James Harden scored a season-high 32 points on Wednesday to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 115-107 victory over the New York Knicks, answering questions about whether the 37-year-old still had his scoring touch.
Harden is a three-time NBA scoring champion who averaged more than 30 points in each of those seasons. Through 11 games this season, however, he was averaging just 15.3 points and shooting only 34.6% from the field, which would easily be the worst of his career. The Cavaliers entered the night at 5-6 in their first full season since acquiring him from the Clippers.
A Throwback Performance at Madison Square Garden
Harden finished 9-for-14 from the floor and 5-for-7 from 3-point range. His tiebreaking 3-pointer with 4:21 left gave Cleveland the lead for good. He had totaled five baskets and six turnovers over the previous two games.
Coach Kenny Atkinson believes the setting may have helped. Harden shares the opponent scoring record at Madison Square Garden, 61 points, with Kobe Bryant. Atkinson described Harden as a “global superstar” and said players of that caliber love playing in New York.
Redefining His Role
Harden acknowledged he is still working out how to play alongside fellow star Donovan Mitchell. Atkinson said the Cavaliers do not need the Harden from his Houston days, when he averaged 30.4, 36.1 and 34.3 points across three straight seasons, and he believes the guard accepts that.
Harden said the criticism does not bother him. He noted that he was once questioned for being a scorer rather than a winner.
“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.”
Harden, a former NBA MVP, is now in his 18th season. He said he still can score but is looking for other ways to impact games. “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,” he said.
Atkinson Sees Progress
Atkinson said he had noticed flashes of the old Harden in recent games and that rhythm often takes players time to find. “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.”