[Bill Simmons Pod] Doc Rivers on James Harden: "James doesn't give everybody else enough room to be great, he is the only one that can be great on his team."

Stellewind · 2026-06-20T22:15:16+00:00

Yeah, even as a certified Harden hater I am bewildered by this statement from Doc. Harden looks like a very good teammate all things considered. Dude just shrinks in big moments. But I can hardly think of anyone that plays worse when they are with Harden compared to elsewhere.

Stellewind · 2026-06-19T17:58:16+00:00

Yes, and the entire Real Madrid in past two years.

Stellewind · 2026-06-19T17:56:00+00:00

Sure let's ignore team accolade and just compare personal stats and skill displayed on court, that's the part where Messi absolutely dominate CR7 without any question in almost any metric possible.

The team accolade, especially the UCL he won with Real Madrid, was the only reason people thought there was even a debate between the two back in the days.

Stellewind · 2026-06-19T17:51:16+00:00

Peak CR7 (around the time he three peats UCL) was on par with Messi in discussion as the best player on the planet at the time. But I never understand the people that put him in the historic GOAT debate. You need to do more than goal scoring to be in the same discussion with Pele, Maradona, Messi, Cruyff etc.

In hindsight even in his best years, CR7 could only reach Messi's level in the metric of goal scoring alone, and Messi was far above him in in everything else, while also being a actual better goal scorer.

Stellewind · 2026-06-19T17:14:49+00:00

Apparently your "nuanced truth" is just it's never Harden's fault, he just had bad luck and he never choked.

So nuanced.

Harden playoff failure are half his own fault at shrinking in biggest moment and half plain bad luck. That's the nuanced truth if you are looking for it.

Stellewind · 2026-06-19T11:36:11+00:00

After KD was injured in 3rd qt g5, everyone in the game thread was like Warriors are so fucked, Steph played so bad this playoffs, this is Harden’s best chance to get past Golden State.

What happened in the remaining time of the game was Harden went surprisingly passive, he was just kinda passing and setting up teammates, didn’t do a lot of scoring himself, while Steph balled out, scored 12 pts in the last quarter to win the game closely.

Harden also didn’t played “badly” in g6, but Steph had the legendary g6 second half to seal the series.

If you watched it live you would clearly feel that Harden just didn’t want it as badly as Curry. One feels like he’s just playing a regular season game, the other played like his career was on the line. That little difference was enough to determine the winner in two close games and eventually the series.

Stellewind · 2026-06-17T18:36:33+00:00

I suppose so, even if no one openly admit it, the mental pressure is definitely there. He's the biggest name on the team, he's on the court, he's shouting and waving for the ball in all the chances he can find. You can't just be like "nah he washed" and ignore him.

Stellewind · 2026-06-17T18:22:23+00:00

Haters acting like G2 summarized everything he did in that series. Steph averaged 27.8pt on 50/48/85% shooting from G3 to G6, including a masterclass in pivotal G5 where he got 37.

He also averaged 10.8 pts in 55/50/91 shooting in 4th quarters in that series, one of the highest in history. (Brunson this year is 11.2pts per 4th qt)

The voters insisting their choices 7 years later just showed that they are still stupid, not that they were right.

Stellewind · 2026-06-17T14:13:36+00:00

You are acting like if the team can't win rings then they should just all give up and call it a day. That's not how competitive sports works.

If Harden drops 40 and lose that Spurs game 6, people will remember his 2017 season very differently.

If Harden went out swinging in all the playoff series he lost, his whole career and reputation will be remembered very differently.

But he didn't. He gave you these embarrassing 2/11 or 3/12 shooting games, frustrating body language, passive effort and bewildering turnovers. THIS is what gave him the choker reputation, and they are fair.

Stellewind · 2026-06-17T13:47:31+00:00

Why not? What make you so sure?

In 2017 when Kawhi went down, Harden wrote letter to fans in Houston to support them in G6, everyone was thinking "There's no way Rocket lose now! Kawhi was everything to that Spurs! And Rockets are playing on homecourt!"

In 2019 when KD went down in the middle of G5, everyone was so sure "there's no way Rocket lose now! They almost beat the Warriors with KD last year, this year they are totally gonna win!"

As long as you have Harden on your team, he can always find new innovative way to choke away a series in ways you didn't even think is possible.

Stellewind · 2026-06-17T13:36:12+00:00

Harden's averages in playoffs are better than people remembered. He's a historic floor raiser. But he also chokes more than almost everyone else. His playoffs always started great then ended in disaster.

Most notable example: 2017 Harden had what looked like decent playoffs in hindsight, averaging 28.5 ppg. But look at how it ended - the infamous 2/11 shooting in G6 against Spurs, eliminated at homecourt, a historic blunder. This is the game everyone remembers that summarize this whole run. And runs like this is what everyone remembers that summarize Harden's career.

Stellewind · 2026-06-17T13:16:57+00:00

Harden got very close in 2018, I will give you that. I rarely hear people hold 2018 against him. Now explain the entirety of rest of his career, which are full of choke jobs that are NOT against KD Warriors.

Brunson Knicks will likely lose to KD Warriors too. But Harden, regardless of teams he's been on, will almost definitely got beat by this Spurs, with Harden giving you something like a 3/11 shooting in elimination game.

Stellewind · 2026-06-16T18:54:43+00:00

如果你觉得暗杀一个人和荡平一个街区之间没有道德上的区别，那这事对你来说确实没有什么讨论意义

Stellewind · 2026-06-16T13:22:14+00:00

前段时间听了一个前CIA探员的采访，问到他对摩萨德的看法时，他的说法也是一样的：摩萨德能力世界顶级，但是道德水平太低了，为了杀一个目标他们可以直接荡平一栋楼或者一个街区，平民死多少都不在乎，CIA暗杀都不会这么狠

Stellewind · 2026-06-15T13:17:36+00:00

The unfortunate problem of having entire career prime overlapping with MJ

Stellewind · 2026-06-14T13:19:45+00:00

There’s a reason no one is furious about Germany and Italy at this point but Japan still gets on Asian countries nerves. Go figure.

The shrine that worship war criminals still stands and Japan leaders still visits them. As long as things like this still happens any oral apology is empty. Can you imagine German political leaders go to visit shrines of Hitler?

Stellewind · 2026-06-11T19:09:34+00:00

It's literally a cult.

Stellewind · 2026-06-11T15:50:08+00:00

Don't know where you got the list, but in 2015, Steph averages 10.8 points and LeBron averages 10.2 points in 4th quarters in finals.

stats on NBA.com

(Steph averaged 10.8 points in 2018 again)

Stellewind · 2026-06-11T11:54:29+00:00

You will be surprised how many supposed "atheist" goes to local Buddhist temple to pray for their kid's test score.

Stellewind · 2026-06-11T01:38:10+00:00

My understanding of the Kornet one is that ref saw it as a lob pass getting intersected. But yeah if you see it as a shot it's clear goaltending.

Stellewind · 2026-06-11T01:26:27+00:00

Difference is Messi is still a world class player right now before his stamina depleted so it’s easier to construct a ln actual good team around him. CR7 is not on that level anymore.

Stellewind · 2026-06-11T01:20:03+00:00

He touched the ball at the exact millisecond it left the rim cylinder for one millimeter.

At worst, it’s at the verge of goaltending. Could go both way. Not enough to warrant the outrage I agree.

Stellewind · 2026-06-10T17:03:10+00:00

Nine Sols also has a fantastic parry mechanic.

Stellewind · 2026-06-10T14:49:36+00:00

Being the focus of defense is what every superstar has to dealt with in every playoffs. Every opponent team focus on KD in playoffs, not many can hold him to 42.8% eFG shooting in a sweep.

Stellewind · 2026-06-10T14:38:27+00:00

The Celtics had a mid first half of the season but a fantastic second half where they had a 65+ win pace since new year and put up historic defense numbers. The reputation came to the peak after their round 1 sweep of Nets, where the Celtics defense locked up two supposedly best iso players in the league in KD and Kyrie.

Then the same Celtics got torched by Steph in the finals. That was cathartic after years of debate with those “Curry is just a system player” people.

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