James Harden has tried to ignore the doubts raised by his checkered playoff history, but those concerns became louder after a pair of sub-par performances in Detroit. Harden may have silenced his critics for at least a little while by hitting several clutch shots in a Game 3 victory on Saturday that kept the Cavaliers‘ playoff hopes alive, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes in a subscriber-only story.
“It was the James Harden I’ve seen for how many years we’ve been in the NBA,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “That’s the James we know. We needed it tonight. We were searching and he went to work.”
After a 16-point halftime lead slipped away, the Cavs found themselves in another clutch-time battle with the top-seeded Pistons. With less than two minutes remaining, Harden sank a step-back jumper that extended the lead to four. After a Cade Cunningham dunk, Harden responded with a floater in the lane to make it a four-point game again. Cunningham drilled a three-pointer, setting the stage for Harden’s biggest shot of the afternoon. Closely guarded by Tobias Harris, Harden maneuvered his way for a step-back shot from beyond the arc that effectively put the game out of reach.
“It’s not even about anybody else,” said Harden, who was acquired from the Clippers in February in hopes of bringing a title to Cleveland. “I’m literally here to find my spots, figure out what needs to be done and try to contribute in the best way possible. Chatter is going to be chatter regardless, whether you do something good or you do something bad. For me, you give me opportunities in this fourth quarter, and I take advantage of them. I’ve done an unbelievable job throughout the course of my career just understanding what the job needs to be, especially as I get older and doing whatever it takes to win the game. That’s the most important thing.”
There’s more from Cleveland:
- A loss on Saturday would have resulted in a 3-0 series deficit and likely set up a summer of change for the franchise. Atkinson talked about the importance of fighting through adversity in the third quarter and staying in position to pull out the victory, Fedor adds. “You know how important it is to get this first win to make it a series,” he said. “I felt like that third quarter we had great looks and the ball wasn’t falling. That’s the spirit of this team. They don’t get down. We’re not like, ‘Oh man, they came back.’ It’s like, it’s a veteran team. They kind of know that’s how this goes.”
- Donovan Mitchell‘s role in the dismissal of Detroit’s J.B. Bickerstaff as Cavaliers coach two years ago is one of the overlooked subplots of the series, contends Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Vardon reports that Mitchell was one of the first players to get frustrated by Bickerstaff’s refusal to trust his veterans and by a simplistic offensive approach that often relied on Mitchell to bail the team out. Vardon adds that Mitchell was negotiating a contract extension at the time, so he was in position to demand that Bickerstaff be retained if he had wanted to.
- Sam Merrill was back in the lineup after sitting out Game 2 with a minor left hamstring strain that he suffered early in the series opener. He played 14 minutes off the bench and finished with seven points.