I’ll re-post what I said yesterday somebody on here told me that there had been a push in Minnesota heading into this series to label Harden as a cheater...they’ve definitely been fed some sort of propaganda because Harden has done nothing to them other than give them buckets...they’re singling him out like there’s actual beef
Same reason they started chanting MVP when Jimmy Butler went to the FT line in Game 3. Minny fans don't know greatness if it hit em upside the head twice over.
The last time they made the playoffs, “In da club” by 50 cent was the number one song in the country. They don’t know how to act.
They haven't been in the playoffs in ages, they don't know how to act or what it feels like to be in the playoffs, they did it and paid the price for it.
And not-so-recent controversies about his: swing-up through the defender's arms from behind the arc swing-up through the defender's arms while driving in the paint deliberately run into the defender to create contact while driving in the paint Eurostep that looks like a travel flop upon contact etc. Harden isn't just crafty, he's absolutely brilliant at taking what the rules give him. I don't think I've ever seen a player before who rides that fine line as perfectly as Harden does.
It's just The Narrative on James Harden - He's a dishonorable, shifty choke artist who would rather cheat by flopping and ref-baiting than by "playing the game the right way", and he plays on a shifty team assembled by math-loving eggheads who couldn't get prom dates who all need to be put in their place by the real manly men of the NBA. Expect more of it going forward and no matter how far the Rockets get in the playoffs, if they lose it will considered a major victory for the eternal soul of basketball (even if it's at the hands of another one of the many analytics-based teams in the league).
My co-worker is a native Minnesotan and he never held out belief that the Timberwolves could take this series. After game 1 he did whine about how Harden "constantly gets away with traveling, it's pathetic". To which I replied, "Maybe, but if you called every travel in the NBA, the game would run four hours in regulation." Maybe the fans just wanted to get into his head, but I noticed they didn't have much juice left at the end of that third-quarter bloodletting.
Taking advantage of the rules? Scoring more than you wins us the game, let's take advantage of that. Is that what you mean?
Perfectly and effortlessly. That’s why he’s so good he doesn’t have to think about it. He does it with flow. Other guys can’t emulate what he does because they don’t have the b-ball iq to do it in the flow of the offense. It’s magical to watch some nights I wish more fans recognized this. I know his peers do.
Fans should be booing their own players,after their own players can't play defense or know how to shoot. Their 3rd Quarter Collapse. James Harden really destroyed the Timberwolves, the fans ugh sound after Harden kept making 3s and lay ups was really fun listening too, Kevin Harlan bad mouthing Harden on missed shots , in the 1st quarter. 22 points in the 3rd made everyone quiet.
it's not Harden. Any fans who haven't watched their team in decades make the playoffs will boo the heck out of the opponent's superstar. Not everything is personal. If it was Lebron or Durant or Curry they would boo him too.
