James Harden delivered a throwback performance Wednesday, scoring a season-high 32 points to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 115-107 victory over the New York Knicks. The 37-year-old guard had faced questions about whether he still had his scoring touch after averaging just 15.3 points through 11 games this season.
Harden responded with a performance that showed he can still put up numbers. He finished 9-for-14 from the field and 5-for-7 from 3-point range, including the tiebreaking 3 with 4:21 left in the game.
“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.”
A Difficult Start in Cleveland
Harden entered the night shooting only 34.6% from the field, which would easily be the worst of his career. The Cavaliers were off to a 5-6 start in their first full season since acquiring him from the Los Angeles Clippers.
Harden acknowledged that he is still working to find the right way to play alongside fellow superstar Donovan Mitchell. Coach Kenny 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 said the guard is fine with that role.
Harden said the criticism did not bother him. He pointed to the criticism he faced in Houston, when people questioned whether he could win while scoring so much.
“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.”
Flashes Become a Full Game
Atkinson said he had seen glimpses of the old Harden earlier in the season, even though Harden totaled just five baskets and six turnovers in the previous two games. The former NBA MVP sustained that form for an entire game Wednesday.
Atkinson believes playing at Madison Square Garden may have sparked the performance. Harden shares the opponent scoring record of 61 points at the arena with Kobe Bryant. Atkinson described Harden as a “global superstar” and said players of that caliber love playing in New York.
The Cavaliers hope the performance is a sign of things to come.
“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.”