Curious because I'm a lifelong Lakers fan and I've seen mixed opinions from others in the fan base about Luka's playing style that relies heavily on isolation, so I'm curious how you guys felt about watching Harden operate back in his peak days. I've seen a couple HOU fans say it could be grating to watch but was that the general consensus or the minority?
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It was fun until the playoffs.
He gave us 8 great seasons and if Chris didn’t go down we could’ve won in 2018.
No regrets
One of the most fun/best regular season players in rockets history. Every year though, no matter what a harden defender tries to tell you, the part of his game harden haters hated came to fruition. Couldn’t bait the fouls anymore. Dude could not play in the playoffs, especially elimination games.
A legend who was ahead of his time.
Our fans are divided between people that love him and people that hold it against him that he never beat the Warriors despite acknowledging KD going to the Warriors was unfair and created a superteam that could not be defeated double despite the fact the if not for a CP3 injury and a historic ref game, we beat the Warriors and likely have 1 or 2 rings.
A series of unfortunate events. cp3 tearing the hammy, 27 missed 3’s, going toe-to-toe against the fucking avengers with james harden, cp3, gerald green, pj tucker at center, ryan anderson, nene hilario (my goat), kenneth faried, clint capela.
literally any other 3 years, i think that rockets team sees at least 2 rings. just got really unlucky in multiple different facets. injuries, a comically bad shooting streak, and going up against a never-before-seen superteam.
as a huge james harden fan, it makes me sad looking back:(
It’s fun to be good, I was never a fan of the aspects of James’s play style that most people don’t love. I don’t think it ever became unwatchable to me.
The playoffs got rough at times, wish we could’ve gone all the way. I was a big Dwight Howard fan before he got here and I wish that experiment worked out better.
Regular season was a blast. But for a torn CP3 hamstring, we might have won a title. However, given the struggles in elimination games, those teams don’t hold my heart the way that the teams from the Olajuwon era do.
It was a good period, we were competitive and got closer than a lot of teams during that era. It ended poorly but most star tenures do these days.
1. Harden was great. I think both he fell off in the playoffs but it’s over blown because of when and how.
2. You guys should have been Champs in 2018
3. I have no idea why your owner/ Harden forced that Westbrook trade. For a team based in analytics It made no sense.
-Another non-rockets fan input
After years of Yao and TMac injuries and 3 years of being the 9th seed, the Harden years were fun and no one else could claim being so close to defeating a fully healthy (iirc) Warriors team with KD
Biggest chance at a title was the 2017-18 season, until CP3 got injured. Still had fun memories from the regular season.
Loved the hustle and effort and confidence. I loved PJ Tucker, E-God and we did really good.
He was the greatest Rocket this side of Hakeem. He made us relevant immediately. He carried the team for 8 seasons and we’ll probably never see anything like it again. I feel absolutely spoilt for having the opportunity to watch him at his peak every night.
Thank you James.
Just a side note: these are my favorite rockets unis, the early Dwight Howard days, but i can never find them anywhere??
2nd best Rocket behind Dream
Even better than advertised honestly. Iron man, every game he played during his tenure year you knew your team had a chance and should expect to win. We got to watch him grow into one of the most historical offensive players of all time. His game wasn’t necessarily ugly, just really REALLY repetitive. If he was “on” though it was extremely impressive how unstoppable it was. Him not preforming in the playoffs get overstated because other fans hate him for his play style (and genuinely cooking their team most nights). Yes his numbers dipped slightly in the playoffs but the dude was constantly getting the WCF and Semis, he just had like 3 pretty ugly elimination games that stick in people’s minds. I hope he gets a ring, if he had more pieces around him or better injury luck he definitely could of lead a team to a championship or two.
The 2018 Rockets was my favorite team of all time. Probably always will be. In 2019, Harden put on an unbelievable show, but the team just wasn’t the same.
Playoffs not good. On the positive side: I discovered a hack and was able to watch every game with no announcers, only courtside mics. This was 2017 season. The smack talk was amazing.
Man it was just another almost 10 year period of rockets “greatness”. Good enough to make the playoffs and win a series or two but ultimately fell short. Outside of the Hakeem days i(I was like 5) I had a hell of a time watching that teams. Somehow the rockets for the most part steer clear of absolutely tanking (for the most part) and I love it.
Sucked we never won it all but I had more fun watching them then vs now. Although last year was also pretty fun until JG turned into a pumpkin
Goat
Man I remember the original trade being so hyped. Just to end in disappointment. Not the playoff exits. The not trying at the end
I’m glad to have witnessed a generational player spending his prime with the Rockets. Could have gone better, but not many teams had to face a dynasty like those Warriors
Probably the second greatest single Rockets player behind Hakeem. At least in the running. Demonstrably horrible officiating, injuries, and a legendary cold streak kept us from getting it done, but it was also against one of the greatest teams ever assembled, so who knows?
It was not Harden’s fault we didn’t get there. He’s the reason we were close in the first place.
As for the Luka Lakers, when you get handed one of the best iso scorers in history in his prime, you have to let him be him. Find him a supporting star (that might be Austin Reaves going forward, question mark?), and fill the rest of the roster with the best, cheapest 3-and-D guys you can find. This is the formula these days, going back to the 2019 Raptors. Iso every play, if they double, take an open 3. Game.
It’s just frustrating that he had a different whistle from regular season to playoffs and the whole narrative was about how his style of play does not win championships
Yet here we are in the present day with SGA getting the same kind of whistle Harden would get only he got it during the playoffs and the narrative is that SGA is just too good
Right place, wrong time.
Whether you enjoyed Harden’s style of play or not, he gave us the most success we saw in decades. Those teams were exciting to watch, despite their glaring flaws. They were able to blow anyone out of the building. Which is probably why it stung so much when they lost when it mattered the most.
Where to even begin… it was fun, amazing, exciting. We went toe to toe with some of the best teams in history and just came up short. We have so many memories from that era it was something new and unforgettable. It was an amazing ride
He was basketball jesus here in HTown but something always went wrong late in the season and he couldnt carry the team by himself and didn’t play much defense back then
Playoff struggler
kinda like the luka era where both teams needed to rebuild after their first season here. the picks that we send almost every year and the lack of development for players like hartenstein and montrezl is what took down this team when harden wanted out. it was good but we had no escape plan when the Harden era was over
The 2018 team was legitimately one of the great NBA teams ever, and just came up short because of injuries and a terribly timed cold shooting streak.
Will always love him
It showed that Chris Paul was a far more effective leader than James was as the most success was with Chris. Although I have a special fondness in my heart for the subsequent Russ / Harden backcourt
Entertaining, but also frustrating. My gripe is with the FO and coaching staff. They enabled James a lot. The lack of offensive adjustments as a team and not encouraging Harden to do more off-ball made us predictable in the post season and was a big reason why we didn’t win a ring imo
at least the regular seasons were fun back then lol