The Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder’s playoff matchup has been a gripping one. At first, it looked like the Rockets would be going for a clean sweep, but OKC bounced back from a 2-0 deficit. Although, it’s fair to say that the Rockets’ players were under a lot of pressure to lead the team. With their star guard Russell Westbrook out, all the offensive burden fell on James Harden. He and Eric Gordon were expected to fill in for Westbrook’s contribution, which they pulled through in the first two games but were unable to after.
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However, is it fair to ask players to pull off great performances in every single game?
Is it fair to put James Harden through so much pressure?
On the Dan Patrick Show, Charles Barkley and Dan had a detailed discussion on this pressure aspect. At first, Charles agreed that this kind of pressure exists and complimented Harden and said, “James is the best one-on-one player I’ve probably ever seen… This guy is unstoppable one-on-one but the problem is you always get tired.”
Dan Patrick agreed that such players need to carry this pressure every single night and how people don’t realize the effort that goes into doing well every game.
However, Barkley believes that this comes with being the star player. “You have to do it every single night. You think about it, LeBron had a bad game and they still beat Portland… James Harden is the only player in the NBA, who has to play great for his team to win every night because he has the ball 100 percent of the time,” said Barkley.
“He has to play great every single night. There’s no other player in the NBA, who has to play great for their team to win.”
When Dan argued that Luka Doncic is also one such player for the Dallas Mavericks, Barkley said, “The other day when he scored 40 points, that was fantastic.
But if he got 25 points, they could still win. Just, in my opinion, James has to get a minimum of 30 a night for that team because like he’s the guy, especially with no Russ.”
Do the Houston Rockets stand a chance?
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James Harden has definitely gone way beyond to lead the team. Nevertheless, a player does get tired from time to time from having the entire burden on himself. If Russell Westbrook returns, it will be an enormous support for him and the team.
As of now, the season has been suspended and the answers to these questions will also be on hold till then.
