"Harden has a reputation for stealth in key battles, and his performance today doesn't make us forget that."
Playing 27 minutes, 11 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 turnovers on 3-of-17 shooting, the whole game was -30 plus-minus, a loss to the old home Nets, and Harden's wind rating back to the pre-liberation period.
Labels such as "key games are never reliable" and "lack of superstar fighting spirit" have been attached to him again, and the 76ers, who were originally regarded as one of the biggest favorites to win the championship, seem to have lost their original aura.
In fact, for Harden, because he has never touched the championship in his career, he has always been regarded as a loser, and his abnormal play is often easy to impress everyone.
For example, the crazy iron in the 2012 Finals, which led to the Thunder losing to the Heat, the 2017 Battle of King Mountain was blocked by Ginobili, and in 2019, under the good situation of Durant's injury, he still failed to beat the Warriors led by Curry...
So does Harden really not have a satisfying moment in the crucial battle? The answer, of course, is yes, and here's a good review of some of the toughest games in Dengo's career.
1. The Battle of Tennozan in the 2012 Western Conference Finals
In the Thunder, Harden did not have to bear too much pressure to lead the team, one step a year, the third year of his career won the best sixth man honor, in the 2012 playoffs, the Thunder hit the Western Conference Finals smoothly, but against the old hot Spurs, they fell behind 0-2 in the first two games, but since then the young Thunder Jedi counterattacked, winning four consecutive games to reach the Finals.
In the key battle of Tianwangshan, Harden came off the bench to cut 20 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, especially in the fourth quarter, he scored 12 points and 3 rebounds in 4 shots, against Ginobili, who is also the left-hand player, Harden seems to be handy, this game has also become the famous battle of Harden's career, if it is not his excellent play, I am afraid that the Thunder Three Young will be difficult to easily achieve a reversal.
2. Game 7 of the 2015 Western Conference Semifinals
Objectively speaking, the elimination of the Clippers into the Western Conference Finals in 2015 was not all positive for Harden, because in the sixth game, the Rockets relied on the "headband gang" to achieve a big reversal of nearly 20 points, at this time Harden was pressed on the bench by Coach McHale, and the DNP at the key moment of the star became one of the biggest jokes in the history of the league.
But when it comes to the real life-and-death game of the seventh game, Harden is still not disappointed, he cut down a comprehensive data of 31 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, led the morale of the Rockets to win the Clippers 113-100, and reached the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 1997.
3. Game 4 of the first round in the West in 2016
Averaging 29.1 points per game to lead the team to eighth in the West, but not even the best third team of the season, Harden in 2016 can be described as the most unpopular star in history, due to improper private life, resulting in the outside world ignoring his efforts on the court.
In the first round of the playoffs that year, Harden met the Warriors with 73 wins, normally speaking, even if Curry is absent, the Rockets do not have any possibility of promotion, but Harden did not give up, 0-3 behind the desperate situation, he cut 45 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists in the key fourth game, and also shot a deadly goal, successfully helping the team to win back a city, although it did not have much impact on the outcome of the entire series, but Harden's big heart and desire to win at key moments were still visible to the naked eye.
4. On January 4, 2019, the quasi-pressure sentry killed the warriors
Harden's career has not yet won a championship, and it has a lot to do with the peak of the encounter with "cosmic courage", but the rockets in their heyday have never been afraid of the strongest opponents, the main reason is that they have Harden's bottom.
In the middle of the 18-19 season, in the absence of big players such as Paul and Gordon, Harden led the remnants to the away game to challenge the Warriors, trailing by as many as 20 points in the game, and unfortunately encountered the famous "brave out of bounds".
Harden stepped up again, shooting 13-of-32 from the field under a high-intensity defense, including 10-of-23 from three-point range, cutting down a super luxurious stat of 44 points, 10 rebounds, 15 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, and a stunning quasi-whistle in the final moments against Thompson and Green's bag clip, which was arguably one of the best goals of Dengo's career.
5. Seventh game of the first round of the 2020 Western Conference
In the 2019 offseason, the Rockets used Paul to exchange for Wei Shao, but the facts have proved that the deal is extremely faint, Harden did not have the ideal chemical reaction with Wei Shao, they also traded center Capela, stumbled into the playoffs, the Rockets met paul-led Thunder in the first round of the West, and the two sides once fought to grab seven.
Harden's performance in this series is extremely unstable, the key seventh game is only 17 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists on 4-of-15 shooting, but Harden's plus-minus is the team's high +9, because he has 3 blocks and 2 steals on the defensive end, and finally blocked Dort's vacant three-pointers, successfully sending the Rockets to the Western Conference semifinals.
If you think about it, it's not hard to see that our requirements for Harden have always been too high, and in fact, like James, Durant and Curry, why don't they play a lot of key games abnormally? It's just that Harden doesn't have a ring, which infinitely magnifies his negative performance, thus fixing the stadium staff, and I hope harden can seize the opportunity in this year's playoffs, and don't affect the mentality because of temporary gains and losses.