ghostowl wrote:Dirk Nowitzki wrote:The Rockets will always struggle in the playoffs because some of the calls they get now... they won't get them in the playoffs.
Harden baits everyone into cheap fouls... and it's not just a random foul... he has been milking three point attempts out of that 'natural' contact where the defender will have a hand on him. It's ridiculous. The problem isn't Harden, the problem is the NBA. Other teams need to coach up their players to be smarter.
Kilpatrick was making his move and Nene wasn't set. It was a 50/50 call at best. Of course, it went against the men in black.
Harris scores, with contact - no foul.
Lin was correctly called for a foul on Nene. On that play, just before, Harden had pushed off - no call - it was very blatant but he seems to have worked the system so well that he never gets called for it.
Besides being robbed by the refs - it was very blatant - the ending to the game was bad... Lin with an airball three with a lot of time on the clock. And they can't even run a play/inbound the ball. Lopez is soft, at the very least he should have drawn a foul like Nene did if he went for the ball harder.
This is why Harden is 'fool's gold'
He's exceptional at what he does - draw contact and get foul calls. He's probably the best in the league at it, whether those calls are actually right or not. He has worked the system, and he puts his long arms beneath the defender's arms, and "shoots" with the opponents arms still pushing his arms down - so he gets 99% of the calls his way.
But you're right, when playoffs come, he won't get easy foul calls. This is why Rockets crumbled last time because Harden would put on a show and refs weren't buying it. This is also why Harden practices FTs 80% of the time. That's how he gets his points. Make no mistake, he's got a great stepback jumper, good passing, and terrible defense. But Harden leading the team will go nowhere near championship.
And this is my personal opinion but I hate to watch that type of basketball. It's cowardly.
Not to mention when he faces teams with superstars like Curry, KD, LBJ, Kawai, Lillard, the calls go lopsided to the other way and he is even less effective.
