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James Harden is an easy punching bag for the Cleveland Cavaliers. The flaws in his game are pretty obvious, and his teams have yet to come through on the biggest stages throughout his 17-year career. Throw in that he was traded to Cleveland in exchange for a home-grown All-Star that’s 10 years younger, and it’s easy to see why the sentiment is what it is.
That said, the Cavs don’t make it to the Eastern Conference Finals this past season without Harden. In fact, they don’t advance out of the first round without trading for him. Despite the flaws in Harden’s game, he consistently elevated the play of the group. That shouldn’t be lost in any of the discussions about his performance.
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Regular Season Stats
Koby Altman mentioned in February that they traded for Harden to help in the postseason. He certainly did that.
The Cavs were 12.7 points per 100 possessions better with Harden on the court in the playoffs than they were when he was off. That was the highest mark on the team. This was because he blended well with the starters while still carrying hybrid bench lineups when both Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley were off the floor.
Figuring out how to survive the minutes without Mitchell was a problem all regular season and has hurt the Cavs in previous postseason runs. Being able to stabilize those minutes was incredibly useful and allowed the team to get as far as they did in the postseason.
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The Cavs don’t make it past either the Toronto Raptors or Detroit Pistons if it weren’t for Harden. His ability to get to the line and continually get the bigs involved kept a Cleveland offense on schedule that often became too reliant on the three-ball. This led to the Cavs winning the minutes he played in 10 of the 14 games he played in the first two rounds.
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Things didn’t work out nearly as well against the New York Knicks. Jalen Brunson hunted mismatches against him down the stretch of Game 1 when the Cavs…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/cavs-final-report-card-james-100000074.html
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Publish date : 2026-06-26 10:00:00
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