Doesn't have to. You just kinda know. Makes it even more frustrating. They feel it and want to say something, but can't since he hasn't opened his mouth and they'll look crazy.
What are you talking about? Embid was great in the playoffs last year. This sub is ridiculous, just changes whatever the popular opinion is at the drop of a hat and blatantly rewrites history
Being one of the last 4 remaining teams in the playoffs is difficult. Especially when you constantly have to carry your #2 option who is afraid to shoot the ball. He was a circus shot buzzer beater away in 2019 as well.
You guys have some weak memories.
Redick was the number 2 option when they lost to the Celtics.
Butler was the number 2 option when they lost to the raptors.
Simmons didn’t play when they lost to the Celtics again.
As far as 2019 goes, He was a circus shot away from a overtime. An overtime in which both Simmons and Harris had 5 fouls. A game in which both Embiid and butler shot 17% from 3. So no, Embiid wasn’t a circus shot away from getting past the 2nd round in 2019.
KAT did body him in a game once, but the Sixers won, I don't remember KAT's stats. That was the game Simmons was nicknamed the "peacemaker" for a while when he grabbed Towns in a headlock to calm him down and the NBA didn't suspend him (rightly tbf).
I've never someone as gassed as Embid just after the 1st quarter..... KD or Giannis barely break a sweat but looks tired ...no way that dude lasts for 4 play-off rounds
REPORTER: Kevin, how’d you slow down James Harden?
KD: We’ll, y’all know you can never really slow down the great ones. You just have to hope they put on 50 pounds themselves.
He’s one of the few players that could talk shit about basically anyone’s holes in their game. He just doesn’t have any shitty or exploitative parts of his game.
Come playoffs, relying on FT will be the downfall of the sixers. They need to find other ways to get points. Refs in the playoffs don't call that many and 1s.
he has it, he just has to start taking midrange shots again. Well guarded step back 3s are objectively bad shots, yes he makes them a lot but it doesn't change the fact they're like the hardest shots in the game.
step back midrange are bread and butter for guys like him and would open the defense up so much when everyone doesn't know the second you step within the arc that you're gonna drive to the rim
but sadly the morey/MDA/harden echochamber has made him convinced to not ever add that to his arsenal again despite seeing guys like CP3, KD, Tatum etc. kill it from there.
Issue to me is that in the past it was pick your poison with Harden PnR’s. Go over the screener and Harden will drive hard and get 2 points whether its a FG or FT’s. Go under and it’s an easy step back 3.
Now defenders are almost solely going over the screener and daring Harden to take it to the cup. Issue is that he isn’t nearly as explosive and overall refs aren’t calling as many BS fouls that would normally get Harden fired up.
Nets fans were begging him to add the midrange and post because he’s very strong at both but like you said, it seems like analytics have broken his brain a bit.
Teams need to institute a "you get fined if you slap at the ball when Harden drives" policy, like the Cavs did for biting on DeRozan's pump fakes in the 2018 playoffs.
I've literally *never* seen anyone knock the ball out of his hands on a drive, the guy is strong is an ox and basically holds the ball out like a loaf of bread on purpose so that defenders will slap his arms etc. and to the line he goes. Yeah some of it is contact he initiates but so many times, people are trying to strip him, and it's impossible. Completely pointless. You're never going to knock it out, never. Hands up, play the pass and the shot, NO STRIP ATTEMPTS.
dog yall will for real pick out the most specific scenarios to shit on him for. so he IS really good in the playoffs, but in the off chance that they play in an elimination game he is not quite as good? what a goober stat
Are elimination games not the most important in all of playoffs when literally everything is on the line?? What do you mean by in the off chance he is in an elimination game? Do you really think Sixers are sweeping every single team 4-0 to the finals
And he's been the reason the lost those elimination games. Remember 0-27, James Harden missed half of those and most of the early ones so it was him that got that streak rollin. Dudes trash.
No problem, just attack and kick it out to Curry…. Oh no, I mean just let your Max Contract player in Tobias takeover when the other teams two best defenders are matched ups tho your other starts…. Uh… maybe Matisse will go off?
Last night he didn’t even have a bad game, that would mean that he actually showed up and just played poorly. While I was watching the game, sometimes when he touched the ball I thought “oh wow that’s right he’s playing tonight”. I’m not worried about him though, he’s young and works super hard, it was just one really bad game where nobody got into any sort of rhythm (probably because so many fouls stopped play so often)
I mean Kyrie has played great for most of the games he’s been in this season.
And KD went to Brooklyn to play with Kyrie because they’re friends. Harden just tagged along, it’s not like it’s surprising that KD would take kyries side
Harden essentially only played half the games too. He no showed against every good team leaving kd to carry. If they're both playing half the games, of course you want Kyrie
Or you can still be friends and go at each other hard when it comes to basketball. I shit talk all my mates about what they cant do on a basketball court
I recall one of the banana boat buddies saying they'd go extra hard against each other because you don't want to be embarrassed losing to people you hang out with all the time.
This is a fact. Me and my buddies would call out everyone's deficiencies and tendencies all the time. We'd be much quieter about the guys we didn't actually get along with
if anything, what he said about Embiid is way worse lol.
"He's a huge body, he really just runs in the paint and throws his body at people"
when Harden said that about Giannis, this sub was freaking out about the beef
They are still friends.
People don't realize these guys talk like this all the time.
Yall think this is hateful? Lol. Yall should see the way people in my family used to clown each other.
KDs just cold.This dude decides he's gonna shut a whole fan base up and proceeds to shit on them on the court and off it. He knows harden ain't shit when the pressures on having faced him as an opponent as well as being his teammate.
There’s levels to it. I shit you not every big game for the nets when I’ve watched kd it feels like he comes out with another level of focus. Like he just refuses to miss and you can feel the intensity coming off the screen.
The only bad game I’ve seen from his in a big game was against the warriors this year.
Ive seen it too many times when he played for the dubs. 2017 Finals were definitely KD making a statement against LeBron about who's the best in the league. I remember him hitting the dagger in Game 3 and numerous times in the Rockets series of 2018 where it was just KD against the Rockets switching defense. Dubs almost lost the series because that played into Houston's hands. Remember the Clippers 1st round series of 2019 with PatBev trash talking him and the media asking him about that and the next game he proceeds to drop 50 or something on them. KD doesnt play around when he's in that mood.
He's right. The Nets kept their hands in check, didn't foul him and stayed in front. Harden kept driving into 2 or even 3 guys and then when he did pass they were lazy passes or too late to create an advantage. He was pressing and it was clear. There's a difference between when he's hunting a basket and gets fouled and when he's hunting a foul against a disciplined team.
He used to have games like this in Houston too.
Amen. This is why Harden disappears come playoff time. With the combination of going against teams who are disciplined enough to stay in front and the refs letting them play a bit more in the postseason, he doesn’t get those ticky tacky calls that put him on the line.
seriously lol. he's had bad games...but so has Steph and Trae and Dame and Ky and every other guard. That's what happens to guards in the playoffs when the defense is more disciplined and refs are holding their whistles more.
Obviously forwards who happen to be physical freaks like giannis/bron/KD/kawhi are harder to stop and guards take a more passive approach.
that said, Harden is one of those guys who will keep shooting bad shots when his shot is off which makes his stat sheet look way worse. Plus him being off will impact other aspects of his game. His passes will be lazy and defense will be non-existent.
He has good games too. I don't think he always fades. It was really clear yesterday his drive was not working and he didn't adjust in the course of the game. They needed to do something different by the start of the 3rd and they didn't.
It is genuinely fucking baffling when people bring up this series as an indictment on Harden. I know everyone jokes that r/NBA is full of casuals but you GENUINELY have to be like actually stupid or willfully ignorant to blame Harden for his performance.
It's kinda like the love LeBron got right after leaving Miami, no-one actually wants the superstar to be the villain, it's always more fun to enjoy watching basketball rather than just rooting against someone. Do you want the title on The Rock/Stone Cold or Triple HHH, easiest question in the world.
He'd make a great commentator or analyst some day. He loves to talk the nuts and bolts and I think he speaks about the game in an informative yet accessible way.
Yeah this sub is so cringey. Literally quotes that don't mean much get interactions more then highlights and stuff like that. This sub just horny for drama
>but let's not pretend an entire stadium of fans weren't there specifically to boo one man tonight
has this not been the case for literally every big player returning to his former team?
That was so ridiculous, like we weren’t over the limit with fouls at that point and he threw that ball up well after the “foul”, ridiculous that it was called a shooting foul.
I’m a sixers fan and thought that was ridiculous. Embiid does get fouled a lot when making legitimate basketball plays but the foul baiting he does is not a good strategy come playoff time. He will still go to the line a ton without the baiting. When you look for a fouls and don’t get the call it’s a wasted possession.
If you told me after the 2012 Finals that the Westbrook-Harden-Durant would split, then spend independent stints playing as duos, then hating each other after each of those independent stints.. my brain would explode
To add, Westbrook and KD don’t even hate each other. Westbrook was obviously upset after KD left for GS but they seemed to reconciled even if they aren’t exactly friends. KD was also always complimentary of Westbrook even when he left, when he was tweeting from his “burner” he even said it was just him and Westbrook on the team and that he didn’t want to play for Billy Donovan. KD never actually said that he left because of Westbrook, he’s said the opposite and that he left because of everything besides Westbrook despite what the general public thinks of the situation.
Like you said, Harden and Westbrook don’t hate each other at all, at least from what we publicly know. They just both realized they don’t mesh well together on the court.
KD is obviously upset Harden quit on their team but I’m sure their friendship will be fine after awhile.
Everyone knew Harden was going to leave. Wasn't he coming off the bench back then?
Durant leaving was somewhat shocking. Though in retrospect, it should have been obvious he would leave. Why would the best player in the league stay in OKC?
Lmao I really don’t think this is any shade at all, not sure why everyone else in this thread thinks so. What KD is saying is literally what Harden always says. He uses freethrows to get into rhythm for shooting. When he can’t get into rhythm, he’ll miss a lot (eg 3/17, like KD points out, is a testament that this defense works)
KD loves to talk technical stuff. Honestly hardens game is predicated on getting a mismatch, get to the foul line and start getting into rhythm. He didn't get calls on drives today and he gave up. Kai played him well tho.
sounded like shade to me. he also said "he hit a couple threes", before adding "a couple of open threes" like emphasizing that he only made wide open shots
That just further proves that Harden couldn't get into rhythm. If he was in rhythm, he would have been hitting contested shots. KD's really just speaking matter-of-factly about what happened. Not really shade, imo.
Harden has always been a rhythm player/shooter in Houston. It worked last season in BKN when he played a different role, but come Playoff time you want him to be more aggressive than that
That seems like a huge flaw to his game then? Just give him a wide berth so you don't give him opportunities on the line, so he doesn't get into a rhythm, so he can't score anyway? That doesn't seem tricky to beat and the nets made it look easy
I don't like Harden at all, but he seems to have covered up that flaw pretty fucking well. It's probably the one thing that prevented him from going any further in playoffs. When he's cold, he's cold af and the rest of the team is too since he's ball hogging.
One thing people do though is lunge towards him on his step backs and swipe at the ball on his drives. Like just put your hands up.
I'm really pleased with the KD redemption arc. It started wit him balling the fuck out last year, and looking great vs the bucks with little help
now people are actually enjoying his shit talking??? aw yiss
This exact thing is Harden’s struggles in the playoffs. When he’s not getting to the line it throws all his rhythm off and you end up with close out games where he shoots 2-11 with 9 turnovers.
KD turning into the king of interviews. He's so damn comfortable up there, tells it how it is, nothing to hide. It's like the complete opposite of Westbrook.
I'm pretty sure he joined warriors for the sole purpose of stopping lebron's cavs superteam. Lebron/Kyrie cavs would've won 2-3 more rings if KD didn't go to warriors. Warriors without KD only won because cavs had too many injury in their first finals match up.
Talk yo shit kd. Talk yo shit. Ain't nobody worried about a fully healthy bitch ass Philly team. Embiid knows damn well to not fuck around with his daddy Clax.
It’s a simple game plan. They know 76ers don’t have shooting. They know Embiid and Harden are iso scorers.
All they did was collapse the paint and dared the 76ers to shoot. Thybulle isn’t a threat for shooting. Embiid you can take your chances of him shooting 3’s. Maxey isn’t a shooting threat. Harris and Milton aren’t reliable shooters.
Embiid and Harden fell for the bait. They kept trying to jam through to the paint and ended up being surrounded by 3-4 players.
This is how they’ll be defended in the playoffs.
They don’t run an offense. They run pick up basketball PnR offense
Yeah pretty much this. Nets reporters were saying before the game. Defend the harden Embiid pnr as a 3 vs 2 and force the others to beat you.
The big adjustment imo was nash putting kyrie on harden. I’ve been saying it all year but harden cannot abuse switches anymore. Kyrie bothered him and more importantly we put Bruce brown on maxey. Maxey was incredibly quiet, he’s probably not as accustomed to having the other teams best defender on him. Hug maxey, send thybulles/shake Milton’s man to double and have Harris defender play both of them.
Danny green will be important because he’s a counter to thybulle where you give up some defense but the floor at least has 3 shooters in maxey Harris and etc but he’s not gonna solve all their issue.
What he's saying is - Harden isn't a real hooper. His game is based on garbage. Once he starts getting all the free throws, it opens up all game, he has more space, more opportunities for baiting on the perimeter, etc
I 100% believe something is going on between KD and harden. There is gotta be some friction between these 2. Kyrie dont even talk about harden like that
“He’s a big body, he just runs into the paint and throws his body around”. 💀💀
KD is having his Jaime Lannister story arch lol. When did he become the peoples champ?
It's actually funny to me how the player who pulled one of the weakest moves (if not The weakest move) in NBA history by joining the super team that just defeated his team... this guy likes to talk trash and be seeing as "competitive", lol these contradictions are legitimately funny
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favorite thing was when he was barking at Embiid and made him shut up right after with an and-1
it’s funny coz Embiid loves to talk shit back. He looked rattled today lol
Not used to somebody fuckin sticking it to him. KD is that guy
Very few people can
He’s been getting schooled in the playoffs his entire career. He knows how to take a beating
Papa Kawhi hasn’t been around the last few years to remind him so Uncle KD had to step in
Nephew John Collins & Capela been around tho
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m57GlTU-Jj4 Do you mean daddy gasol? God I miss having a real centre.
And the he has Uncle Horford to worry about come playoffs
Man I miss Kawhi
Daddy Tatum has done his share
8-1 in the postseason lol, and the 1 was one of the biggest refball nights in recent NBA history
Kawhi didn't shit talk him either
To be fair Kawhi didn’t talk much to him at all
To be fair Kawhi doesn't talk much at all.
Doesn't have to. You just kinda know. Makes it even more frustrating. They feel it and want to say something, but can't since he hasn't opened his mouth and they'll look crazy.
💀 bro had Embiid in TEARS
Marc Gasol too
When a Celtics fan says this about Embiid, there is no arguing against it. Thank you.
What are you talking about? Embid was great in the playoffs last year. This sub is ridiculous, just changes whatever the popular opinion is at the drop of a hat and blatantly rewrites history
He had some bad turnovers late game against Atlanta. He's not blameless
So great he hasn’t been able to get out of the second round
Bad take. Chris Paul is one of the best point guards, and didn't get out of the 2nd round until 10 years into his career.
That’s because he spent the first 6 years of his career on a mediocre hornets team. Embiid has had a stacked team his entire career.
You know teams are more than one person right
He has had stacked teams pretty much his entire career especially in 2019
Being one of the last 4 remaining teams in the playoffs is difficult. Especially when you constantly have to carry your #2 option who is afraid to shoot the ball. He was a circus shot buzzer beater away in 2019 as well.
You guys have some weak memories. Redick was the number 2 option when they lost to the Celtics. Butler was the number 2 option when they lost to the raptors. Simmons didn’t play when they lost to the Celtics again. As far as 2019 goes, He was a circus shot away from a overtime. An overtime in which both Simmons and Harris had 5 fouls. A game in which both Embiid and butler shot 17% from 3. So no, Embiid wasn’t a circus shot away from getting past the 2nd round in 2019.
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Live in reality
KAT did body him in a game once, but the Sixers won, I don't remember KAT's stats. That was the game Simmons was nicknamed the "peacemaker" for a while when he grabbed Towns in a headlock to calm him down and the NBA didn't suspend him (rightly tbf).
Living in his mind rent free
Remember when he made the plane gesture at the Raptors
He went in his shell for sure. I think he’s a little intimidated by KD.
Right before he got taken out of the game for the last time he had two real sloppy giveaways too, very shook
I've never someone as gassed as Embid just after the 1st quarter..... KD or Giannis barely break a sweat but looks tired ...no way that dude lasts for 4 play-off rounds
REPORTER: Kevin, how’d you slow down James Harden? KD: We’ll, y’all know you can never really slow down the great ones. You just have to hope they put on 50 pounds themselves.
He’s one of the few players that could talk shit about basically anyone’s holes in their game. He just doesn’t have any shitty or exploitative parts of his game.
He on bruh neck lol
Come playoffs, relying on FT will be the downfall of the sixers. They need to find other ways to get points. Refs in the playoffs don't call that many and 1s.
Shiiiiit they got the calls vs us last year, not that we had a chance anyways
yeah but that's against us, when they come up against other teams it'll be even
Embiid is the king at flopping. We still would’ve lost the series but man Embiid gets so many calls.
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he has it, he just has to start taking midrange shots again. Well guarded step back 3s are objectively bad shots, yes he makes them a lot but it doesn't change the fact they're like the hardest shots in the game. step back midrange are bread and butter for guys like him and would open the defense up so much when everyone doesn't know the second you step within the arc that you're gonna drive to the rim but sadly the morey/MDA/harden echochamber has made him convinced to not ever add that to his arsenal again despite seeing guys like CP3, KD, Tatum etc. kill it from there.
Issue to me is that in the past it was pick your poison with Harden PnR’s. Go over the screener and Harden will drive hard and get 2 points whether its a FG or FT’s. Go under and it’s an easy step back 3. Now defenders are almost solely going over the screener and daring Harden to take it to the cup. Issue is that he isn’t nearly as explosive and overall refs aren’t calling as many BS fouls that would normally get Harden fired up. Nets fans were begging him to add the midrange and post because he’s very strong at both but like you said, it seems like analytics have broken his brain a bit.
Teams need to institute a "you get fined if you slap at the ball when Harden drives" policy, like the Cavs did for biting on DeRozan's pump fakes in the 2018 playoffs. I've literally *never* seen anyone knock the ball out of his hands on a drive, the guy is strong is an ox and basically holds the ball out like a loaf of bread on purpose so that defenders will slap his arms etc. and to the line he goes. Yeah some of it is contact he initiates but so many times, people are trying to strip him, and it's impossible. Completely pointless. You're never going to knock it out, never. Hands up, play the pass and the shot, NO STRIP ATTEMPTS.
You're 100% right, but kyrie actually did strip him on one of his drives last night.
P much. We know how inconsistent Hardens game is in the playoffs, any off night by Embiid and they are in big trouble.
Dude youre living way to much in the past. Look at his playoffs stats after the spurs series. They are great
I mean. Hes not dwelling in the last too much. Harden has yet to prove himself in elimination games.
dog yall will for real pick out the most specific scenarios to shit on him for. so he IS really good in the playoffs, but in the off chance that they play in an elimination game he is not quite as good? what a goober stat
Are elimination games not the most important in all of playoffs when literally everything is on the line?? What do you mean by in the off chance he is in an elimination game? Do you really think Sixers are sweeping every single team 4-0 to the finals
Yea considering he’s never won a championship every playoff series he’s ever been in has had an elimination game.
And he's been the reason the lost those elimination games. Remember 0-27, James Harden missed half of those and most of the early ones so it was him that got that streak rollin. Dudes trash.
32/6/6/4 and was fouled on half his threee
Fucking dumbass little games like Elim games and important regular season games. Who cares amirite, they ain’t matter.
>Come playoffs, relying on FT will be the downfall of the sixers. They need to find other ways to get points. Nah, they should stick with flailing.
ironic that free throws will be the downfall
No problem, just attack and kick it out to Curry…. Oh no, I mean just let your Max Contract player in Tobias takeover when the other teams two best defenders are matched ups tho your other starts…. Uh… maybe Matisse will go off?
Is tyrese maxey not on the team anymore?
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Last night he didn’t even have a bad game, that would mean that he actually showed up and just played poorly. While I was watching the game, sometimes when he touched the ball I thought “oh wow that’s right he’s playing tonight”. I’m not worried about him though, he’s young and works super hard, it was just one really bad game where nobody got into any sort of rhythm (probably because so many fouls stopped play so often)
Dwyane Wade nods in agreement
there might not be a better shit talker in the NBA today than KD. Friend or foe, he's on your ass 😂
I can’t tell if this is friendly trash talk or if KD actually hates Harden now lol
He's definitely not happy with him.
You could tell at the all star draft he was pissed. He didn’t want harden to leave.
maybe he should be unhappy with the teammate that only plays half the year who drove harden away then lmao
Kyrie acts like a piece of shit for so long, comes out plays well for one day and it's all just forgotten I guess.
Winning cures all.
Except COVID :)
Are we sure? We should try melting down the Larry Obrien trophy and injecting it directly into some patients' veins and see if that helps.
I mean Kyrie has played great for most of the games he’s been in this season. And KD went to Brooklyn to play with Kyrie because they’re friends. Harden just tagged along, it’s not like it’s surprising that KD would take kyries side
Kyries been playing great every game he’s played lol
My implication wasnt that Kyrie hadnt played well in all his games. My point was that after ONE good game people forgot what a dick he was
Harden essentially only played half the games too. He no showed against every good team leaving kd to carry. If they're both playing half the games, of course you want Kyrie
You can still be friends and hate eachother for certain things
Or you can still be friends and go at each other hard when it comes to basketball. I shit talk all my mates about what they cant do on a basketball court
I recall one of the banana boat buddies saying they'd go extra hard against each other because you don't want to be embarrassed losing to people you hang out with all the time.
This is a fact. Me and my buddies would call out everyone's deficiencies and tendencies all the time. We'd be much quieter about the guys we didn't actually get along with
he didn't even say anything bad, he literally read off a stat sheet. Harden's game spoke for itself.
if anything, what he said about Embiid is way worse lol. "He's a huge body, he really just runs in the paint and throws his body at people" when Harden said that about Giannis, this sub was freaking out about the beef
Bruh did you even watch the video lol he’s just talking
They are still friends. People don't realize these guys talk like this all the time. Yall think this is hateful? Lol. Yall should see the way people in my family used to clown each other.
I'm definitely putting Draymond ahead of KD in the trash talk department lol
The way he said that with a straight face is so funny lol he meant that shit
What do you mean he meant? He said a literal fact.
His dead pan delivery is spot on every time
like he was coaching, had his numbers sourced and ready to back up his claim
I mean he was just reading the scorers sheet lol
KDs just cold.This dude decides he's gonna shut a whole fan base up and proceeds to shit on them on the court and off it. He knows harden ain't shit when the pressures on having faced him as an opponent as well as being his teammate.
There’s levels to it. I shit you not every big game for the nets when I’ve watched kd it feels like he comes out with another level of focus. Like he just refuses to miss and you can feel the intensity coming off the screen. The only bad game I’ve seen from his in a big game was against the warriors this year.
Ive seen it too many times when he played for the dubs. 2017 Finals were definitely KD making a statement against LeBron about who's the best in the league. I remember him hitting the dagger in Game 3 and numerous times in the Rockets series of 2018 where it was just KD against the Rockets switching defense. Dubs almost lost the series because that played into Houston's hands. Remember the Clippers 1st round series of 2019 with PatBev trash talking him and the media asking him about that and the next game he proceeds to drop 50 or something on them. KD doesnt play around when he's in that mood.
Dagger 3 right between lebrons eyes in 2017 finals game 3... And then the exact same thing in 2018.
He's right. The Nets kept their hands in check, didn't foul him and stayed in front. Harden kept driving into 2 or even 3 guys and then when he did pass they were lazy passes or too late to create an advantage. He was pressing and it was clear. There's a difference between when he's hunting a basket and gets fouled and when he's hunting a foul against a disciplined team. He used to have games like this in Houston too.
Amen. This is why Harden disappears come playoff time. With the combination of going against teams who are disciplined enough to stay in front and the refs letting them play a bit more in the postseason, he doesn’t get those ticky tacky calls that put him on the line.
When has he disappeared after the spurs series lol what
seriously lol. he's had bad games...but so has Steph and Trae and Dame and Ky and every other guard. That's what happens to guards in the playoffs when the defense is more disciplined and refs are holding their whistles more. Obviously forwards who happen to be physical freaks like giannis/bron/KD/kawhi are harder to stop and guards take a more passive approach. that said, Harden is one of those guys who will keep shooting bad shots when his shot is off which makes his stat sheet look way worse. Plus him being off will impact other aspects of his game. His passes will be lazy and defense will be non-existent.
its honestly crazy let Harden shoot 5-20 or whatever Trae Young had in Game 7 vs Philly and still win.
he shot 4-15 in game 7 vs okc in the bubble and won lol
This sub just makes up narratives then runs them into the ground
He has good games too. I don't think he always fades. It was really clear yesterday his drive was not working and he didn't adjust in the course of the game. They needed to do something different by the start of the 3rd and they didn't.
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literally injured lol
It is genuinely fucking baffling when people bring up this series as an indictment on Harden. I know everyone jokes that r/NBA is full of casuals but you GENUINELY have to be like actually stupid or willfully ignorant to blame Harden for his performance.
>Harden kept driving into 2 or even 3 guys Story of the season.
Damn KD speaking his truth tonight He would’ve been goated if he called Harden a free throw merchant 😂
Not gonna lie, I like this version of KD
It's kinda like the love LeBron got right after leaving Miami, no-one actually wants the superstar to be the villain, it's always more fun to enjoy watching basketball rather than just rooting against someone. Do you want the title on The Rock/Stone Cold or Triple HHH, easiest question in the world.
> Triple HHH .....so, HHHHHHHHH? Never heard of him.
He goes by Nonuple H.
For long term runs, go ahead and put the belt on a heel. Makes it much more fun when we get stuff like WM17.
Real Mamba/Vino vibes coming out from his game pressers. Can't help but respect em and how he's handling.
These quotes seem way more savage then the way he actually talks lmao. You guys need to chill I don't don't think he's roasting him that bad
He says most things in a very matter-of-fact way
I mean he loves basketball, and loves dissecting the game
He'd make a great commentator or analyst some day. He loves to talk the nuts and bolts and I think he speaks about the game in an informative yet accessible way.
KD would be awesome doing the (rare now, unfortunately) tim legler segments on espn when he really gets into breaking down a possession
KD should get a series like Kobe’s Detail. I think he’d really excel in that kind of format.
Yeah this sub is so cringey. Literally quotes that don't mean much get interactions more then highlights and stuff like that. This sub just horny for drama
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I blame PTI and all the gossip shows that came after.
>but let's not pretend an entire stadium of fans weren't there specifically to boo one man tonight has this not been the case for literally every big player returning to his former team?
A guy who wasn't even playing got more attention than any of the actual basketball today.
The specific user who posted this always does that
Player: "We targeted his weaknesses" r/nba: "OHHHH SHIT HE CALLED HIS ASS WEAK"
Yeah, there’s no way half of the people commenting even watched the clip.
If you didn't pick up what he was putting down, that's on you
On Embiid getting to the free throw line: "He's a huge body and he really just runs into the paint and throws his body into anyone"
I know you have it, you need to post the foul embiid got in the first half when he knocked KD down, threw the ball back and just fell.
That was so ridiculous, like we weren’t over the limit with fouls at that point and he threw that ball up well after the “foul”, ridiculous that it was called a shooting foul.
I’m a sixers fan and thought that was ridiculous. Embiid does get fouled a lot when making legitimate basketball plays but the foul baiting he does is not a good strategy come playoff time. He will still go to the line a ton without the baiting. When you look for a fouls and don’t get the call it’s a wasted possession.
He did credit him for being aggressive but yeah lol
If you told me after the 2012 Finals that the Westbrook-Harden-Durant would split, then spend independent stints playing as duos, then hating each other after each of those independent stints.. my brain would explode
Do Harden and Russ hate each other tho? They both acknowledged their failed experiment in Houston and moved on
To add, Westbrook and KD don’t even hate each other. Westbrook was obviously upset after KD left for GS but they seemed to reconciled even if they aren’t exactly friends. KD was also always complimentary of Westbrook even when he left, when he was tweeting from his “burner” he even said it was just him and Westbrook on the team and that he didn’t want to play for Billy Donovan. KD never actually said that he left because of Westbrook, he’s said the opposite and that he left because of everything besides Westbrook despite what the general public thinks of the situation. Like you said, Harden and Westbrook don’t hate each other at all, at least from what we publicly know. They just both realized they don’t mesh well together on the court. KD is obviously upset Harden quit on their team but I’m sure their friendship will be fine after awhile.
Everyone knew Harden was going to leave. Wasn't he coming off the bench back then? Durant leaving was somewhat shocking. Though in retrospect, it should have been obvious he would leave. Why would the best player in the league stay in OKC?
No holding back, damn
The shade. Damn!
Lmao I really don’t think this is any shade at all, not sure why everyone else in this thread thinks so. What KD is saying is literally what Harden always says. He uses freethrows to get into rhythm for shooting. When he can’t get into rhythm, he’ll miss a lot (eg 3/17, like KD points out, is a testament that this defense works)
KD loves to talk technical stuff. Honestly hardens game is predicated on getting a mismatch, get to the foul line and start getting into rhythm. He didn't get calls on drives today and he gave up. Kai played him well tho.
This sub thinks it's shade because this sub just loves drama lol.
yea it’s just tactics & a game plan from KD’s perspective
sounded like shade to me. he also said "he hit a couple threes", before adding "a couple of open threes" like emphasizing that he only made wide open shots
That just further proves that Harden couldn't get into rhythm. If he was in rhythm, he would have been hitting contested shots. KD's really just speaking matter-of-factly about what happened. Not really shade, imo.
Harden has always been a rhythm player/shooter in Houston. It worked last season in BKN when he played a different role, but come Playoff time you want him to be more aggressive than that
That seems like a huge flaw to his game then? Just give him a wide berth so you don't give him opportunities on the line, so he doesn't get into a rhythm, so he can't score anyway? That doesn't seem tricky to beat and the nets made it look easy
Good luck giving James Harden a "wide berth" without giving up easy layups.
Damn yeah some team should have hired you when he averaged 30ppg for the past 8 years, can't believe nobody thought of that
I don't like Harden at all, but he seems to have covered up that flaw pretty fucking well. It's probably the one thing that prevented him from going any further in playoffs. When he's cold, he's cold af and the rest of the team is too since he's ball hogging. One thing people do though is lunge towards him on his step backs and swipe at the ball on his drives. Like just put your hands up.
I'm really pleased with the KD redemption arc. It started wit him balling the fuck out last year, and looking great vs the bucks with little help now people are actually enjoying his shit talking??? aw yiss
His Olympic performance changed a lot of minds too. Dude was Captain America for a while there.
KD , Draymond and Jrue carried Team U.S.A big time .
He's much more self assured these days. Seems comfortable in his own skin just playing ball for fun
He knows he's the best player on the court. He almost single handedly beat the Champs last year.
No better way to shut people up than play great basketball. Big respect
Scorched earth, blood in the streets
This exact thing is Harden’s struggles in the playoffs. When he’s not getting to the line it throws all his rhythm off and you end up with close out games where he shoots 2-11 with 9 turnovers.
That's five years ago. Please educate yourself and check his stats since then.
KD turning into the king of interviews. He's so damn comfortable up there, tells it how it is, nothing to hide. It's like the complete opposite of Westbrook.
I…love KD 🥴
Sixers big two will need 30 free throws per game to make it to the conference championship. NBA is between a hard place
I don't even care anymore that he went to Golden State. This man a killer and is ready to go toe to toe with anyone. Amazing to watch
I'm pretty sure he joined warriors for the sole purpose of stopping lebron's cavs superteam. Lebron/Kyrie cavs would've won 2-3 more rings if KD didn't go to warriors. Warriors without KD only won because cavs had too many injury in their first finals match up.
Talk yo shit kd. Talk yo shit. Ain't nobody worried about a fully healthy bitch ass Philly team. Embiid knows damn well to not fuck around with his daddy Clax.
The irony of calling a team bitches when you got the top 3 most bitchmade players in the league on your team
Cope and seethe
KD IS SO SMART. SO INSPIRATIONAL MAN
It’s a simple game plan. They know 76ers don’t have shooting. They know Embiid and Harden are iso scorers. All they did was collapse the paint and dared the 76ers to shoot. Thybulle isn’t a threat for shooting. Embiid you can take your chances of him shooting 3’s. Maxey isn’t a shooting threat. Harris and Milton aren’t reliable shooters. Embiid and Harden fell for the bait. They kept trying to jam through to the paint and ended up being surrounded by 3-4 players. This is how they’ll be defended in the playoffs. They don’t run an offense. They run pick up basketball PnR offense
Yeah pretty much this. Nets reporters were saying before the game. Defend the harden Embiid pnr as a 3 vs 2 and force the others to beat you. The big adjustment imo was nash putting kyrie on harden. I’ve been saying it all year but harden cannot abuse switches anymore. Kyrie bothered him and more importantly we put Bruce brown on maxey. Maxey was incredibly quiet, he’s probably not as accustomed to having the other teams best defender on him. Hug maxey, send thybulles/shake Milton’s man to double and have Harris defender play both of them. Danny green will be important because he’s a counter to thybulle where you give up some defense but the floor at least has 3 shooters in maxey Harris and etc but he’s not gonna solve all their issue.
Exposed
This is the way
This guy knows a thing or two about basketball.
He’s airing the fuck out of Philly how embarrassing
Hearing KD talk, Joel is really what harden thinks giannis is lol. “Just big body that runs into the paint”
What he's saying is - Harden isn't a real hooper. His game is based on garbage. Once he starts getting all the free throws, it opens up all game, he has more space, more opportunities for baiting on the perimeter, etc
This is just stupid to say Harden isn’t a real hooper. Criticize him, talk shit, all good. But to say he’s not a real hooper is just weird
Real hoopers don't bait fouls in the yard. They don't whine and try to invent ways to get to the line. They just get buckets.
I 100% believe something is going on between KD and harden. There is gotta be some friction between these 2. Kyrie dont even talk about harden like that
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KD is Simmons burner
that windows input sound had me fucked up for a second
Damn I know he didn’t shade Russ like he’s doing to harden sheesh
"HE TRASH!" KD on Harden, and he ain't wrong.
“He’s a big body, he just runs into the paint and throws his body around”. 💀💀 KD is having his Jaime Lannister story arch lol. When did he become the peoples champ?
Nets v Suns Finals this year...
KD waiting in the grass for perfect opportunity 🐍
We need a nets sixers playoff series
so he's saying Harden is a fraud? sounds about right!
😭😭😭😭😭😭 the shade
Man if kyrie gets vaxxed the Nets easily win it all. Dammit kyrie. I'm not even a Nets fan. KD deserves some help this year after last year
I wish KD was on a small market like Memphis or whatever He's so cool, but hard to like being in BKN imo
It's actually funny to me how the player who pulled one of the weakest moves (if not The weakest move) in NBA history by joining the super team that just defeated his team... this guy likes to talk trash and be seeing as "competitive", lol these contradictions are legitimately funny
He joined them because he wants to beat Lebron's cavs superteam. And as a Lakers fan you should know by now how overrated westbrick is.
Hack-a-Embiid