Connect with us

The Rundown w/T-Money

The Rundown v10.24.24 – Harden Back Where He’s Most Comfortable, The Spotlight

Things in L.A. are back to the way that Los Angeles native James Harden likes it – where he is the center of attention … and it may be when he plays his best basketball.

Unfortunately for the Los Angeles Clipper faithful and the ribbon cutting of the $2 billion Intuit Dome, it wasn’t the best of night as the short-handed Clippers were scorched by Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns in the arena’s debut.

Starting the season without the likes of Kawhi Leonard (out indefinitely with a degenerative knee condition), Paul George (free agency signing with the Philadelphia 76ers), and Russell Westbrook (free agency signing with the Denver Nuggets), it was basically the James Harden Show last night in L.A.

With the onus of scoring and leadership on his shoulders. Harden was his typical self – he scored a game high 29 points, had a game high 12 rebounds, and had a game-tying eight assists (Phoenix’s Tyus Jones also had eight assists).

Harden’s career numbers, by comparison, are 24.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 7.1 assists.

By all accounts, a solidly great performance, and nearly mirroring his averages as the star attraction during his 10 years as a Houston Rocket – 29.6 points, six rebounds, and 7.7 assists.

He had little help last night, aside from Ivica Zubac’s 21 points and nine rebounds, but Harden seems to thrive with the weight of the world on his shoulders.

He’s been far less effective when being a part of a superstar trio, even though he was the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in 2012, his last season with the Oklahoma City Thunder in their lone trip to the NBA Finals.

Maybe that’s when and where he got a big head …

——————————–

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM LAST NIGHT’S ACTION

A dominant 36-17 second quarter performance from the Cleveland Cavaliers gave new head coach Kenny Atkinson his first win, 136-106 over the Toronto Raptors. Atkinson and the Cavs welcome JB Bickerstaff back to town Friday night as they host the Detroit Pistons.

Alperen Sengun had a monster night for the Houston Rockets with 25 points and 18 rebounds. But LaMelo Ball was healthy and when he’s healthy, all bets are off – Ball led the Charlotte Hornets to the road win with a 24 point, 11 assist performance in the 110-105 victory.

Cade Cunningham looked great for the Detroit Pistons with 28 points, five rebounds, and eight assists, but the Indiana Pacers spoiled head coach JB Bickerstaff’s Motown debut, 115-109, behind 20 points from Myles Turner and 19 from Pascal Siakam.

Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokuonmpo combined for 55 points, taking advantage of the absence of Joel Embiid and Paul George in Philadelphia, to down the Sixers, 124-109. After a neck-and-neck first quarter, the Milwaukee Bucks ran away with the win.

Dejounte Murray’s debut with the New Orleans Pelicans resulted in a fractured left hand after 29 minutes of action, but Brandon Ingram dropped 33 points and the Pelicans soared past the Chicago Bulls, 123-111.

Former Los Angeles Clippers strength and conditioning coach Randy Shelton is suing the team and claiming that the Clippers mismanaged Kawhi Leonard’s health and wrongfully terminated his employment. Leonard missed the entire 2022 season due to a torn ACL and has started this season out indefinitely with a degenerative knee condition.

Have the Phoenix Suns found the point guard they so desperately needed last season in Tyus Jones? Kevin Durant may have scored 25 and Bradley Beal 24, but it was Jones’ eight assists with no turnovers (the most assists in a Suns debut without a turnover) that may have been the key in Phoenix’s 116-113 overtime win over the Los Angeles Clippers in L.A.

Indiana Pacers center James Wiseman has a torn Achilles.

Ja Morant returned to action to open the 2024-25 season with a 22 point, 10 assist performance as the Memphis Grizzlies clawed their way past the Utah Jazz, 126-124. His game sealing left handed layup to finish the Jazz was vintage Temetrius.

The Orlando Magic outscored the Miami Heat by 21 points in the third quarter, 39-18, to dampen the spirits at the Kaseya Center and the debut of the newly-named Pat Riley Court. Orlando won 116-97 behind a 33 and 11 night from Paolo Banchero.

The Portland Trailblazers still look horrible, and when head coach Chauncey Billups goes into the Basketball Hall of Fame, it won’t be as a coach. Instead it will be Steve Kerr, who has been part of over 20 of the last three decades of championship basketball. The Golden State Warriors opened with a 21 point first quarter, then poured 118 points on the Blazers over the next three quarters to drown Portland by 35 points – which means if the Warriors had been without Stephen Curry and Buddy Hield, it might have been more of a game than a blowout.

Trae Young may have dropped a 30-piece, but it was an impressive career-high 28 points from Onyeka Okongwu as the Atlanta Hawks cut down the Brooklyn Nets. Okongwu was a beast from the field, hitting 11 of 12 shots.

——————————–

Harden felt his value to the Thunder was better than Sixth Man – he saw himself as a star. He would go on to sign a large contract with the Houston Rockets, who were just two games above .500 before Harden’s arrival.

As he settled into his role as the franchise’s savior, Harden would go on to be a 10 time NBA All Star with his first selection coming in 2013, an All-NBA first team selection the next season and six times total through 2020, the league’s assist leader in 2017 (and again in 2023), and used the selection of Westbrook as the 2017 NBA MVP as a catalyst to becoming the MVP himself in 2018, and his best two scoring seasons in 2018-19, and 2019-20, respectively, nabbing the scoring champ title those three years consecutively.

But never a championship – and never enough cabernet, Prosecco, or even Body Armor to whet his taste of what 2012 brought – the sweet taste of being in the NBA Finals, playing for a championship.

So came the opportunity to re-pair with former Thunder teammate Kevin Durant (who went on to two NBA titles in Golden State, and was now with the Brooklyn Nets), and Kyrie Irving to form a Big Three under general manager Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash.

Call it a clash of personalities, egos not on the same page, or whatever you want, but Harden never jelled in his 80 games in Brooklyn. His scoring dropped to 23.4 points, rebounds bumped up to 8.2, and his assists went up to 10.5 a game.

He had his shining moments as a Net, most vividly a triple double of 34-10-10 in the first round of the playoffs, but injured his hamstring in Game One against the Milwaukee Bucks and that was all she wrote for that run.

Harden requested a trade to the Philadelphia 76ers in February 2022 to reunite with former general manager Daryl Morey, and pair with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, but became a ghost as the Sixers played and eventually fell to the Miami Heat.

He would go on in 2022-23 and redeem himself in the 2023 playoffs, but had to do so in the shadow of MVP Embiid and the duo eventually fell to the Boston Celtics. Behind the scenes, Harden orchestrated a trade to L.A., citing bad blood and reneged promises from Morey as the reason.

As the dust settled, it’s just Harden in the spotlight once again – a little more than a decade older and hopefully wiser – in the backyard of birthplace, not far from his high school in Lakewood, in the familiar place of bearing the burden of a franchise where maybe, just maybe, he can end his career with an ever elusive ring.

This might just be his best and last chance.

*******************************************

Tracy Graven is the Senior NBA Analyst for BackSportsPage.com.
He has written the NBA, appeared as a guest on NBA Radio, and the last 24+ years for HoopsWorld, Swish Magazine, HoopsHype, the Coach Scott Fields Show, NBARadioShow.com, and also will be tackling the NFL, NCAA for BackSportsPage.
He’s spent 25 years in locker rooms in Orlando, Boise (CBA, G League), San Antonio, Phoenix, Denver, Oklahoma City, and Atlanta. 

A corporate trainer by day, he currently resides in the heart of SEC Country near Knoxville, Tennessee – home of the 2024 Men’s Baseball World Series Champion Tennessee Volunteers.
Reach him on Twitter at @RealTMoneyMedia  

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in The Rundown w/T-Money