CLEVELAND — James Harden was the last player on the practice floor after the Cleveland Cavaliers’ lone tune-up between Games 2 and 3 of their first-round series against the Toronto Raptors. Everyone else was hurrying out of the team’s facility to prepare for the flight to Canada later that afternoon.
Harden picked up something while watching film from Game 2 of that series. He noticed that they were defending him a certain way, and he wanted to get as much practice as possible to combat Toronto’s
scheme. I couldn’t tell what that specific thing was, only that he was meticulously working on various ways to generate three-point looks when coming off screens on his right.
All players go through individual drills with coaches to varying degrees. That isn’t unique. The level of focus he approached it with was — especially on an off day.
Every time Harden missed a shot or didn’t get the footwork how he wanted coming off the screen, he cursed. Some were under his breath that you would only notice if you were watching. Others you could hear from across the gym.
“There’s a cerebral part of the work he does individually,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said then.
Fast forward two and a half weeks to Game 3 of the second-round series against the Detroit Pistons. The Cavs coughed up what was a 17-point lead in the third quarter, and were trailing at times in the fourth. They needed baskets down the stretch to take and maintain the lead.
Instead of calling his own number, Donovan Mitchell deferred despite leading both teams in points with 35. And the reason was simple.
“You see the work,” Mitchell said of Harden. “He’s worked really hard on his game, and his resume speaks for itself.”
The resume does speak for itself.
Harden is one of the most accomplished guards in NBA history. He’s achieved nearly every individual accolade out there and has climbed the ladder in both all-time points (9th) and assists (12th). Even at 36 years-old, the skills that have allowed him to reach that point are undeniable.
The one hole in his portfolio is a lack of playoff success. His teams have faltered in the biggest moments, and so has he.
Harden has proved all the stereotypes about himself correct in the three months he’s been in Cleveland.
We saw what has led to his numerous postseason shortcomings during the first two games in Detroit. Turnovers, an inability to hit a big shot when his team needed one, and being picked on defensively were all present at the worst times for the Cavs. His play helped turn two winnable games into losses.
The other stereotype that he’s proven true is that he’s one of the hardest-working players in the league.
A week back, I asked Raptors head coach Darko Rajaković what causes certain players to rise in the playoffs while others fall. He attributed it to their preparation.
“I think that work is the baseline,” Rajaković said. “Players that really know that they put the right work in, they’re ready for this stage. … Those guys, they tend to fight through fatigue, through adversity, through whatever the playoffs bring. … I strongly believe it comes down to work.”
We don’t think of Harden as someone who’s fought through adversity, at least not on the court in the playoffs. We typically reserve that kind of thinking for players who we see overcome the obstacles thrown their way to emerge victorious.
At the same time, Harden has overcome obstacles. He’s bounced back from every collapse and put himself in that position again the next year with the work he’s put in to still be playing at an incredibly high level in his 17th season in the league. Whether that motivation is monetary or for trying to win is unknown, and honestly, it doesn’t matter. The work ethic is the same regardless of the reason.
Sports often present this false binary. Everyone on the victorious team is labeled a winner, while those on the other are losers. There’s no room in between the two opposites.
Yet, if you judged whether someone is a winner by how they respond to challenges and shortcomings, you’d be hard-pressed to find many that meet the bar Harden has set.
“You know the American way is championship or nothing,” Atkinson said before the playoffs. “In our movies, we call the little kid, ‘Hey Champ.’ That’s the thing. Sure, we’d all love to win the championship, but that doesn’t mean you’re not successful.”
Harden isn’t a winner in any way that we would typically define it, and understandably so because he’s fallen short in the playoffs too many times. Making crucial plays late in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals isn’t a big enough stage to alter that, even if his three-straight baskets and game-sealing triple over Tobias Harris after being hip-checked is why the Cavs’ season still has oxygen.
When asked why he wanted the ball in that situation, his answer was simple.
“It’s something that I work on literally every day,” Harden said. “It’s basically repetition, and it’s the confidence to go out there and just do it.”
While this one two-minute stretch won’t change how he’s remembered, this game shows why it’s unfair to label him a loser or someone who will never be a part of a championship. The habits and work ethic that lead to winning have always been there.
And for one night, we saw that pay off in a way it typically hasn’t in the last 17 years.
“I’m not playing this long, at this high a level without putting the work in,” Harden said. “This is 17 years for me, and I work extremely hard, like, extremely hard on my body, especially since the last few years. … The confidence is always going to be there. It’s always there, and just put me in a position to be successful, and good things happen.”
