[Highlight] James Harden keeps it and finds nylon on the 3, Cavs lead by 4 with 25.9 remaining
Some of the finest vintage Harden possessions down the stretch here. Say what you will about his playoff resume, but he did the job in the clutch today.
He’s so clearly a confidence player.
When he’s not making his shots dude is passive as hell.
But when he does he can do shit like this under pressure.
He’s 37, had an injury midseason, and is clearly out of his prime. Hardens a beast I don’t think it’s a confidence thing. He’s older now. People drawing conclusions on his career based off how he plays as a 37 year old are being a bit ridiculous.
He’s 36
Haha that doesn’t change what he said at all. Why you gotta be the person nickel-and-diming someone? It is literally one he at difference. Like, does that make you feel like a complete ass commenting someone like that?
No it doesn’t make me feel like an ass at all. Weird comment from you
He’s 36 - turns 37 in late August.
I’m drawing conclusions based on Game 2 where he was allergic to shooting because he was bricking everything that night
I mean…isn’t that just smart? You want the guy who was “bricking everything that night” to further shoot you out of the game?
It’s more that Harden has issues pulling himself out of slumps during a poor shooting game. You need star players that can shoot themselves back into a game in the playoffs - go 1⁄5, hit their next 4⁄5 sort of thing - and break about even in the end.
Yeah, it’s smart to not shoot as much when you’re in a slump. But when you’re one of two players that’s the engine of an offense, it’s not particular good for a team’s offense if you stop shooting.
it’s literally always been a confidence thing
he’s regularly disappeared in the playoffs his whole career. for example when he missed like 10 of the rockets 27 straight missed 3s vs the warriors
Kinda hard to call a game where you take 10 3s a passive game though
He literally had 2 threes waved off in that streak and still was the only offensive engine for the rcokets down the stretch with 32 against curry and 27 and 34. Not really a game you can fault him when they were meant to lose, especially with no cp3.
waved off 3s don’t count lol Harden stans are the only people shameless enough to use this as an excuse years later
you are obviously a casual.
And with the run he was on, just knew when he put up the shot it was going in
If he had missed this 3, people would’ve turned on him and said he was trying to draw a foul in crunch time and not actually score…
Fans don’t know what they are talking about most times, you can try to draw fouls and still be trying to score at the same time. What a crazy concept!
We really don’t. The text convos about harden have been a roller coaster.
Why is there so little Harden slander on all his 3pt flopping though? He does it on almost every 3 he takes; falls down for no reason tryna trick the refs. It’s so annoying.
Why is there so little Harden slander on all his 3pt flopping though?
If you actually think this then you have literally not followed basketball basically at all since the mid 2010s because there’s no way that’s true.
The step back with the fall over trying to draw a foul. Nostalgia
Vintage mode in that 4th
that was a foul to be fair
Basketball heritage innit
Made me feel young again
He’s somewhat washed however many people forget how good of an iso player he was in his prime.
In spurts he still is however up until 2021 he was probably the best mismatch hunter in the league
The way I see it:
In his prime, he could get anybody in straight up isolation and cook them to some extent pretty much all the time.
He can still cook players now, but now it’s not everyone and it’s not all the time.
Still a better player than probably 85%+ of NBA players in the league today, which is crazy to say about someone his age (obv same is true for KD/Steph/Bron)
The challenge on that Duncan 3 after was far more impressive a play considering his reputation as a defender
He always has a couple of great games and a couple stinkers, it’s not ideal but people focus too much on the stinkers.
We all have a good day once in a while. He’s still a choker compared to other guys of his caliber. He’ll be the reason they still lose the series.
He saw the threads in the sub
Dude was in the VIP room in the strip club browsing through the nba subreddit
Nah the strippers themselves were telling him about the narrative
mid-lapdance? maybe the hate is what gets him off
She whispers, “0-27”. “Ehhhghhghghh!”
Harden redemption game
Nah this is still bad basketball, he had too many turnovers and for every game he has where his iso dribble a lot ball works there are 2 or 3 where it costs us.
The old Thunder trio (KD, WB, Harden) were hero ball personified. And even when you’d watch back then, you play the Duncan Spurs and okay cool beat them with hero ball, but it was always obvious the team ball “find the open guy” was so much more sustainable. Always the highlight win in one game was highly viewed but ignore the 2-3 games it’d fail hard.
Again, cool for a highlight in one game.. but it doesn’t last for an entire series or even a majority of them.
We’ll see how this series goes tho. It’s a tough match up for both teams imo. Good luck.
Can’t believe how clutch he’s been
If Cavs can come back, so can we
When even Celtics fans are rooting for the Lakers you know something crazy is going on
No one wants to see the cheats win again
…no
How is that not a foul, though?
He got elbowed in the face while mid air and his foot stepped on while landing.
Welcome to being a Rockets fan in the playoffs with Harden. Scott Foster would have called this on the floor, erased the shot, and gave us a side out.
Scott Foster is so corrupt…. Man do I hate that guy
it’s a good no-call
Harden is not even attempting to land properly, he’s already falling after letting go of the shot because his feet are so far forward to make it seem like Tobias is in his landing space
doesn’t fool anyone except a few dumb redditors that think this should be a foul lol
Tobias Harris’s foot is in the landing space of Harden’s right foot. Harden’s right foot squishes against Harris’s foot.
Ya Harden isn’t trying to land properly because if he did he would have gotten Zaza. This is why the landing rules were put in. You shouldn’t have to snap your ankle to draw the foul
Harden is very bulky.
Because he somehow landed his feet inside the 3 point line for no reason. If anything it’s a foul on harden
Do you watch basketball? That’s extremely common
You can’t tell me with a straight face he was going to not fall if Harris isn’t there
Seen this called plenty of times in the regular season. Unfortunately, its just another instance of dual standards.
Mans really be defending that flop 🤣
It would be, it shouldn’t be for anyone though
Refs smoking crack. Clear foul at the end
Extremely blatant foul on the shot yeah wtf
Fear the beard 🧔🏾
His haters will be real quiet
Stephen A will find a way to hate him, don’t worry.
I fucking screamed
Vintage Harden
What a fourth quarter from harden
harden…..not a choker???
That’s his thing, he will always have 1 or 2 good clutch game in a series.
“his thing” but that’s legit every star
Yea but it’s because he always has 70% bad games and 30% good games in playoff series. Not as bad in his prime
Then how does he make the wcfs lol. He just has ridiculously bad games cuz his teams are heliocentric asf.
Like I said not that bad in his prime. But def for last 5 years
Never was he took worse teams far
my goat doing this at almost 37 yrs old
That’s also just crazy how well he is playing overall still. Would have never thought to still see him ball out like this 6 years ago
THATS MY KING
He needed that badly after that horrible game 2
Should’ve been a foul too.
That kick out is on the edge of an unnatural shooting motion. Even if he doesn’t (barely) touch Harris, he’s going to end up on the ground either way.
I don’t have a dog in the race but Harris definitely went to his natural landing area even if Harden does kick out usually.
Still a reckless close out. Even if harden is a punk and fakes it 9 times out of 10.
I’d call it an unnatural shooting motion. He’s notorious for that shit. Had he not done the unnatural kickout, it might have even been a defensive foul, but with the kickout, I think it’s just as much an offensive foul as a defensive one. In that situation, I do like the no-call.
His motion looks natural. It should’ve been a foul. They’ve made far weaker calls, even in the playoffs.
This comment is why players flop. Refs (and now redditors) want to reward it.
In 2018
Yeah on Harden.
Oh my god 😭
IS IT 2017????
HE HEARD THE NOISE. Was passive for the most part but came alive in the clutch
Good for him man. His playoff struggles are incredibly real, but he’s still an all timer. He’s got these in him. Glad to see him bounce back.
He doesn’t even have playoff struggles much more than anyone else, his problem is he’s had bad performances in close out games and the Rockets were extremely reliant on him to win. Generally he plays as well as you’d expect.
WHAT YEAR IS IT?
Much needed bounce back game from Harden
streets needed this
Big balls Harden, if he misses that Detroit would’ve had the ball with a chance to win.
Harden was like team jump on my back, i will take you guys home, and he delivered, ye beard shall not be denied.
He can do that?
Im just shocked coach went with 3 Harden Isos in a row
HARDEN QUIETING ALL THE HATERS
Still tried to foul bait there
[Highlight] James Harden keeps it and foul baits but the ball accidentally goes in*, Cavs lead by 4 with 25.9 remaining
[deleted]
He did that tf you’re talking about
In the words of Mark Jones, not always there when you call but always on time
At his peak, he was arguably the isolation scorer in basketball history. Dope that he can still these moments.
Redemption tour starts now
A lot of ball handling skills this game, good watch
WHAT CHATTER
No foul?
Where’s the And-1
All part of the Harden playoff cycle
LeBron better lock in
They finally just decided to bring Duncan Robinson up in the end and get the switch and let harden/Mitchell take him. They need to play Duncan off the floor because we aren’t gonna win too many games where he is draining 6-7 threes
Vintage Harden. Great win for the Cavs. He had a few baskets down the stretch.
Lucky he didn’t get the offensive foul there and the shot called off, that would of been hilarious
If SGA tumbles down like that it’s an and-1.
Its a flagrant
Great shot. Good no-call, also- check out where Harden’s feet are on the jump, vs where they land. His momentum is not going forward, either. He just wanted 4.
He wanted the 3 free throws. He didn’t plan on making that
Great shot, but I’m glad it was a no-call. He clearly lands well in front of the 3pt line
Holy crap this court is fantastic and the crowd. Complete nostalagia for like Cleveland Orlando 09 or Cleveland Boston
Makes me wanna see the LeBron Cleveland retirement tour next year
Bro got clobbered
And 1!
Come back bru
Shake and bake!
Fucking snipers took him out, sad.
i have no respect for these players that pretend to get fouled by falling to the ground to draw a foul or in any regard pretend to get fouled and act like they are injured or pushed or shoved.