James Harden scored a season-high 32 points Wednesday, leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 115-107 victory over the New York Knicks and answering questions about whether the 37-year-old still had it.
Harden entered the night averaging just 15.3 points on 34.6% shooting from the field, which would easily be the worst marks of his career. Cleveland was also 5-6 in its first full season since acquiring him from the Clippers. The three-time NBA scoring champion, who averaged more than 30 points in each of those titled seasons, had been managing about half that output through 11 games.
Harden shot 9-for-14 overall and 5-for-7 from 3-point range, including the tiebreaking 3 with 4:21 left. It was a throwback performance he sustained for an entire game after totaling five baskets and six turnovers in the previous two games.
Harden Embraces a Different Role
Harden said he understands that his game has changed and that his role has shifted with it.
“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.”
Harden also addressed the criticism he has faced throughout his career. He said he was labeled a scorer rather than a winner when he was averaging in the mid-30s, and he faced similar doubts when his scoring dropped.
“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.
He added that he plans to tune out the noise and focus on his own development.
“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.”
Cavaliers Adjust Around Their Stars
Harden is still working to find the right way to play alongside fellow superstar Donovan Mitchell. Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said the team does not need the Harden who averaged 30.4, 36.1 and 34.3 points across three straight seasons in Houston, and he said Harden accepts that.
Atkinson said he had seen flashes of the old Harden earlier in the season. He also pointed to the environment at Madison Square Garden, where Harden shares the opponent scoring record of 61 points with Kobe Bryant, as a possible spark for the performance. Atkinson described Harden as a “global superstar” and said players of that caliber tend to love playing in New York.
Atkinson also emphasized the importance of patience as players find their rhythm.
“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.”
The Cavaliers hope Harden can sustain that level beyond Madison Square Garden.