I hate arguments like those because they never use the "all else being equal" methodology. Kobe wouldnt have any rings if his championship teams faced this Warriors team. Harden does not have a prime Shaq on his team.
I have seen Kobe single handedly kill his teams chance at a title. In the final series against the Pistons, Shaq was very effective, but Kobe went into his inefficient chucking mode and helped Pistons win the championship. I have also watched Kobe stink it up in a game 7 of the Finals against he Celtics (the biggest stage of an NBA career) with Ron Artest and Pau Gasol to save his bacon. (6 for 24 for the game and 0-6 from 3) Two years before that series, Kobe got his ass handed to him by the Celtics in the NBA finals. Kobe barely managed to shoot 40% in the entire final series. Let's not make it seem like Kobe was some playoff machine.
also playoffs performances are overrated while rs season is underrated... it much easier to perform great 2 months in the year than to dominate all year round
You also can point out examples of Kobe getting it done in the playoffs and Finals. He did not consistently underperform, which is true for Harden. For Kobe, you have examples on both sides, that led to titles. For Harden, not the case. I’m not a big Kobe fan, but he has clearly gotten it done in the postseason. Hardens game has regressed in literally every postseason with us. And his play in elimination games....man. To the poster that mentioned Kobe only winning with multiple all-stars, no team he won with had more than one other all-star. The teams were the most talented in the league if that was your point. But in those runs Kobe was as dominant as he was in the regular season is most instances that they won. I say most because G7 vs Boston he was trash.
Harden will always have an asterisk next to his name, unless he can put together a truly great playoff run. There’s a limit to how high up the GOAT ladder one can get based solely on regular season stats. David Robinson is almost universally viewed as the lesser player between him and Hakeem. It’s not because of the regular season.
he already had that run... harden has only beaten the best team of all times, ALONE(after cp3 went down), team consisting of 4 allstars and 2 former MVPs name me one player who did that? asterix is only in the mind of beligerent media and ignorant masses true basketball connoisseurs have no asterix next to hargods name
You’re free to live in your alternate reality in which the Rockets won that series. That doesn’t help Harden’s legacy, which is what I’m talking about. The Rockets and Harden know they don’t have much of a chance of beating the Warriors with Harden playing as he did last year in that series.
for all practical purposes and strictly speaking about his play on the court, harden did beat them...THIS IS THE REALITY...BASKETBALLWISE...EFFORTWISE AND SKILLWISE.... its not my or hardens concern that nba officials have decided to rewrite the basketball history on the spot for their own financial gain (which is in and of itself NBA's admission that Harden was winning !). I though we were discussing basketball matter here not politics. are we gonna sit there and pretend were it not for the scott foster harden would have beaten them? are we gonna sit there and pretend Scot Foster couldn't beat Kobe and leave him ringless if he wanted? hardens legacy doesnt need help, its already there for all the true basketball connoisseurs to witness...I am not interested in convincing masses... masses can never know the truth.. they are not interested in it.....we can only bring facts about the game to the surface so that the true seekers can see it... i assume here on cf we are all lovers of the game not of the politics...the true connoisseurs of this beautiful game...we are discussing basketball here , game of basketball and basketball skills and not who NBA officials think will bring them more money and viewership. So practically anybody fooling themselves into believing that harden didnt beat the best team of all times is living in an alternate reality basketballwise..one that is invented by adam silver for his own financial gain that has nothing to do with who is better at basketball....
So in order to have a legacy he needed to beat 2 mvps with 3 allstars by himself??? Even lebron wss swept And btw he did beat them 3-2 before his half a star sidekick got injured
yep, imagine if they called the game fair and harden beats durant curry dray and klay without cp3... NBA universe would collapse and harden haters heads worldwide would explode...it may have caused international unrest....the NBA world would never be the same
