James Harden is being haunted by some past playoff demons that he just couldn’t seem to exorcise. After the Cleveland Cavaliers lost Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinal clash against the Detroit Pistons, 107-97, to fall down 2-0 in the series, Harden became a lightning rod for criticism once again after he scored just 10 points on the night on a horrible 3-13 shooting night.
This is not a good follow-up performance for Harden after he turned the ball over seven times in their loss to the Pistons in Game 1. Simply put, Harden has to be better, especially when he already has plenty of playoff stinkers to his name. Nonetheless, Donovan Mitchell, who once again tried to put the Cavs on his back after scoring 31 points to lead all players, is not worried at all for his backcourt mate.
“He’s James Harden. We’re not sitting here worried; he’s going to figure this out. And we got to do a better job around him as well whether it’s spacing or putting him in different positions. At the end of the day, we got to figure it out,” Mitchell said in his postgame presser, via Camryn Justice of WEWS.
Harden, as one of the primary offensive creators for the team, has to get it together. Perhaps it wasn’t his fault entirely that he was out of rhythm in the second half as the Cavs tried to play faster, but even then, a rough shooting night simply is not going to cut it.
At 36 years of age, Harden is unlikely to magically exorcise his playoff demons completely. He needs more help than ever. And the Cavs have to do a better job of lightening the burden on his shoulders, as he is far from his peak form considering how he’s aged over the years.
In Game 3, Harden has to be at his best if the Cavs were to avoid falling down an inescapable 3-0 hole against the Pistons.