How many points for Harden tonight?
I don't think Lin would look this relaxed if Harden wasn't on the team. He's making Lin look good.
If it wasn't for the Harden trade, Lin would be the #1 option to run the team and all eyes would be on him. Now that he has Harden, he has taken all of the attention from Lin and I'm sure Jeremy doesn't mind that at all.
If you look at the boxscore and ask "What's going on with Harden?"
Dude is gassed. There's no lift on his jumpshots and he is clearly tired. He's being double teamed as soon as he touches the ball. He's not used to playing so many minutes and having played 42MPG and on the back end of a back-to-back while being the #1 scoring and creating option, it's taking it's toll on Harden.
all those pizza rolls are hunting him back,
but really, he surely is playing tired, in OKC he plays the 6th man, when OKC needs a spark he was put inside, but now, doing it all throughout the game, all the 42minutes, somebody should step up, Parson and Lin should step up a bit
Aside from Parsons or Lin stepping up, Kevin McHale needs to trust Cook/Douglas a bit more and give those guys a rest. Harden is averaging 42MPG, Lin 37MPG, Parsons 40MPG
It's tough to be productive while playing those kind of minutes, especially in the first 3 games of the season when nobody is really in 100% shape.
It is early. After winning the first two games, this was a game the Rockets could lose. Everyone on the team was gassed and Harden especially. If this is an "off" night for Harden, the rest of the NBA needs to be worried and Presti needs to worry about this haunting the rest of his career.
Truth is, they don't have anyone else right now they can give the ball to and create offense. This team is terrible when harden is in the bench. He and Lin are very good together but Lin by himself isn't working that well. The Rockets are like a 30 win team this year IMO. Harden was extremely tired late in the fourth quarter and the whole team looked gassed in overtime. Portland could go to Lillard, Aldridge or Batum for scoring. Houston had Harden and that was about it. Lin is a good player but he needs to develop a midrange game. Maybe even a bit of a post up game to maximize his potential.
I think Houston will win more than 30 teams. However, they aren't supposed to be a playoff team this year. And it will take more than 42 wins to get into the playoffs in the West. The Rockets are extremely young and they have no experience playing with each other. Three starters who will play heavy minutes have joined the team and the rest of the starting lineup is up in the air and subject to change. They will figure it out, but it could take half the season.
Or Harden could average an efficient 30 points a night. That would be scary. That might make up for rookies and second year players running around without a clue.
He has 8 points in the first 6 minutes of the game, how many points do you see him putting up tonight?
I'm going with 26-30, especially with this start