On Sunday afternoon, the Cleveland Cavs found themselves all tied up in their first round series vs the Toronto Raptors with an ugly 93-89 road loss in Game 4. This was an atrocious offensive display for the Cavs, who saw Donovan Mitchell shoot just 6-24 from the field on the afternoon.
James Harden wasn’t much better, finishing with 19 points and recording his second straight game with more turnovers than made field goals.
Recently, former NBA guard Joe Johnson took to Nightcap to hit Harden with an unflattering comparison to NFL star Lamar Jackson, noting the playoff struggles of both.
“They scrutinize James because they know the situations he’s been in the past during the postseason. So every time he’s in the postseason, they’re going to watch. It’s kind of like when you look at Lamar Jackson and know he’s going to be great during the regular season. But hell, in the postseason can he win us some games? Can we get to the Super Bowl? It’s similar to that,” he said, per NBA Courtside on X, formerly Twitter.
Harden has long had a reputation as a playoff dropper, causing some to wonder why the Cavs opted to trade for him at the deadline, seemingly with the hopes of improving their chances of success in the postseason.
Harden and the Cavs looked strong through the first two games of the series vs Toronto at home, but have fallen back to Earth in the last two games on the road, and now, this is a best of three series.
The good news for the Cavs is that they still only need to win on their home floor in order to earn a series victory, but they will certainly need Harden to be better than he was in the two games on the road.