WCQF | (3) Houston Rockets vs Oklahoma City Thunder (6) | HOU 2-1

[BlueLion]

Actually surprised how easily Harden is outplaying Westbrook so far. Was the other way round in the regular season.

Probably worrying for Rockets that they aren't 3-0 up despite Harden being the best player in the series so far considering everyone would agree Houston have the much better supporting cast.

He scored more than 60 points on FT through three games. He had 18 FT yesterday while shooting 11 3PT attempts. He didn't outplay Westbrook yet but I give him credit because he is exposing rules.

Westbrook is 2nd in FTAs with 13.3 you troll.

And yes, he's much better than Westbrook. Not even close.

Westbrook doesn't get half of his FT with a stupid rip through move and flopping on threes. And I'm not a troll. Why would you attack me like that? I think Harden is extremely intelligent and great player.

[Gil]

He scored more than 60 points on FT through three games. He had 18 FT yesterday while shooting 11 3PT attempts. He didn't outplay Westbrook yet but I give him credit because he is exposing rules.

Westbrook is 2nd in FTAs with 13.3 you troll.

And yes, he's much better than Westbrook. Not even close.

Westbrook doesn't get half of his FT with a stupid rip through move and flopping on threes. And I'm not a troll. Why would you attack me like that? I think Harden is extremely intelligent and great player.

Yeah, because barrelling into defenders at 100mph is so much better.

[Pillendreher]

He scored more than 60 points on FT through three games. He had 18 FT yesterday while shooting 11 3PT attempts. He didn't outplay Westbrook yet but I give him credit because he is exposing rules.

Westbrook is 2nd in FTAs with 13.3 you troll.

And yes, he's much better than Westbrook. Not even close.

Westbrook doesn't get half of his FT with a stupid rip through move and flopping on threes. And I'm not a troll. Why would you attack me like that? I think Harden is extremely intelligent and great player.

James Harden by himself has shot 49 FTA so far. His FTr is 0.742. That's just insane.

[NaturalThunder]

I think this game dispel's the myth that Harden has a much better supporting cast than Westbrook.

I mean we just got the direct comparison.

yeah, those one game sample sizes sure put a definitive end to any debate

Funny how everyone (I'm sure you included ) was railing about how terrible Westbrook's cast was last game based on "one game."

It's a myth that has never been supported by the facts.

And now that we have a direct comparison, I see evidence to the contrary.

It's not a myth. There's an entire 82-game sample size's worth of stats that agree with the notion that Harden's teammates were considerably better than Westbrook's this year.

[bmurph128]

If Rockets win - "Harden makes his teammates better and has a better record, he deserves MVP"

If Rockets lose - "hopefully this dispels that Westbrook has a trash supporting cast"

Come on....let's get a little more creative here. So many Rocket fans trolling OKC. You're going to win this series...it's really obnoxious and people are going to be happy when the Rockets get bounced

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[NBAFan93]

Why are people dogging on Adams, yall know he saved OKC with the game winning put back, right?

He really did. He's the true hero of this game. If that missed 3 by Westbrook was the end of that specific possession for OKC, it would have been another game where everyone blamed Westbrook for the loss because of him bricking shots w/ teammates open. Cause you know, whenever Westbrook shoots and misses a shot, instead of throwing it to an open teammate, there was a 100% chance that teammate's shot would have went in ...

People are dogging Adams though cause overall he hasn't played his best these last couple months of the season. And he really hasn't. I wonder what is up w/ that? Love him though so hope he turns it around in the next game. He did save Westbrook w/ that putback though - it was essentially the game winner.

[NBAFan93]

Westbrook is 2nd in FTAs with 13.3 you troll.

And yes, he's much better than Westbrook. Not even close.

Westbrook doesn't get half of his FT with a stupid rip through move and flopping on threes. And I'm not a troll. Why would you attack me like that? I think Harden is extremely intelligent and great player.

Yeah, because barrelling into defenders at 100mph is so much better.

Touché - . Harden usually does draw a lot of fouls using less than honorable methods, but I really don't think he got away w/ much of that in this game. Almost all the fouls he got did seem to be legimate fouls to me. IMO the refs did a good job w/ this game - especially for a Harden game.

[Old Man Game]

As a fan of the game, it's hard to watch the series and conclude other than that Harden is just an easier player to build a team around. I do think his Supporting Cast is better top to bottom but I also think he makes them better. He's just so intuitive and has an innate understanding of the game. Whereas Westbrook, is probably the most impressive athlete I've ever seen but at times he's more of a whirling dervish and is harder to read and react to as a teammate it would seem. (TBF, I also think D'antoni's offense helps on that side of the coin).

[Pillendreher]

As a fan of the game, it's hard to watch the series and conclude other than that Harden is just an easier player to build a team around. I do think his Supporting Cast is better top to bottom but I also think he makes them better. He's just so intuitive and has an innate understanding of the game. Whereas Westbrook, is probably the most impressive athlete I've ever seen but at times he's more of a whirling dervish and is harder to read and react to as a teammate it would seem. (TBF, I also think D'antoni's offense helps on that side of the coin).

I suspect it's sometimes tough for Russ' teammates because he places with such fury and you never really know what he's gonna do next. Besides him working on that, it really is on the coaching staff tho to lay the foundation for a system that involves everybody. I doubt Russ wouldn't prefer picking his spots more.

[Old Man Game]

As a fan of the game, it's hard to watch the series and conclude other than that Harden is just an easier player to build a team around. I do think his Supporting Cast is better top to bottom but I also think he makes them better. He's just so intuitive and has an innate understanding of the game. Whereas Westbrook, is probably the most impressive athlete I've ever seen but at times he's more of a whirling dervish and is harder to read and react to as a teammate it would seem. (TBF, I also think D'antoni's offense helps on that side of the coin).

I suspect it's sometimes tough for Russ' teammates because he places with such fury and you never really know what he's gonna do next. Besides him working on that, it really is on the coaching staff tho to lay the foundation for a system that involves everybody. I doubt Russ wouldn't prefer picking his spots more.

Coaching does surely matter. There were multiple positions last night where they basically iso'd at the top of the key, Russ drove and then tried to drop it off to set up Gibson, Grant, etc. off of no movement at all. He was basically driving headlong into a crowd and trying to thread passes. Pretty tough to do that.

[HotTubMike]

If Rockets win - "Harden makes his teammates better and has a better record, he deserves MVP"

If Rockets lose - "hopefully this dispels that Westbrook has a trash supporting cast"

Come on....let's get a little more creative here. So many Rocket fans trolling OKC. You're going to win this series...it's really obnoxious and people are going to be happy when the Rockets get bounced

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You troll the Rockets all year. Nobody is fooled as if you're some neutral 3rd party. You are the obnoxious one.

[Bergmaniac]

You know that the MVP voting is over, right? Why not just enjoy the series and 2 great players giving their best without all the beaten to death talk who's the "real MVP" and who's an overrated choker?

[K_chile22]

Ryno and Ariza are a combined 2-24 from three, while Roberson is 6-12

[sfam]

As a fan of the game, it's hard to watch the series and conclude other than that Harden is just an easier player to build a team around. I do think his Supporting Cast is better top to bottom but I also think he makes them better. He's just so intuitive and has an innate understanding of the game. Whereas Westbrook, is probably the most impressive athlete I've ever seen but at times he's more of a whirling dervish and is harder to read and react to as a teammate it would seem. (TBF, I also think D'antoni's offense helps on that side of the coin).

I suspect it's sometimes tough for Russ' teammates because he places with such fury and you never really know what he's gonna do next. Besides him working on that, it really is on the coaching staff tho to lay the foundation for a system that involves everybody. I doubt Russ wouldn't prefer picking his spots more.

Coaching does surely matter. There were multiple positions last night where they basically iso'd at the top of the key, Russ drove and then tried to drop it off to set up Gibson, Grant, etc. off of no movement at all. He was basically driving headlong into a crowd and trying to thread passes. Pretty tough to do that.

Its coaching and supporting cast. D'antoni is like a perfect mind-meld for Harden. Its hard to imagine a better suited star and coach in terms of shared outlook and philosophy. But Harden's team is just better constructed for their game style - its as if they had a plan or something in constructing it. Westbrook needs like 2-3 more accurate 3 point shooters and another Deron Williams level ball distributor at minimum.

And OKC should consider hiring a shooting coach for their existing team. Maybe their fanbase can take up a collection or something if its cost prohibitive.

[K_chile22]

Was really hoping for the sweep, but glad to see Harden playing so well. He still has the 'disappears in the playoffs' stigma because of the bad Portland and Miami series' despite having good actual numbers in the playoffs. Right now he's leading the NBA playoffs in scoring, on an insane 66.2 TS% and 54.5 eFG%

[Shock Defeat]

Houston shouldn't be too proud to try hacking Roberson. He's a worst FT shooter than Shaq. Foul him and kill the flow of OKC offense.

[bmurph128]

If Rockets win - "Harden makes his teammates better and has a better record, he deserves MVP"

If Rockets lose - "hopefully this dispels that Westbrook has a trash supporting cast"

Come on....let's get a little more creative here. So many Rocket fans trolling OKC. You're going to win this series...it's really obnoxious and people are going to be happy when the Rockets get bounced

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You troll the Rockets all year. Nobody is fooled as if you're some neutral 3rd party. You are the obnoxious one.

I never said I was neutral.

But that doesn't mean I can't call out the people that blindly twist everything that happens to fit the "Harden for MVP" argument

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[Thabo Sefolosha]

Part two: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1555144