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The Cleveland Cavaliers’ backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and James Harden came through when it mattered most. They combined for 32 fourth-quarter points to lead Cleveland to the 132-126 victory over the Sacramento Kings.
All is well that ends well. The Mitchell and Harden pairing struggled at the start of the game. They seemingly didn’t want to step on each other’s toes, which resulted in a stagnant half-court offense that mostly involved aimlessly swinging the ball around the perimeter with little off-ball movement.
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The starting lineup featuring four guards with Tyson and Sam Merrill, with Allen as the only forward, didn’t do anyone any favors. I understand why you’d want to go small to simplify things for Harden, but this led to getting beaten on the defensive glass and giving up 27 second-chance points.
The Cavs were able to get back into the game thanks to their bench lineups, and closed with Mitchell and Harden playing their best.
Cleveland took the lead late with back-to-back Harden triples, the last coming from a nice Mitchell swing from the corner to a wide-open Harden.
Both are such talented offensive pieces that bring so much attention to the ball. It’s easy to see what made pulling the trigger on this deal so alluring. The question will be how often we get to see the level of synergy we saw in the fourth quarter.
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In the meantime, we know that Harden is going to make Jarrett Allen’s life easier.
There are few guards better at feeding their forwards than Harden. His size, strength, vision, and ball placement allow him to set up his big man in the perfect spot to score.
Great players make what they do well look easy. Harden did that as he repeatedly found Allen on the block and in the short roll, to set up high-percentage looks.
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“In the pick-and-roll, I feel like he found every opportunity to exploit it,” Allen said postgame. “Even if it wasn’t a pass to me, we were just creating action, creating gravity for players to bring it to us.”
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Once Allen gets going, he can be difficult to handle. As we’ve seen throughout this season, Allen needs to…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/9-takeaways-james-harden-debut-110000830.html
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Publish date : 2026-02-08 11:00:00
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