It is time for the Cleveland Cavaliers to do some deep soul-searching. They have now fallen behind in their semifinal matchup against the Detroit Pistons, 2-0, after suffering a 107-97 loss on Thursday night — with James Harden not having the best of nights. Harden finished with a paltry 10 points on 3-13 shooting from the field, and that included a quiet night offensively in the second half when he scored just two points on two shot attempts.
Harden has always had the occasional stinker in his playoff resume, and the Cavs must have known this before they brought him in via trade in exchange for Darius Garland. Be that as it may, head coach Kenny Atkinson pinned the blame on himself, as their strategy in the second half did not seem to be very conducive to success for The Beard.
“On me — he took two shots in the second half. I’ll put that on me. I think the idea in the second half was to push the pace and try to play quicker, and get the ball up the court. … Our offense is at a point now when him and [Donovan Mitchell] should get off it, it should come back to them at some point,” Atkinson said in his postgame presser, via RealCavsFans on X (formerly Twitter).
Perhaps Atkinson is learning that going fast against a much younger and more athletic Pistons team is far from the ideal strategy. If the game were to be a track meet, that is always going to be favorable for Detroit, a team that thrives in transition.
Harden is also 36 years of age already, so it would stand to reason that the Cavs guard now prefers to attack more methodically as he seeks out mismatches in the halfcourt. Cleveland also has a twin-tower setup, so perhaps slowing down the pace would be much more helpful.