Post by eric on Nov 14, 2020 20:22:39 GMT
Happened to see a Bill Simmons Book of Basketball blurb the other day comparing Allen Iverson to James Harden, saying he'd rather have AI for a Game Seven, so I was curious how Iverson did in them, and it turns out he's 2 and 0! That's 100% baby, can't beat that!
It might seem surprising a player with a 14 year career and the cachet of Allen Iverson was so infrequently in game sevens, and there's a simple answer: he was a loser.
6 years the teams he ended the year with didn't even make the playoffs (which is important to specify because while he started the 2009 season on the Nuggets, they traded him before going to the Conference Finals)
4 years he was bounced in the first round
3 years he lost in the second round
and
1 year he made the Finals!
With only 11 playoff rounds played, 4 of which were best of five, it's not surprising he was such an infrequent game seven player.
James Harden meanwhile has never missed the playoffs, has lost in the first and second rounds and Finals the same 4 and 3 and 1 respectively but has 3 Conference Finals losses to boot, and notably in all three of those losses he was facing the eventual champion (2011 Mavericks, 2015 Warriors, 2018 Warriors). With twice as many playoff rounds played at 23 it's not surprising he's a more prolific game sevener as well, and is a cool 3 and 1 there.
.
But clearly neither of those are interesting sample sizes, so let's look at elimination games overall, which is to say games where his team either had a chance to end the series or was itself facing elimination. In that case we find that Allen Iverson ended up 10 and 10 in elimination games for a cool 50%, while James Harden is currently for his career 18 and 17 for 51%, or since he was traded to Houston 13 and 12 for 52%.
If we look at only those playoff games where the player's team was facing elimination, Iverson drops to 5 and 8 (38%) and Harden to 9 and 11 (45%) and 8 and 8 (50%).
.
So other than the fact that Harden has never failed to lead his team to the playoffs, has a better record in clinching games, and has a MUCH better record facing elimination, sure go with Iverson because he Plays The Game The Right Way And Doesn't Take All Those Threes. Very reasonable proposition.
It might seem surprising a player with a 14 year career and the cachet of Allen Iverson was so infrequently in game sevens, and there's a simple answer: he was a loser.
6 years the teams he ended the year with didn't even make the playoffs (which is important to specify because while he started the 2009 season on the Nuggets, they traded him before going to the Conference Finals)
4 years he was bounced in the first round
3 years he lost in the second round
and
1 year he made the Finals!
With only 11 playoff rounds played, 4 of which were best of five, it's not surprising he was such an infrequent game seven player.
James Harden meanwhile has never missed the playoffs, has lost in the first and second rounds and Finals the same 4 and 3 and 1 respectively but has 3 Conference Finals losses to boot, and notably in all three of those losses he was facing the eventual champion (2011 Mavericks, 2015 Warriors, 2018 Warriors). With twice as many playoff rounds played at 23 it's not surprising he's a more prolific game sevener as well, and is a cool 3 and 1 there.
.
But clearly neither of those are interesting sample sizes, so let's look at elimination games overall, which is to say games where his team either had a chance to end the series or was itself facing elimination. In that case we find that Allen Iverson ended up 10 and 10 in elimination games for a cool 50%, while James Harden is currently for his career 18 and 17 for 51%, or since he was traded to Houston 13 and 12 for 52%.
If we look at only those playoff games where the player's team was facing elimination, Iverson drops to 5 and 8 (38%) and Harden to 9 and 11 (45%) and 8 and 8 (50%).
.
So other than the fact that Harden has never failed to lead his team to the playoffs, has a better record in clinching games, and has a MUCH better record facing elimination, sure go with Iverson because he Plays The Game The Right Way And Doesn't Take All Those Threes. Very reasonable proposition.
