Disastrous James Harden stat should worry Cavs fans after loss to Knicks
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Disastrous James Harden stat should worry Cavs fans after loss to Knicks originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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Donovan Mitchell was balling out to keep the Cleveland Cavaliers afloat in Game 1 against the New York Knicks. For a time, there was no answer to his high octane offense which meant they went up by as much as 22 points. When crunch time commenced, James Harden became a bigger option but it was to no avail. One statistic even points to the fact that Coach Kenny Atkinson needs a better secondary star for this NBA Playoffs run to go deeper.
Harden stat will worry Cavs fans after crucial loss to Knicks
Winning Game 1 of any NBA Playoffs series as a lower-seeded team is always crucial. A lot of momentum could have been snatched out of the Knicks' road to the Larry O'Brien trophy. But it was just not the Cavs' fate. Coach Kenny Atkinson saw Donovan Mitchell stay on the court for a whopping 41 minutes to score 29 points while filling the box score with six steals, five rebounds, three assists, and a block.
The same cannot be said for James Harden. Coach Atkinson and the Cavs trusted him to play a team-high 42 minutes but the output just was not there. He only scored 15 points while going 31.25% from the field and a poor 12.5% from three-point range. The Knicks defense even forced him to commit six turnovers.
What makes all of this worrying for Cavs fans?
Well, Harden only sank five field goal attempts in Game 1 while turning the ball over six times. When the bigger picture is considered, this is his sixth time in the NBA Playoffs to have more turnovers than field goals made, per StatMuse. Despite being one of the most-trusted veterans on the Cavs roster, he has been exposed a lot of by the Knicks, Detroit Pistons, and even the Toronto Raptors.
There needs to either be a schematic change to allow Harden in getting better ball security during offensive sets or another secondary scorer has to rise up in the Cavs system. In Game 1, Harden had the same amount of points as Evan Mobley and was also nearly as inefficient as the big man went six of 16 from the field.
A lot needs to change for the Cavs if they wish to win this NBA Playoffs series. Can they win Game 2 against the Knicks?