Many Hands Make Light Work!

Fans who liked Harden felt it was unfair to him, believing he should have been given more touches and a bigger role in the offense.

But some fans also pointed out—

The Thunder were a team overflowing with talent, and the Thunder Five Young had made them formidable.

They had too many players who could contribute.

On a team like this, it was perfectly normal for Harden to make some sacrifices.

Likewise, Cousins, Durant, Westbrook, and the others had all made sacrifices to varying degrees.

Otherwise...

With Durant's one-on-one scoring ability, he could easily have averaged over 30 points per game.

With Westbrook's ball dominance and his ability to attack the rim, he could very well have recorded triple-doubles in many games.

The same went for Ibaka.

If you really gave him unlimited freedom to shoot, with jumpers from the perimeter and mid-range, plus easy finishes inside, scoring more than 25 points in a game would be no problem at all. He could even grab ten rebounds and send back two or three blocks.

Would an Ibaka like that be weak?

That was absolutely the performance of an elite big man.

There was no need to even mention Cousins.

Give him the ball and let him pound his way inside possession after possession, and he would definitely create tremendous damage.

And don't forget, Cousins was also a highly skilled player.

He did not rely entirely on his body. If you truly gave him opportunities, he could knock down shots from the perimeter as well.

He could drive inside and shoot from outside.

His talent was excellent, too.

If Cousins were really given a large number of touches, he should have been able to casually average 25 points, 10 rebounds, and at least 2 blocks per game.

None of them were