We are at that stage of the NBA playoffs where the Houston Rockets have been many times before, and where we’d hoped they would be again this season — the conference finals. Unfortunately, the Rockets’ season ended with a thud, and now it’s time to figure out exactly how (or even IF) the Rockets can close the gap between themselves and the Thunder and Spurs.
Fortunately, we do have a vested interest in this round of the playoffs., and it’s over in the Eastern Conference, as the Cleveland Cavaliers are trying to get back to the NBA Finals for the first time since LeBron James left for Los Angeles, as they are challenging the New York Knicks. As every Houstonian is most certainly aware, this means James Harden is, once again, trying to get back to an NBA Finals.
Harden is one of the NBA’s biggest conundrums over the last decade, going back to some versions of the Rockets that were Arguably the second best team in the NBA, behind the dynastic Golden State Warriors. On the one hand, Harden was an MVP level player in the regular season, and much of the postseason. On the other hand, his playoff failures are legendary, and leave a gaping hole in his legacy.
Houstonians know this all too well, and Harden has been the most accomplished player doubling as a punch line, maybe in NBA history. Harden’s presence at this late stage of the postseason has brought several of his teammates out onto YouTube streams and podcasts to defense the man and teammate that James Harden was and, I suppose, is still today.
Most prominently, here was former Harden teammate Patrick Beverley asking a very existential question — why do people hate James Harden?
Good question, Patrick. I’ll give you three reasons:
In Houston, it’s mostly because Harden bailed on the Rockets in 2021
After a few off-seasons in which the Rockets kind oflet James Harden have some say over who stays and who goes, summers which led to trading FOR Chris Paul and then trading AWAY Chris Paul, and the eventual demise of the franchise, Harden decided, instead of seeing it through and trying to get back to the postseason, he would just eat and complain his way off the team. That led to this legendary press conference in January 2021:
I mean, is it that hard to understand why Rockets fans would have an issue not hating someone who just bailed on them, because the team deteriorated largely because of moves HARDEN HIMSELF wanted? There you go, Patrick.
Around the league, it’s mostly because his style of play is viewed as “not fun to watch”
Around the NBA, non-Rockets fans, five years later, can probably barely remember Harden getting his ticket out of Houston in 2021. Hell, he’s on his fourth team since leaving Houston in 2021. He’s done the same thing to three other teams now. What NBA fans at large tend to use as their fuel for Harden hate is his style of play. NBA fans like athletic dunks, blocked shots into the third row, and Steph Curry with a lighting fast crossover and step back three. NBA fans do not like players who are seen as manipulating the rulebook so they can shoot 15 free throws a night. To his credit, Harden cracked the code on drawing contact that sucks in whistles. Good for him, but Beverley (and any other Harden apologists) need to understand that it’s an unwatchable, unentertaining brand of basketball.
Maybe it’s not conventional hate, but people don’t admire chokers
Beyond that, as sports fans, we tend to deify and elevate the players, in any sport, who come up legendary in the big moments. We are definitely living in a “how many rings do you have” culture. As a corollary to this, we tend to denigrate and even, yes, hate (“sports hate,” not true malice, most of the time at least) those who come up small on the grand stage. Harden’s playoff numbers, as a whole, are actually very good, in line with his regular season numbers. However, in Houston, we cannot unsee Game 5 of the 2015 Conference Finals, Game 6 of the 2017 Conference semifinals, nor Game 7 of the 2018 Conference Finals. Harden was a catastrophe in all of those elimination games. Somewhere, fans in Brooklyn, Philly, and Los Angeles are reading this and nodding their heads, thinking of their own fables of Harden crash landings.
I hope this answers the question clearly and succinctly for the Patrick Beverleys of the world. It’s not the beard, and it’s not the vibe Harden gives off (although, that part isn’t perfect either). We’re simple creatures. We just don’t want to get screwed over, either from someone quitting on us, or failing us in sports’ biggest moments. End of subject.
