James Harden is a crushingly, amazing bball player (I cannot believe how wrong I was)

[sashaturiaf]

Harden won't get it even if he does deserve it, the drama at the start of the season and the very selective "you can't be MVP on a superteam" criteria that KD knows very well about will make sure of it.

Lebron has this year's MVP on lock because the media has made clear who their preference is and the Lakers are good enough to justify giving it to him, Jokic has a slim chance if the Nuggets end up in the top 3 and his stats are just too good for anyone to deny him. In the very unlikely circumstance of a Laker meltdown plus Nuggets ending up a lower seed in the West they will probably give it to Giannis even though they don't want to for non-sensical narrative reasons.

IT will go to Embiid or Luka. and people wil then say donovan mitchell or jokic got snubbed

in reality its Harden and maybe Lebron who are the only ones who should be considered. no one else is even remotely close.

The Luka stuff is so tired. People keep hating on Luka over trae but honestly their teams records are near identical and the stats arent as off as people make it other then luka having more rebounds in a league where no one tries to crash the glass anymore

The NBA is a product and multi billion dollar business so marketability matters, if you go into it truth-seeking and expecting untainted sporting ideals then you will only up end bitter and disappointed. I feel Kyrie is going through this phase but I'm sure the millions he gets will ease the pain.

If Trae Young looked and groomed himself like Iverson and Luka was 6'3 with a receding hairline then the narrative is probably switched. Does suck but is what it is

[MrDollarBills]

Anyone who isn't seriously considering James Harden as the MVP doesn't watch games.

[gmoney411]

Honestly, I’m glad Harden is getting lots of love now, but it also kind of pisses me off.

As a Rockets fan, I’ve watched this dude play incredible basketball every night for 8 years, and he was constantly getting trashed. Not given the respect he clearly deserved. It was incredibly frustrating.

Then he gets traded and all of a sudden the media and everyone act like he’s so amazing (which he is) but they weren’t giving him anywhere near the credit they’re giving him now.

I’m glad he’s finally getting the respect he deserves for being such an incredible player, but where was this the past 8 years?

we thought it was a fluke. and the spurs series kind of cemented that in manys ways.
but now that he is beside two great players we can see clearly how good harden is. the things he did in houston all of a sudden become more relevent than before. also the situation here is something to get excited about. its very exciting to see harden be the oil that gets this machine in first place if you will

Thing is, he showed how good he was in Houston the one year he had a teammate playing at an all star level. The Rockets were all time great with healthy CP in 17-18. People love to say Curry is playing with scrubs but those people should go look at the team 23 year old Harden led to 45 wins and a playoff birth. People are about to see how unbelievably good Harden can be in the playoffs when you have to guard his teammates. No more trapping him every time he passes half court like the Lakers did last year or having defenders stand BEHIND him like the Jazz did the year before.

[stormi]

If it isn't us (it won't be). I want it to be y'all for James Harden, and to a lesser extent Kyrie Irving. Two absolutely spectacular ballers that do not get the appreciation they deserve.

[Prokorov]

Honestly, I’m glad Harden is getting lots of love now, but it also kind of pisses me off.

As a Rockets fan, I’ve watched this dude play incredible basketball every night for 8 years, and he was constantly getting trashed. Not given the respect he clearly deserved. It was incredibly frustrating.

Then he gets traded and all of a sudden the media and everyone act like he’s so amazing (which he is) but they weren’t giving him anywhere near the credit they’re giving him now.

I’m glad he’s finally getting the respect he deserves for being such an incredible player, but where was this the past 8 years?

we thought it was a fluke. and the spurs series kind of cemented that in manys ways.
but now that he is beside two great players we can see clearly how good harden is. the things he did in houston all of a sudden become more relevent than before. also the situation here is something to get excited about. its very exciting to see harden be the oil that gets this machine in first place if you will

Thing is, he showed how good he was in Houston the one year he had a teammate playing at an all star level. The Rockets were all time great with healthy CP in 17-18. People love to say Curry is playing with scrubs but those people should go look at the team 23 year old Harden led to 45 wins and a playoff birth. People are about to see how unbelievably good Harden can be in the playoffs when you have to guard his teammates. No more trapping him every time he passes half court like the Lakers did last year or having defenders stand BEHIND him like the Jazz did the year before.

People bashing harden in the playoffs has never made sense to me. his playoff numbers (in a large like 150+ game sample) are absurdly good.

24/6/5 on 59 TS% and a +6.7 BPM and +10 VORP +1.78 WS 1.14 PPP

Thats career and factoring in early seasons when he was coming off the bench. He really only had 1 bad playoff season... 2016 where they lost in the first round, but it was to curry/klay/dray warriors who won the title.

-Harden has NEVER lost a playoff series as the higher seed.
-Harden has advanced in the playoffs 7 of 11 seasons
-Harden has made the WCF 3 times
-Harden has made the NBA finals 1 time

The only real knock on harden is he has "played awful in game 7's". which is completely false. he played awful in the most high profile game 7, against the 73-win warriors. and that was with chris paul down and they dont even get to that game 7 without harden balling out.

Thats like if the wizards made the NBA finals, lost in 7 games with beal hurt for game 7, then hating on westbrook because he played bad in game 7 after carrying a 10 seed to game 7 of the NBA finals.

[RafStone]

Part of the harden hate I believe is due to how unsavy he is with the media, his mom is his agent, he is quiet in nature. The players respect what he does, people act like guys like him and westbrook just push stats because they are the only ones...this is a league of multi millions, if people can do it they will. The nba is a marathon and it takes a lot mentally to go that hard day in day out, somehow a guy like harden who has been leading the league in scoring, points, reinventing moves each and every night while playing heavy minutes, not load managing and somehow tillman managed to label him as a culture killer before he left.

To do that over a long time takes grit, it takes a strong mental drive to be great.

Now he has other basketball Geniuses to play with and I do think he should be in the mvp contention, but he won't get the narrative role. He can literally do anything on the court, I'm not a nets an per se, but this is just incredible basketball to watch. The hypotheticals I think would've taken nets over the top was the inclusion of pj tucker and if nets never traded for Shamet, had a first rounder to keep Allen. In the end of the day, as philly learned, if you have a shot at one of the greats, you take it and use this window to go all in. Houston wasted him the last couple years so the owner could handle his finances, the nets are ripe to make things exciting.

[Openheimer]

Charles Barkley called him the best player in the world. The way he can run an offense is like Jason Kidd.

[GTR11]

Charles Barkley called him the best player in the world. The way he can run an offense is like Jason Kidd.

There's not much to do for him if Kyrie and Kd healthy. He's maestro of this team. MVP for sure.

[GTR11]

MVP enough said.

[GTR11]

He will get finals MVP imo. Don't quote me here, however I believe he will..

[Openheimer]

MVP enough said.

Without a doubt

[Jedzz]

I think it's a great comparison because there are times when I watch Mahomes play and the dude just pulls off some throws that are backbreakers to opposing defenses and you're left wondering how the hell did he see that guy

It's weird, MDB. It's like these guys have four sets of eyes; front, back, and both sides of their head. They see everything, even when they're apparently looking the other way. Then they throw these dimes that are dead on the money, in stride! Harden is one of those guys and admittedly I had no idea. I thought he was just a prolific scorer, but his passes are unreal. He makes average players look good.

Knowing where your teammates are going to be, knowing everyone's role, knowing how they are supposed to react to defenses if going of script, they know it all. They are the most prepared and it comes off looking impossible because most everyone else just shows up to play a game with their skills.

[Openheimer]

He is averaging 27 points 12 assists 9 boards for the month of March. Another player of the month

[GTR11]

Read on Twitter

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[GTR11]

Read on Twitter

?s=20

I'd rest him for a week or so. This games not that important, first seed is fun and all but it ain't main thing.
Right now we have clear contenders with worst record and being inconsistent. At the end of the day having home court won't be that important.
As for Philly, I'm not worried about them. They good but they don't have what it takes to go against us if we healthy. Biid, Ben and Tobi will have to log 42+ min. And it still won't be enough.

[Stone]

Harden is awarded Player of the month for March......Thats two months in row.

Congratulations James Harden........All hail our lord and savor.......

https://www.netsdaily.com/2021/4/1/22362834/back-to-back-james-harden-wins-player-of-the-month-for-march

[sashaturiaf]

Read on Twitter

?s=20

Bad news on the Harden front. Given KDs timeline I think Hardens regular season is done

[Johnny Tomala]

Shame that you played him vs Knicks. He wasn't ready to play and his 4 minutes appearances cost him his streak with 10+ points a game and it was his first career scoreless game. The same with Durant sheanigans in the game he was pulled off due to COVID tracing.

[ecuhus1981]

Shame that you played him vs Knicks. He wasn't ready to play and his 4 minutes appearances cost him his streak with 10+ points a game and it was his first career scoreless game. The same with Durant sheanigans in the game he was pulled off due to COVID tracing.

I'm not worried about an arbitrary streak. I'm concerned about his overall health, and his fitness for the postseason.

Those 4 minutes on the court didn't determine our even undermine his health. James had already gotten 5 straight days of rest, and passed all physical protocols. There was nothing more we or any staff could have predicted yesterday about this to prevent this current diagnosis.

Saying "he wasn't ready" is revisionist history. Hindsight is always 20/20 with regard to injuries. If anything, the Nets have been too precautious with injuries, but it's always better to err on that side. Still, no method is an 100% guarantee. Bottom line, Harden wanted to play and reported himself healthy; there was nothing tangible in his medical we could use to contradict him.

Get well soon, MVP.

[HardenGoat]

Sucks but we now know what it is. He missed 2 weeks in 2017 for a grade 2 and in 2018 he had a grade 1 missing a week. This might be a 2. Time for the Durant and Kyrie show. We will be fine.