Rockets: Clutch City, more like Choke City

Should Clutch City really be called Choke City? Is James Harden really James Frauden? Or should we just be happy that the Rockets overachieved in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year?

I think the truth to these questions lies somewhere in between.

If you would have told me before the season started that the Rockets would lose in six games to the Spurs in the second round of the playoffs after a season in which they finished with the third best record in the NBA, I would have told you that this season was a major success.

After losing their starting center Dwight Howard and bringing in a new coach and two injury-prone players as their key additions in the off-season, many people (including myself) were extremely skeptical of the Rockets’ chances to compete this season.

However, once the season progressed we could see that this team had the chance to be good because they could score and make threes with the NBA’s best teams. Due to their great success during the regular season, it is fair to say that the expectations of this team increased significantly.

Therefore, when they lose to a shorthanded Spurs team without their best player and MVP candidate in Kawhi Leonard by 39 points at home, I think it is fair to say that they choked. It was also pathetic and embarrassing.

I’m usually one to be optimistic about the Rockets and not criticize them too hard, but I have to call them out here.

I also have to call out the player who was the main reason the Rockets were even a good team this year, someone who I have defended against critics and opposing fans since he was traded to Houston in 2012.

James Harden, this is your tape. Okay…that might be going too far.

But, let’s go back to my second question: Is James Harden really James Frauden?

As much as it pains me to say this, I’m going to have to say that Harden is really Frauden based on what he has done in the playoffs so far in his career.

I truly believe that Harden was the best player in the NBA this regular season and he should win the MVP award. He led a team of role players to the third best record in the NBA and accounted for the most points scored and assisted on in NBA history. I am extremely thankful he is in a Rockets jersey and I hope he stays in Houston for the rest of his career.

All of the great things that he has done in the regular season every year are why the expectations on him are so high every year. But so far during his time in Houston, Harden has failed to live up to expectations in the playoffs.

He spent the entire season telling us that he deserves to win MVP and then forgets how to play basketball in the fourth quarter and overtime of Game 5 against the Spurs. I’m still not even sure if he showed up to Game 6, which is why the Rockets ended their season embarrassed on their own court.

As great as he has been for this team, at some point he has to play well consistently in the playoffs if the Rockets ever want to come close to winning a championship.

You simply can’t expect to go far in the playoffs if your best player scores 10 points in an elimination game. The worst part is that he looked like he didn’t even want to be there in Game 6, a game that, if the Rockets won, would have tied the series back up at three games each.

We have yet to see Harden play well during the biggest postseason games when the season is on the line. I won’t go so far as to say that he never will like many other Rockets fans that I know, but I am done getting excited and praising his regular season success until he decides to show up when the team needs him in the playoffs.

I’ve called out Harden more than anyone else on the team because I’ve seen how great he is capable of playing, so I expect more from him than anyone else. In the words of Jim Gordon from “The Dark Knight,” “We’ll hunt him, because he can take it.”

So when the Rockets win it all next year and James Harden wins Finals MVP, I will ask myself what the hell I was thinking when I wrote this article.

Also published on Medium.