*READ OP* WCQF: (4) Oklahoma City Thunder vs (5) Houston Rockets, Part 1 | TIED 3-3

[iBall101]

Okc will win the series. Cp gets his vengeance on the Rockets organization CP 1, Morey 0

[gmoney411]

Okc will win the series. Cp gets his vengeance on the Rockets organization CP 1, Morey 0

*CP - 1, Tilman - 0

[darkse1d]

actually i think rockets gonna get swept. the roster is horrible.

[Air Apparent]

rockets in 5

[Tor_Raps]

Rockets will lose every game westbrook doesnt play. The roster construction is so reliant on him that they're a pretty bad team without him. Okc in 6.

[Devils Son]

Russell Westbrook is the Only true big man on the rockets roster and the most important piece of their **** up puzzle. When the trey isn’t falling he can get you an easy bucket in post ups or transition. His midrange pull-up and bank shot has also been elite since after the all star break. We should consider ourselves cooked if he doesn’t play.

[Sane]

Just last year, he had a putrid 52,8 TS% against the Jazz in 5 games. He didn't wipe the floor with EVERYBODY like you said. His playoffs numbers are generally worse than his regular season numbers EVERY YEAR.
Until he does better in the playoffs than the RS, like almost EVERY ALL TIME greats he won't get the benefit of the doubt. Right now he is in the Dirk Nowitzki position before 2011, which is not that bad.

https://clutchpoints.com/rockets-news-james-harden-recorded-third-worst-fg-percentage-in-a-playoff-game-in-the-last-30-seasons/

In 2017 he had a putrid output vs the Spurs too.

That series was a defensive dog fight and everyone shot poorly. He wiped the floor with them. Look at the Jazz stats and THE REST OF THE ROCKETS.

All that happens is when he gets triple teamed, someone has to nail 3's.

Harden's playoff numbers will always be worse than his regular season numbers. Rockets fans are sick of hearing this. Harden uses some tricks in the regular season to get a few points for his team, and those tricks don't work in the postseason. Still worth getting those points. We don't give a sh*t if anyone thinks it's pure lol.

So you know what? Just judge him by his playoff numbers compared to others'. How many did Lebron win against Durant's Warriors? How about Giannis? How many did Durant win against the Warriors before he joined them? Lillard? Paul? AD?

Kawhi at least beat the beaten down Warriors. That's gotta count for something. No one else can talk. Every other playoff series was 4-0, 4-1 or 4-2 all easy ones. Look at the Rockets playoff record. The Jazz and Mitchell came for our throats and Harden just put his foot on their neck, it was incredible to watch.

Harden's prime playoffs came to a halt facing the most talented team in NBA history and at a spending disadvantage with other contenders. At least he tried while everyone else re-tooled.

He didn't wipe anything. The Jazz strategy worked and they could have won more games if they had a proper offense. Harden wasn't the reason they had an amazing defense making Utah's life difficult and barely able to score.
You can spin anyway you won't, but saying he wiped the floor with them is basically saying Harden can't have bad series, let's be honest he can and he had.

Basically what you're saying is, you're giving Harden an excuse because of Durant? I will, in 2018, he was against a ATG team, hard to win okay, even though he choked in game 7 by having a terrible FG %, even though they had a 10 pts lead early on.
In 2019, KD played, the serie was tied 2-2 and he got hurt, so it was a weaker version of GS (of 2016) who played the Rockets and guess what? They lost the 2 last game, including a 4th quarter at Oakland when all they needed was a BIG Harden shot.

No freaking excuses. This year should be the year though, no expectations, no crowd to choke in front of, a proper rest.

This is a truly absurd take and it shall not pass of course.

Harden started toasting that Jazz and Bledsoe defense late in the regular season, well before the playoffs. WATCH SOME GAMES. It was pointless in the series, he turned it into a gimmick and they used it less as the series went on. Harden crushed the Jazz. Every shot we made was created by his gravity only. I am certain from your description that you did not watch this series.

So now you want me to apologize for Harden not beating a team who's core won 73 games before Durant joined it? The team that's just going to resume the dynasty next season like it was taking a nap? You really, truly do not understand because no matter who you support, they were not in contention to beat the Warriors like James Harden's team.

It's fine though, you will understand in these playoffs what Harden looks like minus Durant's Warriors. I bet it will be the first time you see Harden playing defense like Lebron used to years ago. I'm glad Lebron was resting at home during the playoffs last season with a roster that Harden would effortlessly take to the playoffs in the West. Will make the 2nd round fair at least. I hope both teams are healthy.

[alpngso]

Thunder in 6 if Westbrook misses first two games

[drosereturn]

Rockets will lose every game westbrook doesnt play. The roster construction is so reliant on him that they're a pretty bad team without him. Okc in 6.

I dontt even known how low iq westbrook can even match up against magician Paul.
His advanced stats are plummeting and when he cannot get by Paul, he might launch a bunch of bricks out of frustration which means Rockets auto lose.
Like this is Westbrooks first season where he is under control. But can he do it in the playoffs?

[GSP]

Okc in 5. Theyre a bad matchup for Houston and Russ missing games here just makes it worse

Dort/Roberson are gonna make life hell for Harden as well and Gallo can defend in isos a bit too. Hes gonna struggle this series when he cant hunt Steven Adams

[evilpimp972]

That series was a defensive dog fight and everyone shot poorly. He wiped the floor with them. Look at the Jazz stats and THE REST OF THE ROCKETS.

All that happens is when he gets triple teamed, someone has to nail 3's.

Harden's playoff numbers will always be worse than his regular season numbers. Rockets fans are sick of hearing this. Harden uses some tricks in the regular season to get a few points for his team, and those tricks don't work in the postseason. Still worth getting those points. We don't give a sh*t if anyone thinks it's pure lol.

So you know what? Just judge him by his playoff numbers compared to others'. How many did Lebron win against Durant's Warriors? How about Giannis? How many did Durant win against the Warriors before he joined them? Lillard? Paul? AD?

Kawhi at least beat the beaten down Warriors. That's gotta count for something. No one else can talk. Every other playoff series was 4-0, 4-1 or 4-2 all easy ones. Look at the Rockets playoff record. The Jazz and Mitchell came for our throats and Harden just put his foot on their neck, it was incredible to watch.

Harden's prime playoffs came to a halt facing the most talented team in NBA history and at a spending disadvantage with other contenders. At least he tried while everyone else re-tooled.

He didn't wipe anything. The Jazz strategy worked and they could have won more games if they had a proper offense. Harden wasn't the reason they had an amazing defense making Utah's life difficult and barely able to score.
You can spin anyway you won't, but saying he wiped the floor with them is basically saying Harden can't have bad series, let's be honest he can and he had.

Basically what you're saying is, you're giving Harden an excuse because of Durant? I will, in 2018, he was against a ATG team, hard to win okay, even though he choked in game 7 by having a terrible FG %, even though they had a 10 pts lead early on.
In 2019, KD played, the serie was tied 2-2 and he got hurt, so it was a weaker version of GS (of 2016) who played the Rockets and guess what? They lost the 2 last game, including a 4th quarter at Oakland when all they needed was a BIG Harden shot.

No freaking excuses. This year should be the year though, no expectations, no crowd to choke in front of, a proper rest.

This is a truly absurd take and it shall not pass of course.

Harden started toasting that Jazz and Bledsoe defense late in the regular season, well before the playoffs. WATCH SOME GAMES. It was pointless in the series, he turned it into a gimmick and they used it less as the series went on. Harden crushed the Jazz. Every shot we made was created by his gravity only. I am certain from your description that you did not watch this series.

So now you want me to apologize for Harden not beating a team who's core won 73 games before Durant joined it? The team that's just going to resume the dynasty next season like it was taking a nap? You really, truly do not understand because no matter who you support, they were not in contention to beat the Warriors like James Harden's team.

It's fine though, you will understand in these playoffs what Harden looks like minus Durant's Warriors. I bet it will be the first time you see Harden playing defense like Lebron used to years ago. I'm glad Lebron was resting at home during the playoffs last season with a roster that Harden would effortlessly take to the playoffs in the West. Will make the 2nd round fair at least. I hope both teams are healthy.

Using big words isn't changing facts. I watched all the games, and LOL, you're acting like the Utah Jazz were the best defensive team ever, of course Harden can only make shots that he creates by his own gravity, he has ZERO off the ball game lmao.
Shooting bricks is not winning anything lmao, what's next? He had a great game 7 vs GSW in 2018?
Again, stop using big words for this putrid output, no justification needed, we are talking about a superstar here, not some regular scrub.

Where did I say that??? I said I gave him a pass for not beating KD and the Warriors. ZERO pass for choking last year because KD was hurt and that was the ultimate chance, CP3 was freaking healthy, the serie was tied, he didn't pass the test.

Harden isn't playing defense like Lebron used to in no circumstances, he can be alright but he doesn't have the bball IQ on defense to play a lick of help defense, stop dreaming.

[BadWolf]

I dontt even known how low iq westbrook can even match up against magician Paul.

Yeah... Not like it happened before, right. A few years ago CP3 of. Lob City. singlehandedly lost a game or two that they had won in 2nd round vs Russ and KD.

[Sane]

He didn't wipe anything. The Jazz strategy worked and they could have won more games if they had a proper offense. Harden wasn't the reason they had an amazing defense making Utah's life difficult and barely able to score.
You can spin anyway you won't, but saying he wiped the floor with them is basically saying Harden can't have bad series, let's be honest he can and he had.

Basically what you're saying is, you're giving Harden an excuse because of Durant? I will, in 2018, he was against a ATG team, hard to win okay, even though he choked in game 7 by having a terrible FG %, even though they had a 10 pts lead early on.
In 2019, KD played, the serie was tied 2-2 and he got hurt, so it was a weaker version of GS (of 2016) who played the Rockets and guess what? They lost the 2 last game, including a 4th quarter at Oakland when all they needed was a BIG Harden shot.

No freaking excuses. This year should be the year though, no expectations, no crowd to choke in front of, a proper rest.

This is a truly absurd take and it shall not pass of course.

Harden started toasting that Jazz and Bledsoe defense late in the regular season, well before the playoffs. WATCH SOME GAMES. It was pointless in the series, he turned it into a gimmick and they used it less as the series went on. Harden crushed the Jazz. Every shot we made was created by his gravity only. I am certain from your description that you did not watch this series.

So now you want me to apologize for Harden not beating a team who's core won 73 games before Durant joined it? The team that's just going to resume the dynasty next season like it was taking a nap? You really, truly do not understand because no matter who you support, they were not in contention to beat the Warriors like James Harden's team.

It's fine though, you will understand in these playoffs what Harden looks like minus Durant's Warriors. I bet it will be the first time you see Harden playing defense like Lebron used to years ago. I'm glad Lebron was resting at home during the playoffs last season with a roster that Harden would effortlessly take to the playoffs in the West. Will make the 2nd round fair at least. I hope both teams are healthy.

Using big words isn't changing facts. I watched all the games, and LOL, you're acting like the Utah Jazz were the best defensive team ever, of course Harden can only make shots that he creates by his own gravity, he has ZERO off the ball game lmao.
Shooting bricks is not winning anything lmao, what's next? He had a great game 7 vs GSW in 2018?
Again, stop using big words for this putrid output, no justification needed, we are talking about a superstar here, not some regular scrub.

Where did I say that??? I said I gave him a pass for not beating KD and the Warriors. ZERO pass for choking last year because KD was hurt and that was the ultimate chance, CP3 was freaking healthy, the serie was tied, he didn't pass the test.

Harden isn't playing defense like Lebron used to in no circumstances, he can be alright but he doesn't have the bball IQ on defense to play a lick of help defense, stop dreaming.

You did not watch the series btw, I'm not the only person saying it. Either you're trolling or you didn't watch, but your take can't be taken seriously.

Gravity is what creates open shots for other Rockets, not for Harden himself. Again, you clearly don't understand this term. My bad.

You can keep driving things to 1 small part of the larger question we're discussing, but Harden destroyed every playoff opponent except the Warriors the past two years and came closer to beating Durant's Warriors than anyone including Giannis, Kawhi and Lebron. Hell Durant couldn't beat the Warriors before he joined them. This is true even if what you say is true, so I don't understand your nagging.

[ThunderBolt]

After reading this thread, the only thing I’m confident in is that the rockets are hated more than okc.

[OkcSinceSGA]

OKC in 7. I think the missing Westbrook for a game or two, combined with the Thunder clutch play, and CP3 revenge motivation is going to be tough to handle.

[Anfernee1]

It will be a good series, I think Rockets will win in 6 games

[SpaceCenter]

Dort is going to lock the public-lice beard up, OKC in 7.

https://therookiewire.usatoday.com/2020/01/21/luguentz-dort-james-harden-defense-highlights-okc-thunder/

[1bigfan13]

People really still don’t understand how good Harden is in the playoffs nowadays.

He wiped the floor with EVERYBODY other than the Warriors the past couple years. Just annihilated the rest of the NBA including all your favorite superstars and MVP candidates, regular season and playoffs.

He is now playing imo by far the best defense of his life, and he was well above average in last seasons playoffs.

The good news is, harden always plays better when people crap on him or ignore him. The moment he’s favored, he relaxes a bit too much (opposite of Russ incidentally, despite the antics). The biggest mistake everyone is making right now is talking about how sweet it would be for Paul to win. I hope to see the media fantasize about a Chris Paul victory, turning a franchise full of fans into tools in a feud with harden that exists only in Paul’s head. That’s going to motivate both our guys perfectly.

The next motivator is our two guys from California constantly hearing about an all-LA final. I bet they love hearing that!

And on the other side of the coin people really don't understand just how poorly Westbrook has played the past three years in the playoffs. The points per game are there because he's a volume shooter. But he got the points on only 38% shooting. He's been a sub par defender and a poor decision-maker. Mainly because he gets too emotionally wrapped up in settling personal beefs during these games rather than actually making smart basketball plays.

[Sane]

People really still don’t understand how good Harden is in the playoffs nowadays.

He wiped the floor with EVERYBODY other than the Warriors the past couple years. Just annihilated the rest of the NBA including all your favorite superstars and MVP candidates, regular season and playoffs.

He is now playing imo by far the best defense of his life, and he was well above average in last seasons playoffs.

The good news is, harden always plays better when people crap on him or ignore him. The moment he’s favored, he relaxes a bit too much (opposite of Russ incidentally, despite the antics). The biggest mistake everyone is making right now is talking about how sweet it would be for Paul to win. I hope to see the media fantasize about a Chris Paul victory, turning a franchise full of fans into tools in a feud with harden that exists only in Paul’s head. That’s going to motivate both our guys perfectly.

The next motivator is our two guys from California constantly hearing about an all-LA final. I bet they love hearing that!

And on the other side of the coin people really don't understand just how poorly Westbrook has played the past three years in the playoffs. The points per game are there because he's a volume shooter. But he got the points on only 38% shooting. He's been a sub par defender and a poor decision-maker. Mainly because he gets too emotionally wrapped up in settling personal beefs during these games rather than actually making smart basketball plays.

100% true and we saw why for the first half of the season. OKC had not convinced him that his shot selection was poor and they had not made sure the team covered for its weaknesses. The thing the Rockets do well is they double down on a person's strengths instead of spending years trying to fix their weaknesses.

The moment Russ changed his offense, his offense saw a bump. When we traded Capela and went small, his offense took another bump. Right now he's having one of his best offensive seasons (top 3 or 4 IIRC), he is besting his highest TS% since he ramped up attacks on the rim and chilled on mid range and 3's, and since we went microball he is blowing away his past offensive efficiency.

Further, he's made the role players more efficient by turning Houston from the slowest team for 2 straight years to the fastest. That gives Harden tremendous relief and allows us to create points when the offense needs a shift. Paul was redundant because he wasn't better than Harden in the half court. Last season he gave us like 16 points on 13 shots and he was out of shape. Unacceptable production, total failure. I bet Westbrook can top that and give us close to what Paul gave us in 2018. In 2018 Paul gave us 2 great games against the Warriors and it allowed us to go up 3-2 till he pulled his hammy. Harden really doesn't need much. No one this season is as good as that Warriors team.

Russ can't lead a team to a title, but that's not his role in Houston. Harden lost to Durant's Warriors by 1 game then 2 games despite a massive talent gap. Can Russ give us a couple of great games in a series? That's all we need. Paul knows it, he was almost at the finish line with Harden.

[1bigfan13]

Harden will get his points because he takes a high volume of shots and is crafty at drawing fouls, but this year's OKC squad has actually done a good job defending him.

Take a look at his numbers in the three games vs OKC:

October 28: 40 points | 8/21 FG for 38% | 3/14 3PT | 21/22 FTs

January 9: 17 points | 5/17 FG for 29% | 2/9 3PT | 5/5 FTs

January 20: 29 points | 9/29 FG for 31% | 1/17 3PT | 10/13 FTs

So I don't get why people assume Harden's going to roast OKC now that the offense will be completely funneled through him again. I mean, it COULD happen, but history shows that OKC has the perimeter defenders and game plan in place to make things difficult for Harden. I fully expect him to average over 30 ppg in this series. But if he's only shooting 37% and OKC limits him to 12 or fewer FT attempts, I'll live with those results and will feel good about the Thunder's odds at winning.