James Harden Grabs Disheartening Numbers Following His Performance Against Lakers in NBA Playoffs

James Harden has easily been one of the best offensive players in the last decade. Many would argue he is one of the greatest offensive players of all time, but there are a lot of doubters. Despite his historic regular-season averages, Harden is yet to overcome the demons of the NBA Playoffs from all his years in the league.

Harden has regularly failed in the NBA Playoffs, be it to the Golden State Warriors or even the Portland Trail Blazers. It seems their playoff campaign will end in the second round for a second consecutive year. They are down 3-1 to the LA Lakers, after dropping game four of the series.

Game four was marked by a historically bad shooting performance for James Harden. Harden made just two field goals on his 11 shot attempts. This was the eighth time in his playoff career that Harden has shot under 20% from the field. He ties Bob Cousy in this list that no one wants to be a part of.

James Harden has another poor post-season run?

Harden’s achievements in the post-season are not looking pretty. Considering the echelon of talents that he wants to be a part of, Harden’s regular playoff disappointments are increasing that gulf for him. Other greats like Kevin Durant, Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant have done this just twice in their playoff runs combined. Harden is leading them easily on this stat list that no one would want their name on.

Harden technically has had 10 games shooting under 20%, but two of those games came when he was off the bench in OKC and didn’t make even a single bucket. The other eight have come in Houston, including two games in the Western Conference Finals against the Warriors in 2015. These came in game three and game five.

Harden has shot under 30% a whopping 21 times in his playoff career. This questions exactly how reliable Harden can be in the post-season. After getting his fourth game with a 2/11 shooting statline in his playoff career, the doubts around James Harden and his ability to win a championship come into question.

We have seen a 3-1 comeback in the post-season already. However, this Rockets team just doesn’t seem to have the weapons to pull this off.