lhslep134;1717966 wrote:You being too scared to throw $50, let alone $20, isn't my problem. "Put your avatar where your mouth is." LOL how old are you, 13? Don't answer, it's rhetorical. The Tina Fey picture already gave it away.

Why don't you put on your big boy pants and put your money where your mouth is? Avatar bet? Get out of here with your childish bets. The only real bets are those with cash, because men put their money where their mouth is instead of hiding behind their avatar like boys.

When you want to bet like a man, let me know. Otherwise I'm not indulging you on your juvenile bet.

I'll make friendly bets on avatars. There's nothing friendly about this conversation, it's adversarial. Put the f*ck up or shut the f*ck up and if you continue to harp on an avatar bet I'll know you can't be taken seriously.

Azubuike24;1717996 wrote:He did pay his $40 entry fee right away.

Commander of Awesome;1717994 wrote:Do you have anything to add or rebut what I brought up about his FG% or his FT% against good defensive teams (IE ones that don't foul a ton. Not to mention your advanced stats about his increased win shares mostly deriving from him getting to the charity stripe, while playing awful team basketball)

SportsAndLady;1717988 wrote:I don't know why I am included in that lol all I said is I hate how he plays the game

lhslep134;1718004 wrote:
$50, 50 points within Steph. Take it, leave it, whatever you want just grow up you clown.

lhslep134;1718006 wrote:That had to do with you not liking the way he plays. COA shares the same opinion as you but he asserted Harden's lack of value not you. Did not mean to imply you didn't value him.

SportsAndLady;1718008 wrote:His actual style of play is fine. It's how he acts like such a bitch on the court. That little scruffle he got in with Lebron was enough for me. But then every time I turn on the tv he's bitching at a player and gets ratty calls from the refs because he bitches at them so much. Pisses me off lol

Automatik;1718012 wrote:$50 is a drop in the bucket, being that we're all ballers on the OC. Ammirite?

Commander of Awesome;1718007 wrote: Either sack up

Automatik;1718012 wrote:You're not allowed to say "sack up" to a meaningless avatar bet when money is already on the table. :laugh:

Commander of Awesome;1718007 wrote: tubbs.

Terry_Tate;1717984 wrote:Holy crap this has gotten intense, haha. I will vouch for lhslep that he's not even close to being fat.

Commander of Awesome;1717763 wrote:Its a skill that doesn't translate to the post season (least for Harden & Rockets).

This is what appeared to happen last postseason, when the Rockets suffered a first-round loss to the Blazers in six games. Portland scored 670 points in that series and the Rockets scored 672. Houston’s 2013-14 regular-season free throw rate[SUP]1[/SUP] was .386, which dropped to .325 against Portland. That equaled about one fewer free throw attempt per game. So, the Rockets are screwed.
Most playoff teams saw their free throw rate increase last postseason, with only the Rockets, Clippers, and Mavericks seeing their free throw rate drop. Dallas’s free throw rate dropped from .253 in the regular season to .217 in the playoffs. BUT! The Mavericks played the Spurs, who are experts at defending without fouling, and who were tied with the Charlotte for the fewest personal fouls per game in the regular season. Similarly, the Blazers only gave out 19.2 fouls per game during the 2013-14 season, sixth-lowest in the league.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/rockets-cavaliers-james-harden-lebron-james/

Be interesting to see if that changes this post season (I doubt it, see below). Still don't think the Rockets win a 1st round match up, but that's a different conversation.


"
The good news for Harden is that it appears the Rockets will avoid the Blazers in the first round this season. The bad news is that (other than foul-happy Houston) only two likely West playoff teams foul at a rate higher than the average: Golden State and the Clippers. The Blazers, Spurs, Grizzlies, Mavericks and Thunder all foul at fairly low rates. Houston will likely face one or two of those teams within the first two rounds. There's a chance all three series in the West would come against low-foul teams, if Houston proceeds that far. And as it turns out, if the Rockets make the Finals, one of the teams that currently rank Nos. 1 and 3 in foul rate (Cleveland and Atlanta) are likely to be waiting.
That's one outside force that will change for the worse for Harden in the playoffs. The other -- officials -- are a concern all the time. After all, the low-foul Grizzlies did foul Harden on Wednesday night. No dice. Why? There's a common belief that referees are less likely to blow a whistle in an uncertain moment in the most critical moments of the game because referees not named Joey Crawford would prefer not to be responsible for the result of said critical moments. Referees are encouraged by our outrage-happy sports society to be mostly invisible and let the stars determine who wins and who loses. Blowing the whistle in a crucial moment is filled with peril. So understandably, many officials fail to do so reliably.
That meant trouble for Harden on Wednesday. And because they rely so heavily on the stripe, this is a bigger problem for Harden and Houston than any other team with O'Brien aspirations. Let's hope for the sake of fair basketball Wednesday's miscue doesn't repeat itself in the playoffs. But we'd be foolish not to anticipate it."

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2015/3/5/8153551/james-harden-no-call-whistle-rockets-grizzlies-nba-playoffs

Seems like Harden gets to the line playing shitty teams in the shitty reffing of the reg season. Playoffs will tell. Regardless, not MVP material.

Ironman92;1718027 wrote:Good post

lhslep134;1718030 wrote:It is a good post and it shows why the Rockets are susceptible in the playoffs. But it also has nothing to do with my point, that getting to the line is a skill that James Harden is prodigious at, and it carries real regular season value as expressed in all of the metrics he is at or near the top of. And the regular season dictates MVP, not the playoffs.

Laley23;1718036 wrote:I have a question. Why is 25 (or 30) considered to be the barrier for a close race? What have there been, 2 total that have ended up under 30 points? Are we now saying only 2 races ever have been that close?