SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Early in the third quarter of Saturday night’s debut, James Harden made a series of spellbinding dribbling maneuvers, shook his defender, stepped back and buried a 3-pointer in front of the Cavs’ bench.
As the high-arching rainbow approached the basket, teammates slowly started rising.
They knew.
And when it splashed through the net — just his second made field of the game to that point — each one of them began “stirring the pot,” mimicking Harden’s trademark celebration.
News of the franchise-altering trade for Darius Garland and a second-round pick broke on Tuesday. The deal was officially announced Wednesday. Harden met the team in Los Angeles on Friday.
But that moment in the third quarter — a patented move that Harden has made thousands of times during his Hall-of-Fame career — felt like his formal Cleveland introduction.
“We have seen him play forever. We all grew up watching him. But it’s a little different when you are out there with him,” sharpshooter Sam Merrill told cleveland.com following the Cavs’ 132-126 come-from-behind win. “It’s just about finding the balance of what we do and what he does. I think he is going to fit so well into what we do. But he’s also James Harden, so there has to be a little bit of, let him to do his thing.”
There was. In the fourth quarter. With the game on the line.
But the 40-plus minutes before that were, unsurprisingly, a bit awkward.
“It went exactly how I thought it would,” Cavs All-Star Donovan Mitchell said. “Just trying to figure out what we have. Everybody is trying to figure that out. We just know in the back of our heads, we really had no time to work on nothing. We were just out there playing. Not bad. It’s going to be a work in progress but saw a lot of things that were positive.”
On Friday afternoon, the Cavs gathered inside the Galen Center on the campus of the University of Southern California for what was supposed to be Harden’s first practice.
A chance to get acclimated to coach Kenny Atkinson’s system. A chance to start building on-court chemistry. A chance to learn any new verbiage — although as a 17-year veteran, he has heard it all. A chance to better understand Cleveland’s concepts, principles and team dynamics. A chance to run through plays and sets.
… Or not.
Because of league rules and the still-pending trade between Cleveland and Los Angeles, Harden was unable to participate. He could be in attendance. He could watch. Interact. Take mental notes.
But that was it.
Saturday night was Harden’s first live action with his new team. It was his first time playing five-on-five in almost a week — after sitting out the final two games as a Clipper while the organization canvassed the league for the right trade partner.
It looked like it early.
Rusty. Messy. Disorganized. Erratic. Awkward.
Out of sorts. Out of sync. Out of rhythm.
Mitchell and Harden were trying not to get in each other’s way.
The young, rebuilding Kings, entering the night on an 11-game losing streak and without former Cavalier De’Andre Hunter, Zach LaVine, Domantas Sabonis and Malik Monk, raced out to a 15-8 advantage. They led by as much as 11 and never trailed in the first quarter.
Harden missed his first three shots. He was scoreless — and a lousy minus-nine — in his opening stint. He spent most of that time trying to get others involved first.
Pick-and-rolls with Jarrett Allen. Dump-offs. Swings. Hit-aheads. In-traffic dimes.
The second quarter was similar — the usual feeling-out process.
By the end of a whirlwind 24 minutes, Harden had mustered three points, missed five of his six shots and had nearly as many turnovers (2) as assists (4). He looked a little slower than desired for the pace the Cavs want to play. He was often late rotating defensively.
Just part of the early growing pains.
“You have a guy like that and he’s telling me to go and then I’m telling him to go,“ Mitchell said. ”That’s special when you have a guy who is that established and has done a lot to come in and have that approach.”
At halftime, Mitchell and Harden had a chat that ended with Mitchell delivering a straightforward message.
“I was like, ‘I’m doing too much,’” Mitchell recalled. “He was just trying to figure it out. So, it was like, ‘Alright, go be you. Both of us be ourselves.’”
By the fourth quarter, they were.
When the game tightened, the pressure increased and the stakes were at their highest, Harden and Mitchell were at their best.
There was no confusion. Only clarity. There was no hesitation. Only certainty. There was no thinking. Only hooping.
“I didn’t see it as your-turn-my-turn,” Atkinson said. “Sure, there was some ISO where those guys made individual plays. But I thought it was more in the team concept.”
Mitchell relentlessly attacked the rim. Harden spaced — even joking afterward about how many rare catch-and-shot opportunities he got — orchestrated and manipulated.
“It’s one of those things where you have to pick your poison,” Jarrett Allen said when asked about the Mitchell-Harden combo. “You want to guard Donovan? Give it to James and let him do it. And then vice versa. It’s going to be dangerous for a lot of teams going forward.”
The Cavs provided a lethal fourth-quarter dose.
Cleveland’s co-stars combined for 32 of the team’s 39 fourth-quarter points, including the final 16, as the Cavaliers rallied from a late deficit to escape with a victory.
According to Elias Sports Bureau, Mitchell and Harden became the first Cavs teammates to each score at least 15 points in the fourth quarter of any game in the play-by-play era (since 1996-97).
Harden made every shot he took in the fourth — four field goals, a trio of triples and four more freebies.
A vintage closing stretch.
“Made all the big plays,” Atkinson said of Harden. “He was the closer. Him and Donovan really synched up at the end to make the big plays. [The Kings] were making incredible shots and played great, but we kept our calm. Helps when you have James Harden and Donovan Mitchell to help close a game like that.”
“It wasn’t perfect, obviously, but him and Don did what they are supposed to do and made a bunch of plays for us,” Merrill added. “Probably going to take a little time for those two to learn how to play off each other. But pretty good for the first night.”
The signs are there. It’s obvious why Mitchell and Harden wanted to team up, why they think this partnership will raise the team’s ceiling — and maybe even a banner.
“He’s very unselfish,” Harden said of Mitchell. “It’s so effortless. He doesn’t force it. He just plays the game the right way. It falls down the line from there.
“They were the No. 1 seed last year. Very talented. Very well-coached. This organization is amazing. I saw an opportunity where I can fit in and potentially help them get over that next step.”
The 36-year-old Harden finished with 23 points, 15 of which came in the fourth quarter, on 7 of 13 shooting to go with eight assists against three miscues in 32 minutes.
“I just have to figure it out, figure out where I fit in,” Harden admitted. “But it won’t be that hard at all. I was just like, ‘Do what y’all do and I will figure it out. I’m good enough to figure it out and insert myself in.’”
Saturday was just the first step in a two-month process before the playoffs begin. For the Cavs, that’s what this season is all about. That’s what this week’s trade was all about.
The fourth quarter was Cleveland’s vision.
“It’s not like integrating a young player,” Atkinson said of the process. “James has seen it all. I’m not going to give a number on how many games it’s going to take. It will be quicker than we think. He has such a high IQ, he has been in the league so long. It’s not like we are doing anything that he has never seen.
“At the end of the day, the coach’s job is to play to the player’s strength, not the player playing to the system’s strength.
“I don’t think systems win championships. Players do.”
