In the current form, there is no need to fear the beard.
James Harden’s struggle continued on Thursday night and the Detroit Pistons won 2-0 against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the semifinals of the Eastern Conference.
The Cavs traded Darius Garland to the Los Angeles Clippers in the middle of the season for Harden, believing his playoff experience would help them go deep this year. It hasn’t happened that way so far as the 36-year-old seems to be more of a hindrance than an asset.
Harden finished with more turnovers than field goals – for the second straight game – and missed all of his three-point attempts as the Pistons won 107-97. Failing to score in the first and fourth quarters, the Cavs were outscored by 15 while on the field.
“He’s just missing a shot,” Harden said when asked to evaluate his performance. “Second half, I think I hit two shots, but the ball was moving. We’re getting better shots. So, picking and choosing my spots and finding out what’s working, what’s not working, to improve the team.”
Cavaliers teammate Mitchell backs up to Harden to answer it
Harden was backed up by teammate Donovan Mitchell, who scored 31 points in the losing effort.
“He’s James Harden; we’re not sitting here worrying. He’s going to get this,” said Mitchell, who believes Cleveland needs more help.
“He’s just thinking about the little things, separating the spaces, trying to make him look easy,” Mitchell said. “We have to do a better job of running, whether it’s to divide the spaces or to put him in different positions, we will have that discussion and we will have that discussion at the end of the day and we will clarify it.
“Even the last time he played when he lost the ball, I could sit in the corner [Ausar] Thompson. So, just little things like that. We are getting on the same page. We will be fine. We will find it.”
Cunningham remains cautious despite Detroit’s success
Cleveland’s struggles are in stark contrast to the Pistons, who are leading the way. They trailed the Orlando Magic 3-1 in the first round before bouncing back and have now won five playoff games for the first time in 18 years.
Cade Cunningham, who led Detroit with 25 points and added 10 assists, isn’t impressed, though.
“Last series, I learned a lot for sure. I mean being down 3-1, back against the wall, there’s a lot of things that go through your mind as far as your season goes and stuff,” Cunningham said. “So, you’re just trying to figure out the best way to do it, but going through that series, you realize how long the play-off series can be and it’s more of a battle than just a battle.
“To be down 3-1 and then have the mindset of one game at a time, fight to get back into it and win it, come down on the right side of it, it was a good thing.
“It also taught us how fragile and thin the line between winning and losing is.
“So, being up 2-0 right now, we know it’s a little bit of a stretch. So, one game at a time. We’ve got to go to Cleveland now and they’re going to have their home fans, they’re going to have a lot of energy there, so we’ve got to take care of our business and focus.”
Detroit coach JB Bickerstaff singled out Cunningham for praise afterward, saying: “I mean, Cade’s just great. He’s a killer, next to every adjective you want to talk about. Like, he is. And in the fourth quarter, he did his best job.”
