James Harden on Rockets’ slow start: ‘We’re too cool’
After being a popular sleeper pick in the preseason to come out of the Western Conference, the Houston Rockets have fallen flat on their faces right out of the gates of the 2015-16 NBA season.
The team has opened up the season 0-2 with both losses coming at home and already a minus-40 point differential on the year. Bearded superstar James Harden deserves a lot of the blame, averaging only 19.0 points per game so far on 25.6 percent shooting from the field and 13.6 percent from deep.
On Saturday, Harden admitted that the Rockets need to get their act together and do so quickly.
“No more cooling around,” said last season’s MVP runner-up per Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. “We’re too cool, walking around cool. Myself, as a leader. I just have to pick up my mojo a little bit.”
For one, the team looks to be struggling to find its offensive identity with the addition of Ty Lawson, the first legitimate playmaker/creator to share the backcourt with Harden on the Rockets. But with the way Houston has been sleepwalking through defensive possessions and barfing up poor, contested jumpers on the other end, problems would appear to be running much deeper than the new guy having difficulty assimilating.
Granted, it’s a two-game sample size so we shouldn’t get too up in arms. But nevertheless, with all of the distractions Harden is dealing with off the court (as well as the bold proclamations he made about himself over the offseason), the Rockets will have to start playing to their ceiling if they want all the early noise surrounding them to die down.
H/T NBA Reddit
