2017 Western Conference Playoffs - 1st Round Discussion Thread

[JazzMan]

Re: 2017 Western Conference Playoffs - 1st Round Discussion Thread

Just another reason as to why Harden > RWB, IMO.

More efficient, and at this point probably a better defender as well for all the **** they give him on that end.

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[ojandpizza]

Re: 2017 Western Conference Playoffs - 1st Round Discussion Thread

Klay is a baller


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[DamnYanks2]

Re: 2017 Western Conference Playoffs - 1st Round Discussion Thread

Just another reason as to why Harden > RWB, IMO.

More efficient, and at this point probably a better defender as well for all the **** they give him on that end.

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Still, Russ got the triple dub, and scored 50. Shooting Efficiency was ugly, but at least Harden has shooters all around him.

Gordon, Bev, Lou Will, Anderson. Meanwhile Oladipo goes 4/14. WB literally has to do it all.


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[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: 2017 Western Conference Playoffs - 1st Round Discussion Thread

They both shot like crap tonight, don't get fooled by the high point totals for either of them.


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[JazzMan]

Re: 2017 Western Conference Playoffs - 1st Round Discussion Thread

All of his bigs box out specifically for him so he can swoop in and get rebounds. Is it incredible that he's able to drop triple-double after triple-double? Absolutely. But Harden is a better, more efficient player. Just because he doesn't do it all for his team doesn't mean that he can't. He's had a ton of triple-doubles this year, as well as 50+ point games (where he doesn't need to shoot 40+ shots).

I mean Harden had 35 off of 7 made field goals. In the playoffs. That is ridiculous and almost unheard of. Imagine if he had 43 field goal attempts in a game. How many points would he drop?

And let's not act like OKC is garbage. Last year everyone was talking about how good of a supporting cast OKC was making around KD and RWB. Now that KD is gone all the sudden that supporting cast is bad now? Or did Westbrook just make them bad with his triple-double stat chasing? Steven Adams has dropped off, Kanter hasn't progressed into a 2nd option.

I mean no doubt RWB is a monster and is breaking records, but when it comes to down winning games and leading a team, I'm taking Harden 10 times out of 10.

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[DamnYanks2]

Re: 2017 Western Conference Playoffs - 1st Round Discussion Thread

All of his bigs box out specifically for him so he can swoop in and get rebounds. Is it incredible that he's able to drop triple-double after triple-double? Absolutely. But Harden is a better, more efficient player. Just because he doesn't do it all for his team doesn't mean that he can't. He's had a ton of triple-doubles this year, as well as 50+ point games (where he doesn't need to shoot 40+ shots).

I mean Harden had 35 off of 7 made field goals. In the playoffs. That is ridiculous and almost unheard of. Imagine if he had 43 field goal attempts in a game. How many points would he drop?

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I agree Westbrook shouldn't be shooting 40 plus shots, but at least Houston got 20+ from Lou Will, and Gordon. WB didn't get jack **** from anyone except Dougie.

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[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: 2017 Western Conference Playoffs - 1st Round Discussion Thread

JaVale and those dumb*** braids man...




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[Streets]

Re: 2017 Western Conference Playoffs - 1st Round Discussion Thread

All of his bigs box out specifically for him so he can swoop in and get rebounds. Is it incredible that he's able to drop triple-double after triple-double? Absolutely. But Harden is a better, more efficient player. Just because he doesn't do it all for his team doesn't mean that he can't. He's had a ton of triple-doubles this year, as well as 50+ point games (where he doesn't need to shoot 40+ shots).

I mean Harden had 35 off of 7 made field goals. In the playoffs. That is ridiculous and almost unheard of. Imagine if he had 43 field goal attempts in a game. How many points would he drop?

And let's not act like OKC is garbage. Last year everyone was talking about how good of a supporting cast OKC was making around KD and RWB. Now that KD is gone all the sudden that supporting cast is bad now? Or did Westbrook just make them bad with his triple-double stat chasing? Steven Adams has dropped off, Kanter hasn't progressed into a 2nd option.

I mean no doubt RWB is a monster and is breaking records, but when it comes to down winning games and leading a team, I'm taking Harden 10 times out of 10.

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People aren't trying to hear this, man. The narrative is poor WB has no help and has to do it all alone. That's not going to change.

This game was the perfect encapsulation of Good Russ/Bad Russ. He was phenomenal in the first three quarters but then literally shot them out of the game with his utter refusal to incorporate his team. He was literally forcing everything. He's so damn talented that he can win games off that talent alone. But like I've been saying, the mental game between he and Harden is the main difference between them to me, and the reason I can't vibe with Russ for MVP. I loved watching Harden on the bench chilling, cheering his teammates on, trusting the system, and when he gets in the game, just picking his spots. Harden was on track to be the next Melo before he really stepped into a leadership role. Hopefully Russ "gets it". It will be hard though because he has it so good.

They win, it's on him - Russ is god!

They lose and he plays well - it's on his teammates( "he has no help!")

They lose and he plays bad - "look how awful they are when Russ has a bad game"

The man gets so much praise/reinforcement from the media and fans for #numbers that it's hard to see him changing soon. He really has the best situation a superstar could be in.

"The best player I wouldn't want on my team" is an apt description.

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

Re: 2017 Western Conference Playoffs - 1st Round Discussion Thread

Not that the numbers tell the whole story, but for those thinking that Westbrook throwing up those BS shots he did in the 4th is better than passing to his offensively-challenged teammates:

Westbrook tonight: TS% of 50.1%

Non-Westbrook Thunder tonight: TS% of 51.4%

There's simply no world in which a single player should attempt 17 shots in one quarter, especially when 90% of them were terrible looks. Westbrook went from having a really good game to actually finishing the game as statistically less efficient than his teammates (even with Oladipo in there with his glorious TS% of 37%.

[z Revis]

Re: 2017 Western Conference Playoffs - 1st Round Discussion Thread

I mean Harden had 35 off of 7 made field goals. In the playoffs. That is ridiculous and almost unheard of. Imagine if he had 43 field goal attempts in a game. How many points would he drop?

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How is that really that ridiculous? He flopped his way to the line like he always does. Refs give that man every call lol.

Honestly I just find it amazing how people can watch what Westbrook is doing this year and still find a way to trash him. 43 shots is a bit much but when you're as good as he is and on a team with no other real threat I don't really blame him.



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[DamnYanks2]

Re: 2017 Western Conference Playoffs - 1st Round Discussion Thread

How is that really that ridiculous? He flopped his way to the line like he always does. Refs give that man every call lol.

Honestly I just find it amazing how people can watch what Westbrook is doing this year and still find a way to trash him. 43 shots is a bit much but when you're as good as he is and on a team with no other real threat I don't really blame him.



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That's exactly how i feel. Obviously the Thunder don't sniff the playoffs without WB.

Shows how good he is right there, how important. For people to say they wouldn't want him on their team, that's crazy to me.

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[ojandpizza]

Re: 2017 Western Conference Playoffs - 1st Round Discussion Thread

All of his bigs box out specifically for him so he can swoop in and get rebounds. Is it incredible that he's able to drop triple-double after triple-double? Absolutely. But Harden is a better, more efficient player. Just because he doesn't do it all for his team doesn't mean that he can't. He's had a ton of triple-doubles this year, as well as 50+ point games (where he doesn't need to shoot 40+ shots).

I mean Harden had 35 off of 7 made field goals. In the playoffs. That is ridiculous and almost unheard of. Imagine if he had 43 field goal attempts in a game. How many points would he drop?

And let's not act like OKC is garbage. Last year everyone was talking about how good of a supporting cast OKC was making around KD and RWB. Now that KD is gone all the sudden that supporting cast is bad now? Or did Westbrook just make them bad with his triple-double stat chasing? Steven Adams has dropped off, Kanter hasn't progressed into a 2nd option.

I mean no doubt RWB is a monster and is breaking records, but when it comes to down winning games and leading a team, I'm taking Harden 10 times out of 10.

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It's not that his supporting cast is bad, it's that the roster was built to have KD and they don't have anything to fill the void with him missing. They are horrible without Westbrook on the floor, they can't stay afloat. That's been the story all season long. It's not that the talent of the cast is horrible, it's that the roster has major flaws because it was built to include Westbrook+KD. With them both off the floor it does become a very horrible team because they don't have the guys to fill the void. They don't have a playmaker, or a player who can create for himself.

If it comes down to winning games I feel like there really isn't much question as to Westbrook+OKC and Harden+HOU. Houston had the perfect personnel for him to succeed, both on the court and coaching on the sidelines. Houston is pretty easily the better team to me.

But what is the verdict on Harden when he's not winning games? He didn't crack any All-NBA teams last year, finished 9th in MVP voting. They're winning this year and D'Antoni's system has him blending it all together beautifully. Now all the sudden he's the best player overnight?...but realistically, is he even a top 5 player in the league? The best feature in his game is literally getting fouled.

Westbrook was shooting something like 68% before that 4th quarter. Dude clearly ran out of gas. But he was still the best player in the game for 3/4 quarters tonight. Harden wasn't even the best on his own team in all but one of them. Kudos to him though he got hot in the quarter that mattered. After his team closed the gap and took the lead with him on he bench.


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[Yeah...THAT Guy]

Re: 2017 Western Conference Playoffs - 1st Round Discussion Thread

That's exactly how i feel. Obviously the Thunder don't sniff the playoffs without WB.

Shows how good he is right there, how important. For people to say they wouldn't want him on their team, that's crazy to me.

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I think the context was that "out of all the superstars in the NBA, he's the one I'd want least", which isn't really that much of a diss, nor is it crazy. He's a bad defender and most of the other superstars are more efficient offensively than he is.

[DamnYanks2]

Re: 2017 Western Conference Playoffs - 1st Round Discussion Thread

I think the context was that "out of all the superstars in the NBA, he's the one I'd want least", which isn't really that much of a diss, nor is it crazy. He's a bad defender and most of the other superstars are more efficient offensively than he is.

I'd only take Lebron, Durant, Kawhi, maybe Harden, and AD over him at this point.

If that's what people mean then sure, I can agree with that.

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[Yeah...THAT Guy]

Re: 2017 Western Conference Playoffs - 1st Round Discussion Thread

It's not that his supporting cast is bad, it's that the roster was built to have KD and they don't have anything to fill the void with him missing. They are horrible without Westbrook on the floor, they can't stay afloat. That's been the story all season long. It's not that the talent of the cast is horrible, it's that the roster has major flaws because it was built to include Westbrook+KD. With them both off the floor it does become a very horrible team because they don't have the guys to fill the void. They don't have a playmaker, or a player who can create for himself.

If it comes down to winning games I feel like there really isn't much question as to Westbrook+OKC and Harden+HOU. Houston had the perfect personnel for him to succeed, both on the court and coaching on the sidelines. Houston is pretty easily the better team to me.

But what is the verdict on Harden when he's not winning games? He didn't crack any All-NBA teams last year, finished 9th in MVP voting. They're winning this year and D'Antoni's system has him blending it all together beautifully. Now all the sudden he's the best player overnight?...but realistically, is he even a top 5 player in the league? The best feature in his game is literally getting fouled.

Westbrook was shooting something like 68% before that 4th quarter. Dude clearly ran out of gas. But he was still the best player in the game for 3/4 quarters tonight. Harden wasn't even the best on his own team in all but one of them. Kudos to him though he got hot in the quarter that mattered. After his team closed the gap and took the lead with him on he bench.


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Is this really all that different from Westbrook? Harden is a better finisher, better mid-range shooter, better 3 point shooter, better passer, probably as good defensively if not better, and a slightly worse rebounder. I think the best thing about Westbrook's game is his ability to draw fouls too. Being able to draw fouls at a high rate is one of the best things you can do in basketball.