James Harden turned back the clock to lead the Cavaliers to a 115-107 win on the New York Knicks’ home floor.
‘The Beard’ produced his best performance of the season with 32 points, 4 assists and five three-pointers in 32 minutes on court.
The Cavs are also back to .500 (6-6) and brought the Knicks’ winning streak to an end.
“This is my 18th season in the NBA. My name is James Harden and I used to score a lot of points. Now it’s like… Everything’s fine. Great,” he joked.
“I’m still scoring, but I’m also trying to influence the game in a lot of other ways. I think that’s probably what people don’t quite understand,” he explained.
Before visiting the Knicks, Harden had been averaging 15.3 points on a poor 34% shooting from the field.
Many of his haters had already been calling for him to be traded and claiming that his new contract was a glaring mistake.
It is worth remembering that on 20 August he agreed a three-year, $97 million extension, with the final year a player option.
“When I was averaging 35 or 36 points, people said: ‘You can’t win like that.’ Then when I dropped to averaging in the twenties, people said: ‘You can’t win like that.’ In the end people will always talk… That’s why I prefer to focus on myself. On what I need to do. On getting in good physical shape, getting to know my team-mates and learning to play a different type of basketball because I’m no longer the quick player I used to be,” he explained.
Record without reward
The Knicks came into the game unstoppable, as did Karl Anthony-Towns.
The Dominican big man has started the new season on fire with ten consecutive double-doubles.
And against the Cavaliers he did not miss out, making it 11 in a row and equalling a mark held by legendary captain Willis Reed.
Reed and Towns are the only players in history to start a season with 11 consecutive double-doubles.
Last night he stood out with 21 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists on 7-of-11 shooting from the field.
However, they ran out of steam towards the end and could not avoid another defeat at Madison Square Garden (4-3).
“We were in the game the whole time. But we lacked defensive plays and baskets in the key moments,” said Brunson.
Goodbye Mikal
Last night the alarm bells rang over Mikal Bridges.
The Knicks wing was erratic with his shooting again, and did not play in the closing stretch of the game.
According to Mike Brown’s own words, both Shamet and McBride are playing better than him right now, and therefore deserve to be on the court.
He finished with 17 minutes and just 2 points to his name.
- Shamet: 12 points and 4 assists in 29 minutes.
- McBride: 19 points in 27 minutes.
“Sometimes it’s going to be difficult to find minutes for Mikal,” Brown admitted.
“And maybe for Josh (Hart) too, as Shamet and McBride are playing very well right now,” he admitted.
Hart returned to the court last night after missing the previous three games. He played 26 minutes, finishing with 6 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.
(Cover photo: Reuters)
