James Harden is the biggest choker right now

[Spilling Green Dye]

HOU 121, POR 116 (OT)

The Beard choked his way to 37, 9 and 6.

 

On a ridiculous 35 field goal attempts.

It's only ridiculous if they lose -- if they win he's "putting the weight of the team on his shoulders"

But they did lose.  And two of the biggest reasons they are losing is that he's not efficient on offense and is terrible on defense.  In the playoffs you need to up the intensity (especially on the defensive end) and value possessions even more.  Harden has done neither of these. 

What would trouble me most if I were a Rockets fan is that Dwight is shooting efficiently, but whenever he has the ball Harden looks lost.  Part of that is on the coaching, but part of that is on Harden. 

Harden legitimately played very poorly in the 2012 Finals.  He's not a "star" of the league, so its tough for me to say that he really choked.  If anything, we just overvalue the guy.

[sofutomygaha]

On a related note- if you added Courtney Lee and Brandon Bass to that team and took away Omer Asik, would they be better off right now? Would they be winning?

[D.o.s.]

HOU 121, POR 116 (OT)

The Beard choked his way to 37, 9 and 6.

 

On a ridiculous 35 field goal attempts.

It's only ridiculous if they lose -- if they win he's "putting the weight of the team on his shoulders"

But they did lose.  And two of the biggest reasons they are losing is that he's not efficient on offense and is terrible on defense.  In the playoffs you need to up the intensity (especially on the defensive end) and value possessions even more.  Harden has done neither of these. 

What would trouble me most if I were a Rockets fan is that Dwight is shooting efficiently, but whenever he has the ball Harden looks lost.  Part of that is on the coaching, but part of that is on Harden. 

Harden legitimately played very poorly in the 2012 Finals.  He's not a "star" of the league, so its tough for me to say that he really choked.  If anything, we just overvalue the guy.

I agree with you -- just pointing out the narrative disparity.