From Jimmy, Harden doesn t seem that bad either

The Warriors did not wait for Curry to go home to fish the previous game when Curry was about to return.

Warriors G5's life-and-death battle, Jimmy Butler, as the core, made only 11 attempts and missed all three-pointers and three shots. If it weren't for free throws, his score would be frozen in single digits, and his plus-minus value on the court was -17 the lowest in the game.

Jimmy once said that when the team needs him to score, he will score 40 points.

However, everyone saw that in the life-and-death battle, Jimmy did not stand up at all.

In fact, Jimmy is not a player with explosive data. His highest season was also the last season of the Bulls, and his average score was only 23.9 points per game. His career averaged only 18.3 points per game.

But when entering the playoffs, his performance will be upgraded. Jimmy averaged 21.1 points per game in 12 playoff trips, an increase of 2.8 points from the regular season. In the 21-22 playoff season, Jimmy was in the Heat at that time, and averaged 27.4 points per game, which was the highest season in his playoff career.

Jimmy's advantage lies in being able to fight tough battles, especially during the playoffs, especially in key battles, and even more so at critical moments, the tougher he is.

However, in the Warriors' key life-and-death battle, Jimmy did not stand up, but instead pulled a big piece of it. He didn't help the Warriors drag the game into the G6, waiting for Curry to come back.

In the second round of five games, Jimmy scored hardness in G1 and G3, and the rest of G2 shot 13 times scored 17 points, G4 shot 9 times 14 points, and G5 shot 11 times 17 points. The playoffs averaged 19.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 5.2 assists, with 44.7%, 30.6% and 80% shooting percentages in the three events.

In contrast, we look at Harden's performance, averaging 18.7 points, 5.4 rebounds, 9.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game in the playoffs, with a shooting percentage of 43.6%, 36.4%, and 81.8% in the three events. Harden performed well in the first seven games of G1, G3 wins and G6 life-and-death battles, but the rest of the games performed poorly. G2 scored 18 points in 17 shots, G4 scored 15 points in 11 shots, especially in the Battle of Tianwang Mountain and the tiebreak battle. He only made 9 and 8 shots, and scored only 11 and 7 points.

The performance of two 35-year-old veterans in the key battle is actually very different. Neither of them came forward to give the team more help and assumed the core responsibilities.

We will not discuss whether the role players have made open three-pointers, thus forcing the opponent to change their defensive strategies and reduce the pressure on defensively. It is not discussed whether the coach has arranged tactics to solve the problem of delays on the defensive end and being attacked.

Let's compare the last game data of the two teams. Harden is indeed 10 points less than Jimmy in terms of scoring, but he has 7 more assists, which is at least 14 points.

Everyone criticized Harden for not being able to fight a tough battle and was awkward at critical moments. Butler is a well-known tough guy in the league and a well-known key player. In this comparison, Harden is not that bad.

We also need to know that Harden only received an annual salary of $34 million this season, Jimmy is $48.8 million, and Harden is $14.8 million less than Jimmy. What does this $14.8 million mean? Clay's annual salary is only 1 million more than this number. With this money, you can sign Reed and Gafford, and even sign Zubac, it will have a surplus of 3.06 million.

This season's regular season, Harden averaged 22.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, 8.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game, with a shooting percentage of 41%, 35.2%, and 87.4% in the three events. In contrast, Jimmy averaged 17.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game, with a shooting percentage of 47.6%, 27.9%, and 87% in three events.

If the performance in the playoffs is not much different, Harden will be the better side. Whether it is the ability to lead the team in the regular season or the ability to support the playoffs, whether it is data performance or cost-effectiveness.