On current form, there is no need to fear the beard.
James Harden’s struggles continued on Thursday night and the Detroit Pistons capitalised to move 2-0 up on the Cleveland Cavaliers in their Eastern Conference semi-finals.
The Cavs traded Darius Garland to the Los Angeles Clippers in mid-season to acquire Harden, believing his playoff experience would help them go deep this year. It has not worked out that way so far with the 36-year-old proving more of a hinderance than an asset.
Harden finished with more turnovers than field goals – for the second straight game – and missed all four of his three-point attempts as the Pistons won 107-97. He failed to score a point in the first and fourth quarters with the Cavs outscored by 15 points when he was on the court.
“Just missing shots,” Harden said when asked to assess his performance. “Second half, I think I took two shots, but the ball was moving. We’re getting better shots. So, just picking and choosing my spots and figuring out what works, what doesn’t work, for the betterment of the team.”
Cavaliers team-mate Mitchell backs slumping Harden to turn it round
Harden was backed by team-mate Donovan Mitchell, who scored 31 points in a losing effort.
“He’s James Harden; we’re not sitting here worried. He’s going to figure this out,” said Mitchell, who believes Cleveland need to offer him greater assistance.
“You think of just little things, spacing, trying to get him easier looks,” Mitchell said. “We got to do a better job of running as well, whether it’s spacing or put him in different positions. We’ll have that conversation. We’ve been having that conversation. At the end of the day, we’re going to figure it out.
“Even with the last possession when he lost the ball, I could have stayed in the corner with [Ausar] Thompson. So, just little things like that. We’re just getting on the same page. We’ll be fine. We’ll figure it out.”
Cunningham still cautious despite Detroit success
Cleveland’s struggles are in stark contrast to the Pistons, who are on a roll. They trailed the Orlando Magic 3-1 in the first round before storming back and have now won five play-off games on the trot for the first time in 18 years.
Cade Cunningham, who top-scored for Detroit with 25 points and also added 10 assists, is not getting carried away, though.
“Last series, learned a lot for sure. I mean being down 3-1, backs against the wall, there’s a lot of things that go through your mind with the potential of your season being over and stuff,” Cunningham said. “So, just trying to find the best way to execute, but going through that series, you realise how long a play-off series can be and it’s a war more so than just a battle.
“Being down 3-1 and then having a one-game-at-a-time mentality, fighting our way back into it and then winning it, coming down on the right side of it, was a great thing.
“It also taught us how fragile and how thin of a line is that comes between winning and losing.
“So, being up 2-0 right now, we know it’s a thin line still. So, it’s one game at a time. We’ve got to go into Cleveland now and they’re going to have their home fans around them, they’re going to have more energy in there, so we’ve got to handle our business and be focused.”
Detroit coach JB Bickerstaff singled out Cunningham for praise afterwards, stating: “I mean, Cade is just fabulous. He’s the killer, closer and all of the adjectives you want to talk about. Like, he’s it. And in the fourth quarter, he does his best work.”
