The Cleveland Cavaliers postseason run is only just beginning, but two games in, they're already seeing validation for their bold James Harden trade.
On a night where James Harden dropped 28 points in the Cleveland Cavaliers Game 2 win over the Toronto Raptors, it's a bit ironic that maybe his biggest play of all came on the defensive side of the ball.
With just over four minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the Raptors trailed by 12 and desperately needed a bucket. As they settled into the halfcourt, Harden directed Evan Mobley to stay near the basket on defense just before athletic forward Sandro Mamukelashvili darted toward the basket from the right wing.
As he stepped into the middle of the paint, there was Mobley to cut him off, and as he attempted to dump the ball to Scottie Barnes in the dunker's spot, there was Harden sliding over to tip the ball away for a steal that wound up in the hands of Mitchell, who slowed it down in transition before ending the sequence with a finger-roll layup.
With the lead extended to 14, the game was over.
It was as cerebral a play as you'll ever see from a 17-year veteran. He knew what was coming, communicated it to Mobley, then executed it perfectly to help finish off a Game 2 win. The play also served as the latest evidence to support Cleveland's decision to acquire Harden in a blockbuster trade deadline move.
Swapping young point guard Darius Garland for Harden, who is 10 years his senior and playing in the twilight of his career, came with plenty of questions. As prolific a scorer Harden is, his career has been reduced, by some, to a handful of poor playoff performances that have prevented him from getting back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012, when he was the sixth man on a loaded Oklahoma City Thunder team.
Through two playoff games in Cleveland, though, Harden has validated Koby Altman's bold move. He's been everything the Cavs could have asked for.
The 36-year-old has scored 50 points, while shooting an efficient 53% from the floor, and 46% from three. He's also racked up 14 assists, passing Rajon Rondo for seventh all-time in postseason assists in the process. Monday's Game 2 performance also came with five steals and five boards.
In his 17th season, Harden is playing in his 17th postseason. He came to Cleveland with over 170 playoff games on his resume. It shows.
There's not a defense Harden hasn't seen. Not a situation he hasn't experienced. He's a pick-and-roll savant, lobbing and bouncing perfect passes to Jarrett Allen or Evan Mobley when they peel off to the basket.
If he draws a double-team, he digs into his vast bag of circus-like passes to get the ball to the open player – like the over-his-head pass to a trailing Allen in Game 1 for a thrilling dunk.
Even when he's forced to toss up a 911 three with three defenders stepping out to defend him, as he did in the second quarter on Monday night, it works. He creates all sorts of headaches, particularly alongside Donovan Mitchell, and so far in this series the Raptors have no answers for any of it.
And that's the other part of this. It's not just the strategic x's and o's advantages Harden brings to the table. There's a freeness to the way he and Mitchell play off of each other. It's not on either one them to drag the team to the finish line offensively by themselves.
That's been the case for Harden at numerous stops during his career. It's been the case for Mitchell the last few years here in Cleveland, and even during his first stop in Utah. Together, they alleviate that pressure for one another.
The full-potential of that duo was realized in Game 2, where they combined for 58 points. It didn't hurt to get another 25 from Mobley, either.
Maybe Harden came to Cleveland defined by a handful of playoff stumbles. Through two postseason games with the Cavs, he seems poised to change the narratives that cloud his Hall of Fame career.
Everyone knows the score, though. This trade was about maximizing a championship window. Anything short of that will always leave some people questioning whether or not Altman made the right decision to trade Garland for Harden.
What's undeniable, though, is that Cleveland's ceiling is exponentially higher with the latter.
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