It doesn't matter who Harden's team mates are though. He shoots around 44% from the field no matter what. He plays iso-ball whether he has elite team mates or scrubs. In the last week he's had games where he scored 57 and 58 points. Out of those 115 points not a single point was assisted. Team mates are there to play defense, take his last second passes when he's been double teamed and give him the ball - that's it. In other words while it's evident to say that it's easier for Curry to play well because he has better team mates, in a true comparison with James Harden it's irrelevant - he hardly uses them anyway.
NBA 2018-2019
- Thread starter altodevil
- Start date
When has he played alongside an elite scorer?
Field goal percentage is misleading for players who take tons of threes.
Both Chris Paul and Eric Gordon have had multiple seasons where they've scored over 20 points/game. Having said that though it's going to be hard to be an elite scorer when your number 1 player's usage rate is higher than his three point percentage shooting.
You mean like Steph?
I mean what I said. I dont care about either team so I'm not biased like you.
So no one basically. You are basically making a blanket statement based on nothing, he doesnt pass as often as he should because he is his teams best chance at scoring.
You are right and I apologize for my sarky answer. I was going to add though that Harden shot less than 7 threes per game up until four years ago. Up until that point his field goal percentages where: 40.3%, 43.6%, 49.1%, 43.8%, 45.6%, 44.0% for an average of 44.4%.
I'm not going to go way back because I can't be bothered, however in the last 10 games the Rockets have played they are 6-4. In the games Harden has taken 30 shots or more they are 2-4, in those he has taken less than 30 they are 4-0.
I couldn't believe it when I saw that . I guess demand dictates price in the end .
Your data is useless due to a small sample size and not accounting for the teams he has faced, the performance and quality of his teammates.
But field goal percentage is flawed for all players, increasing in flaws and three pointers increase. What are their TS%?
I just took the last 10 games from supposedly Harden's best scoring run of his career. You said he was the Rockets best scoring option. Based on that obviously limited data set it would appear that he should at least consider other options.
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Harden's TS% is at 62.1%. This puts him 17th for all NBA players. Curry's TS% this year puts him at 3rd with 66.7%. Curry is the only backcourt player in the top 15.
https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/player-stat/ts-percentage
What Harden is doing is amazing. He's forced to play 1v5 and is carrying his team. He's putting up huge stats and they're in the playoffs. He for sure deserves MVP.
Also NBA fans in 16-17: Westbrook is a ball-hog. He must be terrible to play with. An awful teammate. He shouldn't win MVP.
Also NBA fans in 16-17: Westbrook is a ball-hog. He must be terrible to play with. An awful teammate. He shouldn't win MVP.
He's exterting 3/4 times the energy/effort that some of the players he's been compared with are exerting. Perhaps my eyes are deceiving me, but I'm surprised his body doesn't give way every time I watch him.
Basing anything over 10 games is a flawed conclusion, it could very well be that without harden they would have lost even more but if you want to manipulate the results to see what you want to see then yes, your statement is correct.
Do you disagree with that statement?
I think you are right. Without Harden the Rockets would definitely have lost more. All I'm saying is that if he wasn't so injudicious about sharing the ball they may have won even more.
Forgot the Knicks were playing today. Only saw the fourth quarter and it was probably the worst basketball I have seen this season. Sorry that we sent you guys such poor basketball.
Considering how pointless a single regular season game is in the NBA , I am shocked that they don't offer better games for the UK . This seemed like a game made for just fulfilling a contract
Important thing to keep in mind is CP3, EG, and Capela's injuries and House contract situation, those are 4 important plauer Harden is playing without.
Gordon is back isn't he? House could also be if ownership wasn't so cheap.
Oh yeah Nets first match back, and yeah Rockets FO has been a nightmare this season.
Bad analysis. You're just cherry picking to fit your point of view.
Here's Houston's points per 100 possessions for each of the last 10 games. I've bolded the games they lost. The league average is 110 by the way.
109.6
118.1
124.6
112.2
125.8
107.7
132.5
115.2
116.6
125.1
- They lost when Harden had these oRTG's: 133, 110, 104, 99
- Then won when Harden had these oRTG's, 127, 145, 125, 121, 125, 117
The real correlation isn't field goals attempted (and even if you want to go that route, you know to use shot equivalents / possessions used not field goals attempted), it's efficiency. 3 of the 4 games they lost they had an above average offense. They have the 2nd ranked offense and the 26th ranked defense. Whatever Harden is doing on offense, it's working.
I really didn't mean to cherry pick, I really did just pick the last 10 games because I thought since they were a random choice they'd be as good as any. However, as to your analysis and your conclusion that it is obviously working that really wasn't my contention.
As you can see in my above post I agree that whatever Harden is doing is working. My actual contention is that if he got other people involved more principally other players who are having a good night they would have won even more. The example I used earlier was that of Eric Gordon last night. Gordon was shooting 55 percent from the field and 50 percent from three whereas Harden was shooting 47 percent and 26 percent respectively.
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I heard that he wasn't assisted once in his last two games, which is just incredible.
The Joker is 7th for assists in the league.
But if you take away fast-breaks and just look at half court assists he's first in the league. It's unbelievable that a Centre is doing these things.
https://hoopshype.com/2019/01/16/denver-nuggets-nikola-jokic-best-passes-highlights/
But if you take away fast-breaks and just look at half court assists he's first in the league. It's unbelievable that a Centre is doing these things.
https://hoopshype.com/2019/01/16/denver-nuggets-nikola-jokic-best-passes-highlights/
LeBron impact on his teams are really amazing. Time for me to admit it. 
He absolutely grow and improve as years passed by.
OKC despite progress and being one my favorites remain a same team. If it is a big and close game with stakes being high, wouldn't bet a dime on them.
He absolutely grow and improve as years passed by.OKC despite progress and being one my favorites remain a same team. If it is a big and close game with stakes being high, wouldn't bet a dime on them.
DSJ requested a trade? Damn.
I think it’s them wanting to trade him more than anything.
I don"t really believe in having a second team but I've got to admit I really love watching the Nets.
Good win for the Nets there. Great game!
LeBron impact on his teams are really amazing. Time for me to admit it.
OKC despite progress and being one my favorites remain a same team. If it is a big and close game with stakes being high, wouldn't bet a dime on them.
Not sure if you're being facetious, but either way his impact is clearly undeniable.
As for OKC - how can they win when Westbrook is shooting 30%< regularly on 20 odd shots? I really love Westbrook, but he's got to give it up. Pick and roll seems to shred then too.
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Cousins looks healthy. Really just reinforcing how stupid it is that they have five all-stars starting. Yawn.
Nah, was serious. You see how much Lakers struggle without him (despite the win). The man has really upped his game to crazy level in the last 4 years. To claim otherwise you would have to be blind or absolutely not objective.
Not going into that GOAT debate and already said what I think about it. Also, it is repetitive and tiresome.
Don't get me wrong, I wasn't trying to rehash the old argument. I think he makes all of the other players, especially the young ones, walk a little taller and play with some confidence knowing that he's there.
Nah, wasn't thinking that at all (the GOAT comment was made more in a general sense). Agree with you about his impact on other players.
Boogie played good. If he can get back to anything close to what he was before the injury, the Dubs will go 16-0 in the playoffs.
Warriors have 6 future HOFers on their team. Don't see how anyone comes even close to troubling them.
If they can be bothered no one will touch them.