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James Harden wasn’t concerned about the turnover issues when asked about the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 19 giveaways that led to their 111-110 Game 1 loss to the Detroit Pistons.
“You look at my turnovers, a lot of them were just on me and nothing they did,” Harden said afterward.
“That’s the game right there. … I gotta be better and will be better turning the basketball over.”
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Harden is partially right. Several of those turnovers were sloppy. There’s a backcourt violation that shouldn’t have happened, once he correctly tried to take Duncan Robinson off the dribble but bounced it off his foot, and there were a couple he simply lost control. Things like that are just part of the game.
But there’s a bigger issue at play here. Turnovers have been a problem for the Cavs — particularly for Harden — during the postseason. This was the third time in eight playoff games that he’s had more giveaways (7) than made field goals (6). How often it’s happened shows that this is more than just a lack of focus.
Throughout his career, Harden has often operated in lineups that try to create perfect spacing. Ideally, all of his teammates are shooters so that the defense is forced to make a difficult decision. Do you try to send extra bodies to the basket to help on a Harden drive, or do you stay on the perimeter to prevent three-point shots?
That was a tough call when you were going up against the 2018 Houston Rockets. It isn’t going against Cleveland’s current starting lineup.
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Neither Detroit nor the Toronto Raptors have respected three of the four Cavaliers starting alongside Harden. Teams are daring Dean Wade and Evan Mobley to shoot from the outside, and are willing to take their chances with Jarrett Allen inside.
Throw in Donovan Mitchell, who doesn’t move much off-ball, and you have a stagnant offense that is cheating into the lane to both cut off drives and lobs to the bigs. And if you try to force it inside, there’s a good chance that it’s going to wind up in a turnover.
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There’s a downstream effect to not having good spacing. Now, defenders can be physical…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/11-takeaways-cavs-game-1-100000869.html
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Publish date : 2026-05-06 10:00:00
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