After another rough outing for James Harden, the Cavs are down 2-0 to Detroit Pistons. Yankee Scores seeks answers regarding Cavaliers’ turnover crisis.
Harden finished 3-of-13 shooting from the floor, including 0-for-4 on threes, and had four turnovers as the Cleveland Cavaliers lost their second-round playoff game against the Detroit Pistons 107-97. This was Harden’s second straight game where he finished with more turnovers than made baskets, and his fourth time in nine playoff games doing so this season.
But on Thursday night, Mitchell stayed loyal to his teammate, declaring that he still trusts Harden and the team to “figure it out.”
“He’s James Harden; we’re not sitting here worried,” Mitchell said Thursday night after snapping out of his own scoring slump with 31 points. “He’s going to figure this out.”
James Harden’s recent struggles
The Cavs’ shooting went cold and were outscored by 15 points. Harden had the worst plus/minus of any player who appeared in Game 2.
“Just missing shots,” Harden said. “Second half, I think I took two shots, but the ball was moving. We’re getting better shots. So, just picking and choosing my spots and figuring out what works, what doesn’t work, for the betterment of the team.”
Kenny Atkinson Takes the Blame
Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson took the responsibility for Harden’s poor performance particularly in the second half. With Cleveland behind at the interval, Atkinson said he did try to change the game.
“He was doing a great job getting off it, but our offense isn’t at a point now — when him and Don get off it, it should come back to them at some point,” Atkinson said.
“We got to look at it. Can’t have our Hall of Famer taking two shots in the second half. I’ll take that one.”
The Road to Recovery
He identified lack of pace as the major challenge, but he believes Cavs will come back stronger.
“You think of just little things, spacing, trying to get him easier looks,” Mitchell said. “We got to do a better job of running as well, whether it’s spacing or put him in different positions. We’ll have that conversation. We’ve been having that conversation. At the end of the day, we’re going to figure it out.
“Even with the last possession when he lost the ball, I could have stayed in the corner with Thompson. So, just little things like that. We’re just getting on the same page. We’ll be fine. We’ll figure it out.”
