Harden is a MONSTER offensively and average defensively. All this talk about AD's defense but his teams have been mostly meh in defnesive rating over the years while the rockets have constantly been great offensively even with trash ass kevin mchale.
Not only does harden score more than AD, he does while not having to be assisted. he makes more 3's, is a more lethal slasher, better 3 point shooter, gets to the free throw line, and also creates a ton of wide open looks for his teammates.
losing to all-time great teams like the golden state warriors with a vastly inferior team is not choking. he's done more with the rockets than any other player not named lebron would do.
Harden has led the rockets to the playoffs every year as a starter for the rockets even with subpar teams and has led the rockets to 2 WCF appearances.
AD has never even led the pelicans to a 50+ win season.
this thread is about the regular season, not the playoffs. and even then the warriors would still beat the rockets if you replace harden with AD.
4 all-stars >>>>>>>>>>>>> 2 (and only 1 in the last 2 games)
If Harden is average defensively, who da hell is below average?
All those things that you say Harden does degrade during the playoffs. While AD has looked even better in the playoffs.
This is Harden's playoff history:
2010: Averages 7ppg on 39% shooting in a first-round loss to the Lakers, stumbling to just 2 points on 1-3 shooting in the deciding Game 6.
2011: Actually plays well in getting the Thunder to the WCF and shows out decent against the Mavs in a WCF loss. This will be his career playoff high point.
2012: Chokes terribly in the Finals, averaging 12ppg on 37% shooting and looking like the weak point in the Thunder offense for that series.
2013: Loses in the first round to a Westbrook-less OKC team. Harden goes 7-22 with 4 turnovers in the deciding game with the Thunder guards lighting him up left and right.
2014: Loses in the first round to a Portland team that hadn't won a playoff series since 2000.
2015: In Game 6 of the 2nd round, goes 5-20 with only 2 rebounds and 3 assists while getting lit up left and right by CP3 in what should be the deciding game, only to be bailed out by Josh Smith and company in a massive 4th-quarter comeback while Harden rode the pine. Follows it up by going down to the Warriors in one of the worst deciding games in NBA playoff history, shooting 2-11 while committing a playoff-record 12 turnovers and 5 personal fouls.
2016: Goes down weakly to the Warriors in the 1st round, blown out by 33 in the deciding game.
2017: Loses to a Kawhi-less Spurs in the 2nd round in another WOAT deciding game, going 2-11 with 6 turnovers before fouling out while letting the starting guard combo of Patty Mills and Jonathan Simmons abuse him all night long. Loses by 40 to a team that had Patty and Simmons as the 2nd and 3rd options on offense.
2018: CP3 shows that he can do what Harden can't, helping carry the Rockets to a 1st-round win despite Harden going 8-21 in the deciding game, then carrying them to a 2nd-round win over the Jazz in a series where Harden went 8-22 and 7-22 in the last two games. CP3 incredibly stakes Houston to a 3-2 lead in the WCF despite Harden going 5-21 with 6 turnovers in Game 5, but when CP3 goes down the Rockets fold too, with Harden shooting 41% and committing 14 turnovers in the final two games.
Harden ALWAYS chokes in the playoffs because his game isn't good enough for the playoffs. He racks up stats in the regular season with teams that are built ideally for him to rack up stats, but they are empty. Whenever the defense locks down and the refs drop the number of bs fouls they're willing to call, Harden begins looking hopeless.
Seriously, NO ONE in playoff history has choked as badly, as consistently, in big games as Harden has.
but no
