NBA storyline No. 3: It’s now or never James…
Now I’m not going to lie, this one going to be tough. As a Southeast Texas native, I think it’s very easy to say I’m a Houston Rockets fan. Am I ashamed of that? No, absolutely not because we’ve had our chances. Some would say we’d have our first championship since the dream carried us to back to back titles from ’93-’95 if it wasn’t for a devastating Chris Paul hamstring injury against the Golden State Warriors while up 3-2.
Others would say since James Harden is on the team, we’ll never win one. That hurts. James Harden is one of the greatest scorers this league has ever seen with averages like his 36.8 points per game last season and 34.4 points per game throughout this one. No one ever disputes his statistical greatness because that’s not the issue. It’s his inability to carry the team when they need him most. Some say he’s tired. Tired of carrying such an offensive load for 35 plus minutes a game doing everything in his power to will them to victory.
Others would say he just doesn’t have it in him. He’s not a No. 1 option of a championship team, and the only reason he’s even been to an NBA Finals is thanks to Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Well, James, It’s now or never. You can’t be tired. You’ve had three months to which according to your teammate Austin Rivers, you’ve used to, “Lose a cool 20 pounds,” and get in the best shape of your life.
Plus it’s your team. D ‘Antoni knows it, Russ knows it, and you know it. The only thing left to do is prove it to the rest of the world. If not, welcome to the club of greatest players to never win a championship.
Trust me, there are hundreds of other storylines that I didn’t even touch yet, but for now, we wait. Starting July 30th, we’ll get all the answers we seek. I’ll be ready. Will you?