Spurs G5 & 6 Finally Solved?: Was Harden Playing Through A Concussion?

the concussion theory is a lot more plausible than Harden just randomly deciding to quit before a game 6 at home with no Kawhi

from Harden’s POV, if he does get diagnosed with a concussion, then he’d have to miss game 6 and the season would definitely be over

Harden has played in 418 regular season games and 45 playoff games with the Rockets...I dare anybody to find me another game where he looked like he did in game 6

it makes no sense for Harden to see Kawhi not playing for game 6 and say “fck it, I’m quitting”

 

That’s on the past. Time to let it go and move on. That year we prob would have gone to western conference finals but idk if we had enough to beat GSW. We needed better defense.
And that’s what we got now.
We have someone to help out Harden with the load.

We playing better than last year. And we are beating teams that we need to beat. Last year we lost some that we should have won.
Only once we should have won were the first Memphis game, maybe both and the raptors. Idk I felt the refs dictated and influenced those games a lot. No excuses tho now even when the refs aren’t calling it we still beating teams.

 

dude was coming off 43 on 14-28 shooting, and 28 on 10-18 shooting in games 3 and 4

in game 5, he was killing them until that hit from Gasol...I remember saying in the game thread during the 3rd quarter that he was playing like the best player in the NBA

after that hit from Gasol, he was a completely different player

 

this makes all too much sense for it to not be the reason why Harden played the way he played after the hit. props on doing the research and maybe post it to reddit.com/r/nba to get it trending bro

 

Morey (immediately after the finals): what do you think about a four-year extension worth $170 million under the NBA’s new “Supermax provision.”?

Harden: what concussion?

 

I already said concussion is an acceptable excuse. I don’t buy the “he just got tired” explanation.

Minus concussion or some other medical problem that caused him to play like he did, yes his game 6 performance was him not competing. Him having a great season otherwise doesn’t mean he gets a free pass for not competing in the most important game of the season.

 

I love James Harden but our future hall of fame guard did hit the club after game 6.

 

why can't harden be tired in his 94th game of the season playing mvp calibre ball at a frantic pace?

Steph and Durant got tired 20 games in the season

why do you think they rested a couple of games?

and howbout Lebron and Kawhi's around 10 games rest during last season?

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/time-harden-embrace-rest-running-gas/story?id=47375178

Harden was running on empty, gassed from a grueling regular season.

As LeBron James and the Spurs employed resting strategies throughout the regular season, Harden made headlines by denouncing the concept of resting.

"I'm a hooper," Harden said. "I just want to hoop. I'll rest when I'm done. I feel like my teammates and organization need me to go out there and do what I do."

And when a reporter followed up and asked Harden if Mike D'Antoni would try to sit him and save energy for the playoffs, Harden replied, "Mike knows not to come at me with that."

Before winning the 2014 Finals MVP, Kawhi Leonard ranked 138th in minutes played during the regular season. Andre Iguodala spent the regular season coming off the bench before nabbing the 2015 Finals MVP. Before his brilliant 2016 Finals manifesto, LeBron James enjoyed 19 extra days off in the playoffs as a result of sweeping early-round opponents, while the Warriors labored through injuries and a grueling seven-game marathon against the OKC Thunder. Let's also not forget the Warriors decided to chase 73 wins that season instead of resting down the stretch.

This is the whole point of resting during the regular season. Popovich has regularly sat his stars to both prevent injury and give his second unit plenty
of opportunity to thrive and gain chemistry.

The Rockets could point to a Nene injury as an excuse, but that strains credibility when you consider the Spurs played without starters Tony Parker and Leonard in Game 6. The Spurs' reserves stepped up to the challenge because Popovich asked them to step up eight times before in the regular season when he sat Leonard.

Harden dazzled audiences in the regular season. But in the end, the human body in today's NBA can only handle so much. No, Harden wasn't "drugged" in Game 6. But the idea that strategic rest is the enemy -- not a friend -- sure can be intoxicating for hoopers like Harden.

 

From nba.com:

EXCEPTION: Rule 12A--Section V--l(5)
l. A player, coach or trainer must be ejected for:
(1) A punching foul
(2) A fighting foul
(3) An elbow foul which makes contact above shoulder level
(4) An attempted punch which does not make contact
(5) Deliberately entering the stands other than as a continuance of play
m. Eye guarding (placing a hand in front of the opponent's eyes when guard-ing from the rear) a player who does not have possession of the ball is illegal and an unsportsmanlike technical shall be assessed.
n. A free throw attempt is awarded when one technical foul is assessed.
o. No free throw attempts are awarded when a double technical foul is assessed. Technical fouls assessed to opposing teams during the same dead ball and prior to the administering of any free throw attempt for the first technical foul, shall be interpreted as a double technical foul.
p. The deliberate act of throwing the ball or any object at an official by a player, coach or trainer is a technical foul and violators are subject to ejection from the game.
q. Elbow fouls, which make contact above shoulder level, and punching fouls, although recorded as both personal and team fouls, are unsportsmanlike acts. The player will be ejected immediately.

Did I miss something?

 

Of course he can feel tired. He is human. The way he played wasn’t just a guy who was tired. Anyone with eyeballs could see that there was something else wrong there. I am happy to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he had a concussion, rather than he stopped caring because of fatigue settling in.

 

what did your eyeball see that MDA, Morey, and Cp3 miss?

that's what MDA and Morey said

Harden only had 1 game rest during the season

Lebron and Kawhi had around 10 games rest

Pops and Lebron knows that resting games in the regular season affects performance in the playoffs.. you disagree?

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/time-harden-embrace-rest-running-gas/story?id=47375178

Harden was running on empty, gassed from a grueling regular season.

As LeBron James and the Spurs employed resting strategies throughout the regular season, Harden made headlines by denouncing the concept of resting.

"I'm a hooper," Harden said. "I just want to hoop. I'll rest when I'm done. I feel like my teammates and organization need me to go out there and do what I do."

And when a reporter followed up and asked Harden if Mike D'Antoni would try to sit him and save energy for the playoffs, Harden replied, "Mike knows not to come at me with that."

Before winning the 2014 Finals MVP, Kawhi Leonard ranked 138th in minutes played during the regular season. Andre Iguodala spent the regular season coming off the bench before nabbing the 2015 Finals MVP. Before his brilliant 2016 Finals manifesto, LeBron James enjoyed 19 extra days off in the playoffs as a result of sweeping early-round opponents, while the Warriors labored through injuries and a grueling seven-game marathon against the OKC Thunder. Let's also not forget the Warriors decided to chase 73 wins that season instead of resting down the stretch.

This is the whole point of resting during the regular season. Popovich has regularly sat his stars to both prevent injury and give his second unit plenty
of opportunity to thrive and gain chemistry.

The Rockets could point to a Nene injury as an excuse, but that strains credibility when you consider the Spurs played without starters Tony Parker and Leonard in Game 6. The Spurs' reserves stepped up to the challenge because Popovich asked them to step up eight times before in the regular season when he sat Leonard.

Harden dazzled audiences in the regular season. But in the end, the human body in today's NBA can only handle so much. No, Harden wasn't "drugged" in Game 6. But the idea that strategic rest is the enemy -- not a friend -- sure can be intoxicating for hoopers like Harden.

 

I'm not saying it didn't happen but I just find it funny how we go half a year not knowing why James collapsed in game 6 and now with one (well thought out) thread so many of yall are accepting this explanation as if it was so obvious the whole time.

 

either that or Morey is whole lot dumber than Presti and Cp3 is a whole lot dumber than Melo

seriously if MVP runner-up Harden replaced Steph in 15 or KD in 17, don't you think GSW still have won the chip?

 

So is it like your 'thing' to quote people's posts and then go off on a completely unrelated tangent?

 

whats unrelated? we're talking about harden's game 6 performance right? after that Harden was judged by his GM and peers..

Presti extended WB to a max extension

while Morey extended Harden to a max extension

who made a smarter decision?

Melo decided to join WB

while CP3 decided to join Harden

who made a smarter decision?

 

If I’m not mistaken, it is in reference to techs and flagrants. Although, please note, there is no mention of force, how egregious something has to be...but I do think resulting in a concussion is of noteworthy force. James’ movement does not (should not) allow Pau to lower his elbow rather than being a man and taking the contact like he stepped in to do. It’s all on the table, flagrant 1, 2 or technical. One of them should have, accord8ng to the nba rule book, been called. Somehow it’s only a personal foul that Pau seems to think shouldn’t have been called.

there’s also this:

. A technical foul, unsportsmanlike act or flagrant foul must be called for a par-ticipant to be ejected. A player, coach or trainer may be ejected for:
(1) An elbow foul which makes contact shoulder level or below
(2) Any unsportsmanlike conduct where a technical foul is assessed
(3) A flagrant foul where unnecessary and/or excessive contact occurs

So, I mean....it’s there. This isn’t my rule book.