James Harden scored a season-high 32 points, and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the New York Knicks 115-107 on Wednesday. The performance answered questions about whether the 37-year-old still had his scoring touch.
Harden, a three-time NBA scoring champion who averaged more than 30 points in each of those seasons, had been managing just 15.3 points per game through 11 games this season. He was shooting only 34.6% from the field, which would easily be the worst of his career. The Cavaliers were 5-6, in their first full season since acquiring him from the Clippers.
Harden finished 9-for-14 from the field and 5-for-7 from three-point range. His tiebreaking three with 4:21 remaining gave Cleveland the lead for good. He had totalled five baskets and six turnovers across the previous two games.
“It’s my 18th year, so my name is James Harden, and I used to score a lot of points. Now it’s like, all right, cool,” Harden said. “Still score points, but try to find out other ways to impact the game as well. And I think that’s what people probably don’t understand.”
Adapting to a new role
Harden is still working out how to play alongside fellow superstar Donovan Mitchell. Coach Kenny Atkinson insists the Cavaliers do not need the Harden who averaged 30.4, 36.1 and 34.3 points across three straight seasons in Houston, and he said the guard accepts that.
Harden said the early criticism did not bother him. He recalled being labelled a scorer rather than a winner during his Houston years, and he pointed out that the same voices criticised him whatever his numbers were.
“I was averaging 36 and 35, whatever the case may be, people had something to say about that. ‘You can’t win like that.’ So then I averaged 20-something, it’s like, ‘Can’t win like that,'” Harden said. “So I think the most important thing for me, like, people are going to talk. So I just focus on myself, things I need to do and try to get in really good shape and learn my teammates and learn how to play a different brand of basketball, because I’m not the same fast person that I was like five or six years ago.”
Madison Square Garden effect
Atkinson said he had already seen flashes of the old Harden earlier in the season, but Wednesday’s performance was the first time he had sustained it for an entire game. Harden shares the opponent scoring record of 61 points at Madison Square Garden with Kobe Bryant, and Atkinson suggested the venue may have helped inspire the display. He described Harden as a “global superstar” and said players of that calibre tend to enjoy playing in New York.
The Cavaliers now hope Harden can maintain that level on the road as well as at home.
“I think guys take different amounts of time to get into rhythm sometimes, right? And I saw flashes of that with James, I think, in the previous three, four games,” Atkinson said. “I could see flashes, and he’s getting back to his level, getting back into the top form. So it’s nice to see it confirmed tonight.”