 6th man off the bench and wasn't projected to be a star but he got traded and surpassed all expectations. I think if he was drafted to be a #1 guy, he would've had more time to develop into a leader but he was in the shadow of KD and Russ for his development stage
One thing I couldn't put my finger on when I was watching him (other than the foul baiting) but I couldn't ignore once I realized, was how often I could skip 5s and he'd still be doing the same thing. If he had started his between the legs sequence, I'd skip 5s on the video and he'd still be doing it. If he gave up the ball to Chris Paul, 5s later, he'd still be standing exactly where he was, sometimes with his hands on his knees cuz he had no interest in the play anymore once he no longer had the rock. There was a CaineLovesCali video that outlined a very interesting dynamic in Harden's playoff performance. From 2017-8, on game 1's, he'd put up an absurd 37p/9a/3to on 51/48/83. That's fucking exceptional, no doubt about it. This should be brought up more often like Game 6 Klay does. But after Game 1? He'd put up 27p/7a/4.7to on 39/25/90. Where has his shot and handle gone? So sure, as you say, on average, he looks like like he's putting up solid numbers, but once you look deeper that's pretty tragic efficiency for 3+ games a series. 25% from 3 is worse than Westbrook, and not acceptable from a superstar over what I consider to be his two best years by FAR. In any single series I'd say sure, Harden only underperforms in a game or two, but those stats were shocking to me and had me rethinking how I considered those performances. If you're laying bricks on 82% of your playoff games over your prime stretch, it looks like it's a lot more than a single game struggle. Now, did I verify those stats for myself? No, bc as you say, I don't like the guy - I used to watch Rockets games just for him, and during his prime years, he became the reason I found Rockets game unwatchable.
The playoff choker is more than just the 2018 year. Garden choked against the warriors in 15, choked against the spurs in the 2nd round in 2017, 2019 in the 2nd round against the warriors, and the bubble
Nah in 2019 he did all he could averaging 36 on 59 true shooting and in 2020 he was pretty damn good against the lakers even dropping 30 point by half time. Russ was the one who choked that year,
James Harden actually made a 3 in the middle of that 0-27 but Scott Foster decided to waive it off after it went in for no apparent reason. The reason the Rockets were also taking so many 3s is because they were getting tackled at the rim and not getting any calls.
Oh my god THANK YOU. I've been constantly having to push back against people over the 2018 playoffs for years and it never felt like anyone in the NBA community looked at it fairly. The narrative that the Rockets choked while facing the most stacked roster of all time is the worst in the NBA community by far.
@@baseupp12 pick any all star you want in the last 20 years and put them up against the 2018 warriors, BY THEMSELVES, and tell me they win the series. Tell me how if they don't win the series that means they choked. You people are the worst.
@@baseupp12 he was going up against steph, klay, kd, and draymond with a supporting cast of clint capela, trevor ariza, pj tucker, and chris chiozza. no one in the league is overcoming that
I do get your point about Harden, but the 2018 Rockets team wasn't carry by him against GS. The best exemple of that is their win in game 5 while he shot 5/21 with 0/11 from 3. But the team around him was that good to still beat the Warriors without him being a stud.
No they weren’t Eric gordan had 24 and cp had 20 harden had 19 that game Eric averaged 19 that series Cp average 19.8 those 5 games he played Harden averaged 28.7 that series Vs Kd averaged 30 that series Steph averaged 25 that series Klay averaged 19.4 that series Their third best player was better than our second and third Our team wasn’t good without harden Harden on a bad night was still damn near the best player
Using the average score per game to define "good" player show you didn't watch the game to the minute detail. The heavy Iso from Harden in a game where he was that cold should've been a loss. But it wasn't.
But you saying and I quote “but the team around him WAS THAT GOOD TO STILL BEAT THE WARRIORS” like they would get 4 0 if take harden off or replace him with anyone in the league at that time. Unless your just talking about that one game the team is not that good.
That Warriors team was one of the best defenses of all time. Harden still provided a lot of value simply by handling the ball and attracting the defense to him
Kinda reminds me of T-Mac. One of the best offensive forces in the league at their peak, fairly suspect defensively, had a noticeable fall-off (T-Mac moreso because of injuries), and now get kinda disrespected in the sense that people won't think as highly of their peaks as they should've.
Magic T-Mac had all the defensive attributes to lock down anyone when he turned it on. However, because he was forced to carry the scoring load for his teams, you didn’t get to see him excel on the other side of the ball as often. Compare that to Toronto T-Mac where he was tasked to do way less on offense but was a defensive freak in those days. He picked his battles to say the least
@@howisthatgay4275 in Houston no but in Orlando from 01-03 he was a actual positive , something I don’t think Harden can really say outside of the Bubble
@@alanacevedo4928 I disagree I think as a Magic his man defense was pretty good and his off-ball stuff wasn’t Uber problematic. Got his hands on balls , fell asleep sometimes but who doesn’t. He was never James Harden bad until he was a Rocket , and I’m aware Harden later in his rockets career wasn’t some huge negative , but I still think he hurts most defenses he plays for.
@@colewrld901 nigga didn't foul bait he just drove in every play. His foot work was unstoppable either he's making the shot or you foul. That's was the game.
Peak Harden consists flopping, traveling, foul baiting, dribbling the clock shot, and getting bailed with foul calls when he gets exposed for the lack of midrange shots or any versatility.
Rusty you seem to be doing really well at the moment man and honestly that makes me so happy to see! Loving the content on both channels, keep it up and hope all is well with you!
@@bpdmf2798 that year he averaged 11 fta (the most he every averaged)and made 9 And he averaged 24 fga That year lebron averaged 20fga and averaged 9 less points (27vs36) And that year giannas averaged 9.5 fta
As a rockets fan i have never felt so much pain than that 2018 game 7 the craziest thing about that game is that even after 27 missed threes in a row the Rockets only lost by single digits which makes it even worse thinking back at it
I really loved the way Harden played in 2015, under McHale coaching he still was a great team player. To be fair, even if Harden never got in trouble with his all star teammates, i don't think Houston would be able to surpass Golden and win the ring in all those years of the Golden dynasty.
2015 season was his best year. Less dribbles to get to his spots with a mixture of post ups and mid ranges. The narrative that Dantonis system made Harden is over played.
@@SwellyDomo yeah. I don't like D'Antoni as a coach personally. Harden show how great as a talent he was under D'Antoni, but people forgot Harden is one of the players with that really study the game, he just stop on focusing to be a team player.
I don't disagree with the premise of this video (actually I think it's a really good one), but I do think you're understating just how much that 0-27 streak affected Harden's narrative. Like, sure, him being disliked probably didn't help, but fair or not, that's the sort of thing that sticks with you and overrides any accomplishments you had before that. It's the same reason why people only remember the 73 win Warriors for blowing a 3-1 lead in the finals, or the 2016 Atlanta Falcons for losing in the Super Bowl after being up 28-3. You could argue that both those teams should be remembered for more than just one collapse, but sports fans tend to remember you for the last thing that you did, especially if that last thing was complete implode on yourself. To your point about what happened with Kawahi before he got injured, the reason that he is remembered for one game is because that IS the last thing he did in that series was lead his team to a victory against the warriors before suffering a brutal injury. Maybe being more liked helped him out a little bit, but his game 1 performance was the very last thing he did in that season - and for quite a while after that because of the injury.
How about the Rockets in 2019? The Warriors lost KD and they still beat the Rockets in 6. I personally think 2019 is why the 2018 Rockets underrated. The entire argument for 2018 was that if the Rockets had CP3, they would have beat the Warriors, then the Warriors in 2019 showed that they did not need KD to close out the Rockets. Curry sank them by scoring 33 in the 2nd half.
Rockets should not be expected to beat Warriors in 2018 or '19. In 2019 Warriors losing KD means they still had 3 stars left & CP3 was injured twice during the season and was not the same player. Harden was the only star player Rockets had and he nearly had his eye poked out in game 2 by Draymond.
@@aaronvirdee5813 stop the excuses. In 2019 They were tied 2-2 and blew a golden opportunity playing like shit. In 2018 harden had a 3-2 lead and played like shit and blew it. No excuses.
You really should acknowledge 2019 when the rockets were up at halftime and could win the series when KD got hurt and then lost again to the warriors. Also not acknowledging cp3 as a superstar those years is really straight up disrespectful to Chris His injury was the thing that caused the 0-27 streak. It was James who was still in the game and let that happen in 2018
Ok to clarify: CP3 I’d argue was better than Harden in the 2018 playoffs. I know I’m playing into the meme of only talking about 0-27 in 2018, but it was pretty clear to me at least that run happened once he got off the court. 2019: Yeah Harden probably was better than cp3 that series. But that’s the series people should more so roast both them for. They had a lead at halftime when KD went down, and then had a whole nother game in Houston against no KD warriors. Overall the premise of the video I do agree with though.
@@itsallenwow there’s no way you’re fr harden had 35 points in game 6 in 2019 and chris paul had his only good game of the series scoring 27 points. You’re case is awful and if you think chris paul was better than harden in 2018 you’re straight up lying to yourself
James harden chokes in the most important games of the playoff series though. That's what makes him a playoff choker. It doesn't matter what you did in the previous games, because if you choke in the most important game then what was it for? The goal is to show up and win a championship, not to show up for the most part and then fail miserably
Keep In mind one bad series/game does not make someone a playoff choker imo. Having multiple bad series/bad games is what makes you one. Harden played like shit in 2012 vs the heat, 2017 he was bad against the spurs, 2018 he was bad against the warriors, I do not remember 2019 for harden that well, but I'm pretty sure he was bad vs the warriors that year too. In 2021 he was bad due to injury so it's excusable, but in 2022 he played bad against the heat. Hell, I believe in 2016 they came back from down 3-1 vs the clippers due to the efforts of his teammates, and NOT him because he played horrible. Losing to the warriors would be excusable if you just did your job and scored, but instead he shriveled up
THANK YOU for this video. James Harden is only behind MJ, Curry & Kobe for scoring guards in the last 30 years. People hate on him for some valid reasons but he’s amazing period!
Yeah. I think sometimes sports fans act as if being imperfect means they suck. Harden was by no means perfect but man was he elite and then some. Even later in his career in the playoffs, he was a much better player. Again, not perfect but still amazing
@@cfromkc5096 I said scoring guard not Shooting Guard. Also Wade wasn’t even a 3 level scoring. He’s a Hall of Famer but Harden was elite driving, with floater (the new mid range), and will probably finish 2nd in 3pt shooting after Curry
The rockets system was made for harden to spam iso plays bro, sure he scored a lot of points and got a lot of assists but that’s bc the ball was in his hands literally 24/7 remember that clip where harden shot a 3 , a rockets player rebounded it and gave it back to harden and Abe shot another 3, and it just kept repeating untill he made it
Thank god someone finally said it he gets so much hate it’s not even funny. Despite never having the best roster he was contending against a dynasty for nearly a decade in Houston. He definitely isn’t mj in the playoffs but the way people talk about the guy you would think he goes from best scorer in the league to a 15/5/5 guy.
The Rockets had the best record in the league and homecourt advantage. The Warriors needed the CP3-less Rockets to miss 27 consecutive threes to win by 9 points. Sorry but that Warriors team was overrated. The Rockets handed them Game 7 on a platter.
@@redpillfreedom6692in 2018 those warriors were not as good as they were the year before however that doesn't mean we should rewrite history. despite the rockets having the best record in the league no one really thought besides from Houston rockets fan that a team with prime kd, curry, klay and draymond would not win a ring without being injured. no matter what it will always be an achievement for harden and cp3 for pushing those warriors to the limit similar to the kings vs lakers in 2002.
@@sofaking4409 It's not rewriting history that the Warriors only won by 9 with the Rockets laying a brick house and missing CP3. They weren't that good. Houston gave it away far more than Golden State won it. The 2018 Warriors have the worst defensive rating of any title-winning team in NBA history.
It’s because he’s such an MVP in the playoffs. As in Most Volatile Player. He doesn’t just sh*t the bed or even go down shooting in big games. He just disappears completely and goes like 2/10 in elimination games.
Ima DIEHARD Rockets fan and Harden supporter. Every single time you said 0-27 I screamed “FUCK!” in agony. I’ve drank to that game multiple times. It was so unbelievably painful to watch. Words cannot express the raw emotions of that game. If the refs were in front of me in that moment, I would not hesitate to choke them.
The thing which frustrates me about this all is my best friend started watching warriors in 2021 season and he discredits everyone who was good, back just 5 years ago. I was watching since 2015 unanimous mvp Curry season and i turned a Harden fan cuz he was so good and my own friend dismissing my claims of his greatness in 2022 in hindsight seems ridiculous to him when i saw these seasons at the time and saw with my own eyes how good Rockets were with him. But to dismiss anyone who stood against Warriors with KD today as trash is the narrative in my friends brain. Like a virus attached to him. I love that you brought this up to back up my claims cuz i love NBA as a whole and every match-up has its good times. You real for this one 🤝🏻💯
I do agree more nuance should be applied when evaluating hardens career, but a lot of the criticisms have real validity to them. Nobody questioned if harden could put up big numbers. People questioned his motor and intangibles. Far too many times in the biggest moments we’ve watched him just role over and die. Not just missing a few shots here and there, but being completely horrible and almost unplayable.
James Harden was one healthy CP3 away from winning the finals. If they get the job done and beat the dubs in 2018 that changes the narrative entirely. He would be seen as the hero who slayed Goliath. The one guy who took on one of the most dominant teams in league history and stopped them in their tracks.
As a Rockets fan, the flopping isn't the thing that annoyed me about Harden the most. What was infuriating to watch was Harden dribbling out the clock for 20 seconds then either chucking up a shot or assist baiting by hoping his teamate makes a tough shot. You could argue that this was more of Dantoni's fault but still I couldn't stand watching it. The best day as a Rockets fan while Harden was on the team was the day he was traded.
Even with the 0-27 and game 7 criticism, while it's valid to levy, I still think it's overblown. Harden himself was 2-13 from 3 in that game, which is awful. But he isn't responsible for Ariza's 0-9 or Gordon's 2-12. And of course the huge elephant in the room, Chris Paul was injured. So the guy who basically was the difference in making that team the best James had ever had, was not present to help him. Literally James the lone superstar vs the 2018 Warriors. And on side note, as someone who has watched that entire series more than once, people don't talk about Harden's defense. The entire Rockets' defense is what made it such a fight for the Warriors, and James was part of that. For how much he gets meme'd on (obsolete now) for defense, he was fighting like hell against those Warriors.
The problem w/James is the disappearing act u saw in the 2012 finals continued throughout his career! He's never been that"he'll bring it home"player, that's where the"superstar"tag eludes him......at least for me!
@@ACLA23 What r the qualifications for being a"superstar"🤔? Just a bunch of #'s🤔, highlights 🤔, what? James hasn't shown & proven anything.....u can't deny the pattern of inconsistency!
@@ReverendSam1 Harden is the only player in NBA history to win 65 games without an all-star teammate, he’s got the record for the highest points per possession season and the most efficient 35+ ppg season ever. He’s a SUPERSTAR
Can you define what is a playoff choker because I tend to think that if you consistently play bad in the games that matter you are considered a playoff choker. For example, a player like Chris Webber in the early 2000s or David Robinson in the early to mid 90s. They would most likely not perform to their standards when called upon. Going back to Harden, he had bad moments against the Warriors in 2015 (late turnover in game 2 and 13 turnovers in game 5), against the Spurs in 2017 (Manu blocking his attempt in game 5 and the infamous game 6 without Kawhi and Tony Parker and again vs the Warriors in 2019 when supposedly they were gonna get their revenge but lost in 6 without KD
most people would say Karl Malone was a playoff choker for not winning one of the 2 finals against the Bulls because he had bad possessions late in games with games on the line against the greatest team and GOAT of the sport....... but everyone hates Malone anyway and refuse to acknowledge how great a player he was for as long as he was
@@cicjose6016 I would agree with that take. And I would consider him a playoff choker. I guess in the end Harden might be one amongst the best players who were also disappointing in the playoffs
I stopped watching basketball in the mid-2000s and picked it up again in the mid-2010s. The first game I saw was a Rockets game and I remember thinking "damn, this Harden dude is amazing."
I’m a huge harden fan, he’s been my fav player since I started getting really involved w basketball which is abt 2016… this video sums up everything I’ve been trying to say since forever
The only problem I have with James harden is some of the ways he scored , now we can’t fault him for taking advantage of rules and perfecting them and also can’t take away the Amazing statistics, but it really was a bad look (regardless of the reasons) that the second foul baiting was toned down he looked like a different player .
Since Rusty said Lillard > Parker I can't take anything he says seriously I think he actually deserves the criticism and discourse. The entire team and system is made FOR YOU to score. And he did that with bending the rules and getting half his points on free throws alone. Then comes playoff time and NO HARDEN to be seen
I absolutely agree, as I'm a James Harden fanboy. However, the 2018 Rockets had two superstars: James Harden and Chris Paul. But it's a small thing. Really enjoyed the video!
James Harden is my favorite player of all time simply because he’s the reason I started playing basketball and it’s sad to see what’s happening to him I hop he makes a come back
100% agree with the video. The fact that the Rockets never won the championship has tarnished Harden's legacy and also helio-centric offenses in general. The reality though is that, outside of a miracle shot by Kyrie Irving, Harden and the Rockets got closer to beating the dynasty Warriors than any team of that era.
When you were talking about people not liking players, I 100% agree. My dad had the exact same LeBron problem. He still doesn’t believe that he’s Top 5 and that’s observed
Peak James Harden honestly does and does not deserve respect at the same time, he is a great offensive talent, but in the biggest moments he more often then not fails to show up multiple time if he played even close to his best in playoff moments he might have a ring now.
The rockets went 0-27 for a very obvious reason. They got gassed. Without CP3 or anyone to help spread the minutes out, the rockets had no one who could let any of their starters get some rest. While GS were just switching between curry&klay and KD. You could see a moment in the game before things really start to snowball. Where harden and tucker are both leaning over hands on knees, covered in sweat. And curry is going to the bench wiping some sweat off with a towel, while a fresh KD comes in. Watching that game that was the moment I knew it was over, because Houston couldn't rest anyone by comparison.
You had one inaccuracy in this video rusty, that 2018 Warriors team was not pretty much the same as the 2017 warriors. They were pretty much the same team WITH KEVIN DURANT
Aside from lack of rings and "choking" in the playoffs, prime Harden was also constantly labelled as a stat padder. The constant narrative (especially from mainstream media) that he was a stat padder and thus, his stats were grossly inflated to an untrue extent, made spectators believe that his numbers had less value to them than should a consensus-labelled "hard-working" player do the exact same thing (Giannis finishing with a 30-point triple double during that time would have never been called a negative to his team as Harden sometimes was); even though a 30-point triple double while putting the whole opposing team in foul trouble is a bigger positive to one's team than without the fouls.
Harden goofed off and cared about being famous more then winning good stats or not it’s all about winning , . He never took his diet , training or team chemistry serious . He showed up late to film sessions making teammates wait hours at times . He’s selfish and he said he “doesn’t want to play like that” but he never gave the effort to change his game. (Off ball , slashing , post ups , screens etc) Yes what he did was still impressive no doubt and he is still a top 100 player of all time . But he is a regular season stud and a post season dud .. simple as This - harden doesn’t show up when it matters the most , he doesn’t have what it takes to be the driving force of a championship team . He comes up short in the playoffs when it matters most , regardless of the stat sheet . His career isn’t over , but it’s not looking good . If he does win in philly it’s most likely that embiid went beast mode . We will see what happens
Harden gets enough respect he’s on the top 75. But tbh I can’t fuck wit him. Never liked his game and how he exploited offenses by cheating the game it wasn’t very fun to watch. Also how he quit on his teams when it got tough when he had enough to get by the teams he did. The FO did everything he asked come what may and Harden still never delivered. Its clear he doesn’t love the game prolly jus plays cuz he can and loves the nightlife more than anything.
Another thing I’ve noticed about harden discourse is that people tend to cherry pick his bad games far harder then any other player. Like in 2020 when he was good in 4\5 games vs the lakers all anyone talked about was the one bad game. On the other hand someone like Damian lillard or jimmy butler will be absolutely terrible for an entire series but when they to have good games they’re praised as “clutch performers” any any other opinion is considered hating. Just keep it consistent
If Harden won in 2017 or 2018 he would’ve been the best in the league he was averaging 36 7 and 7 😭 fair enough he was playing the best team ever but even guys who played against Jordan get underrated because yeah you just so happened to have to play against the best ever
peak james harden was a top 5 player and his opportunity were during the warriors with ks plus if rockets were in the east thet would have been in the finals in 2018
Rudy is a Harden hater so that's why the title card is what it is lol
Great video! I like James Harden but also feel disappointed because I know how great he is. Thanks for touching on that.
Hey man love the videos and I know this is nit-picky but it’s a word you use a lot and it’s “Herculean” you pronounce the end like it’s “Ian” where it’s supposed to sound like “Lay-an”. Not tryna be an ass I’m just saying
Lol I noticed u Didn't talk about Harden in 2019 they lost in 6 without kd and curry went scoreless and dropped 33 pts in the Half 🤔
Can you PLEASE make the intro shorter?!?! People dont give a shit if you ask them to like, if they appreciate the video, THEN they'll like it. So please, shift that section to the end of the video
- Humble subscriber
Harden would have win chips if not for GS. I hate how everyone I talk to disrespects him. He was a fricken baller.
“The only reason it is disappointing he didn’t win was because he was good enough to”. Perfectly said
Gimmicky team strategy built around a choker of a bitch.
Understatement of the year harden is an all time great talent and scorer you don't win 3 scoring titles and a MVP and not deserved a ring or two.
From what I can gather, the hate is his play style. Many people strongly dislike the foul baiting he perfected. Everything else gets overshadowed by that and always will, whether it’s fair or not lol
The foul baiting, the ass defensive effort, and not showing up in the playoffs
@@colewrld901 he choked 1 series vs the spurs and yall call him a playoff choker. There's a difference between his team being beat and completely choking
Luka foul baits all the time I never see this much hate towards him? Only black players like lebron, embiid, trae, and harden get hate for the foul baiting
@@sac1211 lol there isn’t racism towards black players in the nba community really. Probably more so to white players like jokic. Obviously not representative of real life though
@@sac1211 Why are you making it a race thing?
As somebody who watched almost every Rockets game at Harden’s peak, he was a freak of nature. I’ve never seen somebody score as easily as he did. I even see non-Rockets fans starting to come around to how great he was at his peak; watching him these days is jarring compared to the dude who used to sleepwalk to 40.
Gimmicky team strategy built around a choker of a bitch.
Well injuries has severely affected his play-style
As a Rockets fan I love this video, Harden despite his critics will likely always be my favourite player due to how he dragged us into contention year upon year
As a nets fan.. I’ve always loved watching prime Harden. He is the reason why the Rockets will always be my 2nd favorite team.
Word. Always been a rockets fan but Harden made me LOVE basketball. People that hated his play style were watching twitter highlights and not full games. He was beyond disrespected during his prime and will go down as one of the most underrated players of all time despite how truly great he was.
@@LeeGHThomas I'm from San Antonio. This dude never gave any effort on defense. It's like after he left Okc, he decided he would only play one end of the court
Gimmicky team strategy built around a choker of a bitch.
@@LeeGHThomas Facts but not only that he will go down as a top 30 player of All Time if he was to retire today and a top 15 player of All Time if he gets a ring and Finals MVP before the end of his Career I will have him at 14 behind Jordan, Duncan, Bird, Russell, Magic, Wilt, Kareem, Shaq, Kobe, Hakeem, Steph, LeBron and KD on my All Time Greatest players list if he was to win a ring and Finals MVP this season.
Harden really started to get a lot of respect from me once I saw him drop 56 points in person and he was absolutely killing it, made me really respect him as an all time great scorer
I don’t think people realize that even though they literally went 0-27 from 3, it was still a 9 POINT GAME! If they go 10-44 rather than 7-44 from 3 then they go to overtime. It also took 27 from steph AND 34 from KD with both having good to great shooting games. Stop disrespecting this team and harden.
Also some funny stats for you:
Harden, Gordon, and Trevor were really the only ones that caused such terrible shooting numbers. In total those 3 ALONE went 4-34 from 3. That’s 11 percent from 3 with Trevor Ariza going 0-9, PJ tucker going 2-12, and Harden going 2-13 (on a side note the only person taking shots with any difficulty was harden. Ariza and Gordon mostly just bricked wide open 3s).
James Harden went 12-17 from 2 point land, Gordon went 9-12 on 2’s, Clint Capela was 9-10, and PJ was 5-6 on 2s. (If you look at the game it’ll also tell you that the rockets were DOMINATING the warriors in the paint)
It’s also funny to me that draymond went 0-5 from 3 this game
I’m still in the camp that Trevor Ariza was the biggest choker that game
CP3 wasn’t healthy
Harden couldn’t do it by himself and wit Chris Paul out it fucked shit up for them but they could’ve won the game in game 7 but we all know refs were on the warriors nuts too heavy so calls weren’t going there way it was a 9 point loss but the warriors would’ve lost by double digits that game had the game been called right way
The rockets actually hit 3 threes in that span. The only problem is all of them were called "offensive fouls"
@@kingdinodragonite3470 illegal screens to be exact. I think I remember 2 of them being hardens fault since he didn't really wait for the pick to be set.
@@manz7860 facts the illegal screens were insane in that series
The Rockets didn't lose to trash teams except for Portland in 2014. They lost to Golden State 4 times (out of those 4, they won the title 3 times), the Spurs (who went to the wcf finals), the Lakers (who won the title that same year) and the Thunder in 2013 who were the favorites to come out of the west. The rockets were never better than those teams and yet, they went toe to toe with them.
2013 was kd Westbrook thunder, while the rockets were the 8th seed. First seed isn’t supposed to win that
He choked against the spurs no excuse for that one
Loosing 4-1 to the Lakers isnt “toe to toe with them”
@@simrock8893 tbf they had a 6’5 center nobody was guarding AD
It could be argued that Harden's role has changed as opposed to him falling off. He isn't the 1st option on the 6ers and wasn't the 1st option in Brooklyn. I still think Harden can take over offensively any night, but his role will be setting up Embiid and others. I say let the upcoming season play out before calling Harden washed or saying he's fallen off
Dude at this past playoffs his role didn't just change he played bad
Nahh bro , 2021 Nets Harden was amazing before the hamstring injury , it was a clear diff from 21 nets Harden to 22 Nets Harden , 2021 Harden was a step quicker , more efficient , more in control , the fall off didnt show until after the hamstring
@@baseupp12 Yeah. People forget how great he was playing and how he elevated the Nets game as a playmaker when KD was injured and Kyrie disappeared. I still remember when he cooked the Suns lol
Explain what happened when embiid was hurt then.
I think both can be true. He probably has fallen off a bit (understandably, he is 32 after all), and he doesn't seem to have much interest in "taking over offensively" by my eyes. But he's been playing around primary scorers like KD and Embiid, so I think he's using his skills well and changing his game to be a more pass-heavy player. I actually like him more as a #2 option than a #1 option.
Harden overachieved for his career, ppl forget he was drafted to be a 6th man off the bench and wasn't projected to be a star but he got traded and surpassed all expectations. I think if he was drafted to be a #1 guy, he would've had more time to develop into a leader but he was in the shadow of KD and Russ for his development stage
He was drafted 3rd overall 🧐
Eh, I mean he was an All-American at ASU. He scored on all 3 levels, too.
As a James Harden fan. I finally see someone talking fairly about his legacy.
One thing I couldn't put my finger on when I was watching him (other than the foul baiting) but I couldn't ignore once I realized, was how often I could skip 5s and he'd still be doing the same thing. If he had started his between the legs sequence, I'd skip 5s on the video and he'd still be doing it. If he gave up the ball to Chris Paul, 5s later, he'd still be standing exactly where he was, sometimes with his hands on his knees cuz he had no interest in the play anymore once he no longer had the rock.
There was a CaineLovesCali video that outlined a very interesting dynamic in Harden's playoff performance. From 2017-8, on game 1's, he'd put up an absurd 37p/9a/3to on 51/48/83. That's fucking exceptional, no doubt about it. This should be brought up more often like Game 6 Klay does.
But after Game 1? He'd put up 27p/7a/4.7to on 39/25/90. Where has his shot and handle gone?
So sure, as you say, on average, he looks like like he's putting up solid numbers, but once you look deeper that's pretty tragic efficiency for 3+ games a series. 25% from 3 is worse than Westbrook, and not acceptable from a superstar over what I consider to be his two best years by FAR.
In any single series I'd say sure, Harden only underperforms in a game or two, but those stats were shocking to me and had me rethinking how I considered those performances. If you're laying bricks on 82% of your playoff games over your prime stretch, it looks like it's a lot more than a single game struggle.
Now, did I verify those stats for myself? No, bc as you say, I don't like the guy - I used to watch Rockets games just for him, and during his prime years, he became the reason I found Rockets game unwatchable.
The playoff choker is more than just the 2018 year. Garden choked against the warriors in 15, choked against the spurs in the 2nd round in 2017, 2019 in the 2nd round against the warriors, and the bubble
Not to mention that year against the clippers he was so bad they benched him and his team made a 30 point comeback without him.
Nah in 2019 he did all he could averaging 36 on 59 true shooting and in 2020 he was pretty damn good against the lakers even dropping 30 point by half time. Russ was the one who choked that year,
I appreciate this video so much because it actually changed my view on harden
James Harden actually made a 3 in the middle of that 0-27 but Scott Foster decided to waive it off after it went in for no apparent reason. The reason the Rockets were also taking so many 3s is because they were getting tackled at the rim and not getting any calls.
Oh my god THANK YOU. I've been constantly having to push back against people over the 2018 playoffs for years and it never felt like anyone in the NBA community looked at it fairly. The narrative that the Rockets choked while facing the most stacked roster of all time is the worst in the NBA community by far.
It's not a narrative they did choke
@@baseupp12 pick any all star you want in the last 20 years and put them up against the 2018 warriors, BY THEMSELVES, and tell me they win the series. Tell me how if they don't win the series that means they choked. You people are the worst.
@@baseupp12 he was going up against steph, klay, kd, and draymond with a supporting cast of clint capela, trevor ariza, pj tucker, and chris chiozza. no one in the league is overcoming that
Didn't they miss 27 3 pointers in a row?
@@marcananmh 27 consecutive 3s.
I do get your point about Harden, but the 2018 Rockets team wasn't carry by him against GS. The best exemple of that is their win in game 5 while he shot 5/21 with 0/11 from 3.
But the team around him was that good to still beat the Warriors without him being a stud.
No they weren’t Eric gordan had 24 and cp had 20 harden had 19 that game
Eric averaged 19 that series
Cp average 19.8 those 5 games he played
Harden averaged 28.7 that series
Vs
Kd averaged 30 that series
Steph averaged 25 that series
Klay averaged 19.4 that series
Their third best player was better than our second and third
Our team wasn’t good without harden
Harden on a bad night was still damn near the best player
Using the average score per game to define "good" player show you didn't watch the game to the minute detail. The heavy Iso from Harden in a game where he was that cold should've been a loss. But it wasn't.
But you saying and I quote “but the team around him WAS THAT GOOD TO STILL BEAT THE WARRIORS” like they would get 4 0 if take harden off or replace him with anyone in the league at that time. Unless your just talking about that one game the team is not that good.
That Warriors team was one of the best defenses of all time. Harden still provided a lot of value simply by handling the ball and attracting the defense to him
Kinda reminds me of T-Mac. One of the best offensive forces in the league at their peak, fairly suspect defensively, had a noticeable fall-off (T-Mac moreso because of injuries), and now get kinda disrespected in the sense that people won't think as highly of their peaks as they should've.
Tmac was not a suspect defender
@@elitheeconomist5674 wasn’t great on D in Houston lol
Magic T-Mac had all the defensive attributes to lock down anyone when he turned it on. However, because he was forced to carry the scoring load for his teams, you didn’t get to see him excel on the other side of the ball as often. Compare that to Toronto T-Mac where he was tasked to do way less on offense but was a defensive freak in those days. He picked his battles to say the least
@@howisthatgay4275 in Houston no but in Orlando from 01-03 he was a actual positive , something I don’t think Harden can really say outside of the Bubble
@@alanacevedo4928 I disagree I think as a Magic his man defense was pretty good and his off-ball stuff wasn’t Uber problematic. Got his hands on balls , fell asleep sometimes but who doesn’t. He was never James Harden bad until he was a Rocket , and I’m aware Harden later in his rockets career wasn’t some huge negative , but I still think he hurts most defenses he plays for.
Loving the passion that comes across in this video.
Thank you for your video! I always felt that Harden was underrated!
criminally under appreciated, such a captivating play style at his peak too, shame he’s ringless
Nothing captivating about foul baiting 🤷
@@colewrld901 it’s captivating because it worked so well
@@secretshopper7099 not in the playoffs
@@colewrld901 it actually did work that’s why he took the greatest team of all time to 7 games 😐 (before 0-27)
@@colewrld901 nigga didn't foul bait he just drove in every play. His foot work was unstoppable either he's making the shot or you foul. That's was the game.
2018 was their only opportunity they truly had to win a chip but missing cp3 in game 7 and an impossibly bad shooting night stopped them
Oh my god rusty this is the best video u ever made, FINALLY someone acknowledges this man’s greatness
One of my fav players ever
Peak Harden consists flopping, traveling, foul baiting, dribbling the clock shot, and getting bailed with foul calls when he gets exposed for the lack of midrange shots or any versatility.
Rusty you seem to be doing really well at the moment man and honestly that makes me so happy to see! Loving the content on both channels, keep it up and hope all is well with you!
anyone remember that one february where harden shot like 2/17 from 3 every game for a month but somehow still averaged 30
Is that the same harden that Had 32 games straight with 30 or more points averaging 41.1 total and have 1 60, 3 high 50, 14 40, and 13 30 point games
Is it really that hard when you take 50% or more of your team's shots and the refs hand you 15-20 free throws every game?
@@bpdmf2798 that’s exactly my point lol. when you break down hardens game it really isn’t as impressive as people make it out to be
@@lamontxx the same harden that averaged like 25 free throws during that run
@@bpdmf2798 that year he averaged 11 fta (the most he every averaged)and made 9
And he averaged 24 fga
That year lebron averaged 20fga and averaged 9 less points (27vs36)
And that year giannas averaged 9.5 fta
I THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO🫡💯
As a rockets fan i have never felt so much pain than that 2018 game 7 the craziest thing about that game is that even after 27 missed threes in a row the Rockets only lost by single digits which makes it even worse thinking back at it
I really loved the way Harden played in 2015, under McHale coaching he still was a great team player. To be fair, even if Harden never got in trouble with his all star teammates, i don't think Houston would be able to surpass Golden and win the ring in all those years of the Golden dynasty.
2015 season was his best year. Less dribbles to get to his spots with a mixture of post ups and mid ranges. The narrative that Dantonis system made Harden is over played.
@@SwellyDomo yeah. I don't like D'Antoni as a coach personally. Harden show how great as a talent he was under D'Antoni, but people forgot Harden is one of the players with that really study the game, he just stop on focusing to be a team player.
I don't disagree with the premise of this video (actually I think it's a really good one), but I do think you're understating just how much that 0-27 streak affected Harden's narrative. Like, sure, him being disliked probably didn't help, but fair or not, that's the sort of thing that sticks with you and overrides any accomplishments you had before that. It's the same reason why people only remember the 73 win Warriors for blowing a 3-1 lead in the finals, or the 2016 Atlanta Falcons for losing in the Super Bowl after being up 28-3. You could argue that both those teams should be remembered for more than just one collapse, but sports fans tend to remember you for the last thing that you did, especially if that last thing was complete implode on yourself.
To your point about what happened with Kawahi before he got injured, the reason that he is remembered for one game is because that IS the last thing he did in that series was lead his team to a victory against the warriors before suffering a brutal injury. Maybe being more liked helped him out a little bit, but his game 1 performance was the very last thing he did in that season - and for quite a while after that because of the injury.
How about the Rockets in 2019? The Warriors lost KD and they still beat the Rockets in 6. I personally think 2019 is why the 2018 Rockets underrated. The entire argument for 2018 was that if the Rockets had CP3, they would have beat the Warriors, then the Warriors in 2019 showed that they did not need KD to close out the Rockets. Curry sank them by scoring 33 in the 2nd half.
Yep harden and cp3 choked
@@colewrld901 more so Harden
I just think it’s funny he didn’t mention 2019 or 2017 or 2015
Rockets should not be expected to beat Warriors in 2018 or '19. In 2019 Warriors losing KD means they still had 3 stars left & CP3 was injured twice during the season and was not the same player. Harden was the only star player Rockets had and he nearly had his eye poked out in game 2 by Draymond.
@@aaronvirdee5813 stop the excuses. In 2019 They were tied 2-2 and blew a golden opportunity playing like shit. In 2018 harden had a 3-2 lead and played like shit and blew it. No excuses.
You really should acknowledge 2019 when the rockets were up at halftime and could win the series when KD got hurt and then lost again to the warriors.
Also not acknowledging cp3 as a superstar those years is really straight up disrespectful to Chris
His injury was the thing that caused the 0-27 streak. It was James who was still in the game and let that happen in 2018
curry had like 30 in the second half and chris paul was awful that season and they didn’t even have the same role players that they had in 2018
Chris Paul was not a super star on the rockets
Cp3 was not a superstar especially in the second year where is more than likely the reason they lost
Ok to clarify: CP3 I’d argue was better than Harden in the 2018 playoffs. I know I’m playing into the meme of only talking about 0-27 in 2018, but it was pretty clear to me at least that run happened once he got off the court.
2019: Yeah Harden probably was better than cp3 that series. But that’s the series people should more so roast both them for. They had a lead at halftime when KD went down, and then had a whole nother game in Houston against no KD warriors.
Overall the premise of the video I do agree with though.
@@itsallenwow there’s no way you’re fr harden had 35 points in game 6 in 2019 and chris paul had his only good game of the series scoring 27 points. You’re case is awful and if you think chris paul was better than harden in 2018 you’re straight up lying to yourself
james harden has been my favorite basketball player since 2012 thank you for making this video
Sucks to be you lol
James harden chokes in the most important games of the playoff series though. That's what makes him a playoff choker. It doesn't matter what you did in the previous games, because if you choke in the most important game then what was it for? The goal is to show up and win a championship, not to show up for the most part and then fail miserably
So if you average 40 in the finals then score 12 in game 7 you’re a choker?
@@ACLA23 did you win the championship by showing up in all the games, or did you show up for the most part and then fail miserably?
Keep In mind one bad series/game does not make someone a playoff choker imo. Having multiple bad series/bad games is what makes you one. Harden played like shit in 2012 vs the heat, 2017 he was bad against the spurs, 2018 he was bad against the warriors, I do not remember 2019 for harden that well, but I'm pretty sure he was bad vs the warriors that year too. In 2021 he was bad due to injury so it's excusable, but in 2022 he played bad against the heat. Hell, I believe in 2016 they came back from down 3-1 vs the clippers due to the efforts of his teammates, and NOT him because he played horrible. Losing to the warriors would be excusable if you just did your job and scored, but instead he shriveled up
T S I agree that harden is a choker but you worded it weird saying the previous games don’t matter if you choke on the final one which is kinda odd
@@ACLA23 would you be happy with your best player averaging 40, but then in game 7 he drops 6 on 15 shots?
THANK YOU for this video. James Harden is only behind MJ, Curry & Kobe for scoring guards in the last 30 years. People hate on him for some valid reasons but he’s amazing period!
Yeah. I think sometimes sports fans act as if being imperfect means they suck. Harden was by no means perfect but man was he elite and then some. Even later in his career in the playoffs, he was a much better player. Again, not perfect but still amazing
Curry a PG but also wade is above him
True. Better than Wade as a scorer but Wade was abetter two way player
@@cfromkc5096 I said scoring guard not Shooting Guard. Also Wade wasn’t even a 3 level scoring. He’s a Hall of Famer but Harden was elite driving, with floater (the new mid range), and will probably finish 2nd in 3pt shooting after Curry
@@dfrnt_hues
My bad yeah we can agree James Harden scores a lot of points
The rockets system was made for harden to spam iso plays bro, sure he scored a lot of points and got a lot of assists but that’s bc the ball was in his hands literally 24/7 remember that clip where harden shot a 3 , a rockets player rebounded it and gave it back to harden and Abe shot another 3, and it just kept repeating untill he made it
What your point it was one of the greatest offenses ever
Thank god someone finally said it he gets so much hate it’s not even funny. Despite never having the best roster he was contending against a dynasty for nearly a decade in Houston.
He definitely isn’t mj in the playoffs but the way people talk about the guy you would think he goes from best scorer in the league to a 15/5/5 guy.
Pass
never thought about how impressive it was when the rockets took those warriors to 7 games, good video rusty.
The Rockets had the best record in the league and homecourt advantage. The Warriors needed the CP3-less Rockets to miss 27 consecutive threes to win by 9 points.
Sorry but that Warriors team was overrated. The Rockets handed them Game 7 on a platter.
@@redpillfreedom6692in 2018 those warriors were not as good as they were the year before however that doesn't mean we should rewrite history. despite the rockets having the best record in the league no one really thought besides from Houston rockets fan that a team with prime kd, curry, klay and draymond would not win a ring without being injured. no matter what it will always be an achievement for harden and cp3 for pushing those warriors to the limit similar to the kings vs lakers in 2002.
@@sofaking4409
It's not rewriting history that the Warriors only won by 9 with the Rockets laying a brick house and missing CP3. They weren't that good. Houston gave it away far more than Golden State won it.
The 2018 Warriors have the worst defensive rating of any title-winning team in NBA history.
@@redpillfreedom6692 Bron overrated he got looked up by a 2nd year kawhi💀💀💀💀💀
I love the fire in this one! Spitting facts!
James had the rockets as the only team to make the playoffs for those 8 consecutive years
It’s because he’s such an MVP in the playoffs. As in Most Volatile Player. He doesn’t just sh*t the bed or even go down shooting in big games. He just disappears completely and goes like 2/10 in elimination games.
Ima DIEHARD Rockets fan and Harden supporter. Every single time you said 0-27 I screamed “FUCK!” in agony. I’ve drank to that game multiple times. It was so unbelievably painful to watch. Words cannot express the raw emotions of that game. If the refs were in front of me in that moment, I would not hesitate to choke them.
Rusty got up and decided to spit facts
The thing which frustrates me about this all is my best friend started watching warriors in 2021 season and he discredits everyone who was good, back just 5 years ago. I was watching since 2015 unanimous mvp Curry season and i turned a Harden fan cuz he was so good and my own friend dismissing my claims of his greatness in 2022 in hindsight seems ridiculous to him when i saw these seasons at the time and saw with my own eyes how good Rockets were with him. But to dismiss anyone who stood against Warriors with KD today as trash is the narrative in my friends brain. Like a virus attached to him. I love that you brought this up to back up my claims cuz i love NBA as a whole and every match-up has its good times. You real for this one 🤝🏻💯
I do agree more nuance should be applied when evaluating hardens career, but a lot of the criticisms have real validity to them. Nobody questioned if harden could put up big numbers. People questioned his motor and intangibles. Far too many times in the biggest moments we’ve watched him just role over and die. Not just missing a few shots here and there, but being completely horrible and almost unplayable.
James Harden was one healthy CP3 away from winning the finals. If they get the job done and beat the dubs in 2018 that changes the narrative entirely. He would be seen as the hero who slayed Goliath. The one guy who took on one of the most dominant teams in league history and stopped them in their tracks.
As a Rockets fan, the flopping isn't the thing that annoyed me about Harden the most. What was infuriating to watch was Harden dribbling out the clock for 20 seconds then either chucking up a shot or assist baiting by hoping his teamate makes a tough shot. You could argue that this was more of Dantoni's fault but still I couldn't stand watching it. The best day as a Rockets fan while Harden was on the team was the day he was traded.
Well this is super good content. Good on ya Rusty.
Even with the 0-27 and game 7 criticism, while it's valid to levy, I still think it's overblown. Harden himself was 2-13 from 3 in that game, which is awful. But he isn't responsible for Ariza's 0-9 or Gordon's 2-12. And of course the huge elephant in the room, Chris Paul was injured. So the guy who basically was the difference in making that team the best James had ever had, was not present to help him. Literally James the lone superstar vs the 2018 Warriors. And on side note, as someone who has watched that entire series more than once, people don't talk about Harden's defense. The entire Rockets' defense is what made it such a fight for the Warriors, and James was part of that. For how much he gets meme'd on (obsolete now) for defense, he was fighting like hell against those Warriors.
The problem w/James is the disappearing act u saw in the 2012 finals continued throughout his career! He's never been that"he'll bring it home"player, that's where the"superstar"tag eludes him......at least for me!
Harden was def a superstar 2017-2020 he was top 3 in mvp voting for 4 years and even in 2021 he was like top 5 for half the season
@@ACLA23 What r the qualifications for being a"superstar"🤔? Just a bunch of #'s🤔, highlights 🤔, what? James hasn't shown & proven anything.....u can't deny the pattern of inconsistency!
the OCTAHEDRON my qualifications for being a superstar is being really damn good at the sport which James harden was
@@ACLA23 That"superstar"bar is set REALLY low for u! If James is a"superstar"& hasn't shown & proven ANYTHING.......what is Steph?🤨🤔
@@ReverendSam1 Harden is the only player in NBA history to win 65 games without an all-star teammate, he’s got the record for the highest points per possession season and the most efficient 35+ ppg season ever. He’s a SUPERSTAR
Love this episode. The whole paradigm of people being liked/disliked despite empirical evidence to the contrary is eminently fascinating to me .
Can you define what is a playoff choker because I tend to think that if you consistently play bad in the games that matter you are considered a playoff choker. For example, a player like Chris Webber in the early 2000s or David Robinson in the early to mid 90s. They would most likely not perform to their standards when called upon.
Going back to Harden, he had bad moments against the Warriors in 2015 (late turnover in game 2 and 13 turnovers in game 5), against the Spurs in 2017 (Manu blocking his attempt in game 5 and the infamous game 6 without Kawhi and Tony Parker and again vs the Warriors in 2019 when supposedly they were gonna get their revenge but lost in 6 without KD
most people would say Karl Malone was a playoff choker for not winning one of the 2 finals against the Bulls because he had bad possessions late in games with games on the line against the greatest team and GOAT of the sport....... but everyone hates Malone anyway and refuse to acknowledge how great a player he was for as long as he was
@@cicjose6016 I would agree with that take. And I would consider him a playoff choker. I guess in the end Harden might be one amongst the best players who were also disappointing in the playoffs
So he averaged 28/7/6 in the playoffs but couldn’t make it past the 2nd round for most of those years in Houston
I stopped watching basketball in the mid-2000s and picked it up again in the mid-2010s. The first game I saw was a Rockets game and I remember thinking "damn, this Harden dude is amazing."
Mike tyson and twisting your ankle analogy is bad but I get your point. Kd warriors was something else
I’m a huge harden fan, he’s been my fav player since I started getting really involved w basketball which is abt 2016… this video sums up everything I’ve been trying to say since forever
You and me both except I been watching since 2010. I can confidently say dude is the 4th best 2 guard ever and a top 30 player of all time.
@@Lefuhq3 😂😂😂
Big O>
@@manz7860 he's a point guard 😐😐😐😐. Damn bro delete this. Also prime Westbrook would shit on big o 💀.
@@Lefuhq3 that's even worse. 4th best pg of all time??? 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Bruh YOU still have time to delete that
The only problem I have with James harden is some of the ways he scored , now we can’t fault him for taking advantage of rules and perfecting them and also can’t take away the Amazing statistics, but it really was a bad look (regardless of the reasons) that the second foul baiting was toned down he looked like a different player .
Facts, top 15 peak ever and 5 on offense.
King Rusty steady spreadin the actual factuals
Great video thank you
Since Rusty said Lillard > Parker I can't take anything he says seriously
I think he actually deserves the criticism and discourse.
The entire team and system is made FOR YOU to score.
And he did that with bending the rules and getting half his points on free throws alone.
Then comes playoff time and NO HARDEN to be seen
perfect timing this vid is. Got into an argument with a dude that had Tmac higher than harden as an all time rocket...
I absolutely agree, as I'm a James Harden fanboy. However, the 2018 Rockets had two superstars: James Harden and Chris Paul. But it's a small thing. Really enjoyed the video!
I remember step back 3s used to be layups for James
James Harden is my favorite player of all time simply because he’s the reason I started playing basketball and it’s sad to see what’s happening to him I hop he makes a come back
He was my fav player
100% agree with the video. The fact that the Rockets never won the championship has tarnished Harden's legacy and also helio-centric offenses in general. The reality though is that, outside of a miracle shot by Kyrie Irving, Harden and the Rockets got closer to beating the dynasty Warriors than any team of that era.
Thank you for saying, exactly what Ive been saying for years. Prime James Harden is one of the greatest players of all time.
As a harden fan. This video made me happy
When you were talking about people not liking players, I 100% agree. My dad had the exact same LeBron problem. He still doesn’t believe that he’s Top 5 and that’s observed
Peak James Harden honestly does and does not deserve respect at the same time, he is a great offensive talent, but in the biggest moments he more often then not fails to show up multiple time if he played even close to his best in playoff moments he might have a ring now.
Not even mentioning CP3s injury or the refs in the Warriors series is crazy.
Refs don't make you brick shots lmao.
@@albericponcedeleon2696 but fouls do
@@nadavgepstein2285 they were fouled on all 27 missed shots? Puh-lease. All they needed was to make four of those and they would've won.
@@albericponcedeleon2696 I'm talking specifically about harden's step-backs. It's not his fault his teammates are missing open threes
From a harden fan finally
The rockets went 0-27 for a very obvious reason. They got gassed. Without CP3 or anyone to help spread the minutes out, the rockets had no one who could let any of their starters get some rest. While GS were just switching between curry&klay and KD.
You could see a moment in the game before things really start to snowball. Where harden and tucker are both leaning over hands on knees, covered in sweat. And curry is going to the bench wiping some sweat off with a towel, while a fresh KD comes in.
Watching that game that was the moment I knew it was over, because Houston couldn't rest anyone by comparison.
I loved everything about his game except the foul baiting he was incredible tho
Some people just hate on greatness which is weird to me lol same thing with Joel and Russ lots of people love hating on them too
Thank you!!!!!
You had one inaccuracy in this video rusty, that 2018 Warriors team was not pretty much the same as the 2017 warriors. They were pretty much the same team WITH KEVIN DURANT
Aside from lack of rings and "choking" in the playoffs, prime Harden was also constantly labelled as a stat padder. The constant narrative (especially from mainstream media) that he was a stat padder and thus, his stats were grossly inflated to an untrue extent, made spectators believe that his numbers had less value to them than should a consensus-labelled "hard-working" player do the exact same thing (Giannis finishing with a 30-point triple double during that time would have never been called a negative to his team as Harden sometimes was); even though a 30-point triple double while putting the whole opposing team in foul trouble is a bigger positive to one's team than without the fouls.
My favorite Player oat and the Reason I fell in love with Basketball 🐐
James Harden peak:
April 2019 - all time great regular season, really good playoffs.
you rock that shirt my guy
Top best offense-oriented players ever. That man is unstoppable st his peak
They not gon like this one but I haven’t heard you lie and I had to watched it TWICE
Prime Harden was so good, I would open Twitter and saw he has dropped a 50 bomb and go like "Oh he did, just another day"
Harden goofed off and cared about being famous more then winning good stats or not it’s all about winning , . He never took his diet , training or team chemistry serious . He showed up late to film sessions making teammates wait hours at times . He’s selfish and he said he “doesn’t want to play like that” but he never gave the effort to change his game. (Off ball , slashing , post ups , screens etc)
Yes what he did was still impressive no doubt and he is still a top 100 player of all time . But he is a regular season stud and a post season dud .. simple as This - harden doesn’t show up when it matters the most , he doesn’t have what it takes to be the driving force of a championship team . He comes up short in the playoffs when it matters most , regardless of the stat sheet .
His career isn’t over , but it’s not looking good . If he does win in philly it’s most likely that embiid went beast mode .
We will see what happens
Harden gets enough respect he’s on the top 75. But tbh I can’t fuck wit him. Never liked his game and how he exploited offenses by cheating the game it wasn’t very fun to watch. Also how he quit on his teams when it got tough when he had enough to get by the teams he did. The FO did everything he asked come what may and Harden still never delivered. Its clear he doesn’t love the game prolly jus plays cuz he can and loves the nightlife more than anything.
Can someone explain what happened in 2019 when kd got injured I seem to forget
Great content.
James Harden is one of the biggest playoff chokers of all time
Another thing I’ve noticed about harden discourse is that people tend to cherry pick his bad games far harder then any other player. Like in 2020 when he was good in 4\5 games vs the lakers all anyone talked about was the one bad game. On the other hand someone like Damian lillard or jimmy butler will be absolutely terrible for an entire series but when they to have good games they’re praised as “clutch performers” any any other opinion is considered hating. Just keep it consistent
Good video. I've thought for a while that, if you look back at his stats, it's crazy that he only won one MVP
I mean he honestly maybe deserved 2 tops. The talent those years were just crazy
@@jac6548 I agree but I definitely think he deserved 2
Prime James Harden is the 3rd best sg Ive ever seen. Over D wade
Title card was hilarious, Rudy got you a like
If Harden won in 2017 or 2018 he would’ve been the best in the league he was averaging 36 7 and 7 😭 fair enough he was playing the best team ever but even guys who played against Jordan get underrated because yeah you just so happened to have to play against the best ever
peak james harden was a top 5 player and his opportunity were during the warriors with ks plus if rockets were in the east thet would have been in the finals in 2018
Thank you
love this game 🎯