James Harden, Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers came into their Saturday night battle with the Sacramento Kings expected to come away with a hefty victory. The home team was without a number of key starters, and on the second night of a back-to-back.
Though the Cavs ultimately won the game, they needed all 48 minutes to do so. DeMar DeRozan tied it with a three in the final minute, before Donovan Mitchell and newcomer James Harden helped to ice the game from the charity stripe. Before that even happened, they got back-to-back threes from their prized deadline acquisition to turn a five-point deficit into a one-point lead.
Keon Ellis came away with a steal and hit The Beard for that three for the lead, which was exactly Cleveland needed.
Mitchell scored 29 after halftime. Jarrett Allen added 29. Harden himself scored 23, and the team picked up a win on the road. Let’s get more into Harden’s debut performance in the next section.
James Harden Has Successful Cavs Debut
It took him until the fourth quarter to really find his footing scoring-wise, but when James Harden gets going, he gets going. 15 of his 23 points were scored in the final frame, including going 3-3 from beyond the arc. As he has done all career-long, he showed up when it mattered. Sinking four big free throws late as well helped the team put it away.
Considering that Harden had only 10 minutes of practice time (his words) before this contest, it could not have gone better. He contributed eight assists tonight, too. 13 shot attempts in 32 attempts was pretty modest to what he’ll usually put up, but more will come.
As a team, Cleveland put up 39 in the fourth. They unraveled in the third quarter and allowed the young, hungry Kings to score 41. They messed around with rotations throughout the game, ultimately realizing that playing Keon Ellis the entire fourth quarter was the right move. He also had this impressive rejection of DeMar DeRoan.
In just his second game for the Cavs, and now facing his old team, Ellis was a +20 in 18 minutes. He knocked in a pair of threes, and came away with three steals. With Dean Wade out, he was the top defender tonight.
The team did what they needed to, while they got what they needed from the 36-year-old star.
After a rough start to the season, Cleveland is now just 1.5 games back of the #3 spot in the East.
Looking Ahead for James Harden and the Cavs
James Harden, now 1-0 as a Cavalier, will be looking to keep the good things coming. The team faces a very short-handed Nuggets team to finish a five-game road trip on Monday. They lost Peyton Watson for 4-6 weeks just recently, leaving them without a guy who has been one of their biggest motors.
The team’s only other game before the All-Star Break will be against the Wizards on February 11th. With Anthony Davis and Trae Young not in the lineup, the young players will continue to take most of the minutes for them. Brooklyn is the first team on the calendar after the All-Star Break, and they’ll go from there.
Harden’s comfort level will only grow as time goes on, and the fact that he and Donovan Mitchell were able to trust each other as they did on night one, was huge. These guys have both never missed the playoffs. Two of the game’s best closers.
The possibilities are endless in The Land, where the Cavs now sit at 32-21.