CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t play with their food. They quickly asserted control of Wednesday’s game against the Washington Wizards and led wire-to-wire before settling for a 138-113 victory.
Cavs fans embraced James Harden in his debut. Some of the loudest cheers of the night were reserved for his pregame introduction and anytime he did something on the court. The giveaway stick-beards helped add to the atmosphere as well.
“[There was a] different buzz tonight,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “I felt it when I walked into the arena. This is a superstar league. … It’s great for Cleveland. It’s great for this market, these fans. They had LeBron over here for a long time. This is another, in that category of superstar, which is really cool for everybody.”
Harden also enjoyed his first home game in Cleveland.
“The crowd is always crazy,” Harden said about playing in front of the home fans for the first time as a Cavalier.
“I come here as a visitor, they’re crazy. They’re about the Cavs, and the land, and very loyal. They show up every single night. It’s one of the things that I was most excited about. So tonight was no different.”
Harden is here to win a championship. At this point in his career, competing for a title and being in a good financial position are what matter most.
“We all know why I’m here,” Harden said. “It’s one goal, and we all have that in common. So whether I score, take four shots, or take 20 shots. If we win the game, who cares?”
It’s difficult to draw too many conclusions from a game against an awful, tanking Wizards team, but the Cavs are considerably closer to that goal now than they were a little over a week ago.
Harden’s fit on the court remains seamless. Any team with Harden is naturally going to play more deliberately in the half-court. He plays at his own pace, but often to the benefit of his teammates.
This led to 11 assists while providing 13 points on just four shot attempts. Harden’s ability to put stuff on the table without taking anything off it is exactly what you want when you add a superstar to an already established contender.
Donovan Mitchell has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of this. The playmaking burden isn’t on him anymore. This allows his focus to return to what he does best: scoring.
For the third game in a row, Mitchell reached the 30-point plateau with Harden on the floor. He’s also taking more shot attempts in games with Harden than he has compared to his season-long average. Right now, there isn’t any struggle with who should be the primary scorer.
As we’ve seen in the two previous games, Harden’s presence makes life considerably easier for Mitchell.
“He’s manipulating the game,” Mitchell said of Harden. “He’s being able to put guys in positions. And then for me, to just be who I am. Attack, get downhill, still create, still playmake, but still be myself.”
The biggest fear when adding another high-usage player is that it might take away from what the other does best. Even guys who turned out to be phenomenal teammates, like LeBron James and Dwyane Wade with the Miami Heat, needed nearly a year together to figure out how to coexist. Even more natural partnerships like James and Kyrie Irving’s needed time to develop.
This duo has been the exception to the general rule so far.
The gravity Harden creates just makes everyone better.
“There’s a play in Denver where he’s isoing and Sam is in the right wing, and he just throws it to him because everyone’s pulled over,” Mitchell said.
“Now if that’s me over there, like what do you do?” Mitchell asked. “[Harden’s gravity] gives me time to go sit in the corner and watch him operate, and then defenses have to respect me. Now, everything is open to everybody else.”
Mitchell has played with great teammates before, but nobody else demands as much attention as Harden. This is a completely new dynamic for Mitchell, and he’s taking advantage of it so far.
These two plays are examples of that. Mitchell is going to get easy baskets like this when the defense either has to consistently stay with Harden or has to come to him when he has the ball.
Mitchell has also given Harden the space to do what he does best. Even though Harden only had four field-goal attempts against Washington, he was able to completely play his game, his way. He acted as the play initiator for most of the evening and had the second-highest usage on the team.
“Don is unselfish,” Harden said. “Even last game in Denver, the last couple minutes of the game, he just gave me the ball, let me facilitate, and do what I do. So, you don’t really get that from superstars in this league. And so that right there gave me the open welcome. … We both have the same freedom.”
There will undoubtedly be friction at some point, but so far, the fit couldn’t be better. Both have been able to play their game, and the team has benefited from that.
Finding the balance between Kenny Atkinson’s movement offense and Harden’s stagnant, isolation system is a work in progress. Atkinson has repeatedly insisted that he’s going to fit the attack around what Harden does best, but many of the Cavaliers are best used in a motion-based offense. Sam Merrill is one of those players.
Harden assisted on six of Merrill’s 11 field goals. Some of those were simply from Harden drawing two to the ball and hitting the wide-open Merrill. Others were from incorporating some movement offense around a stagnant Harden. The latter is what’s interesting.
The Cavs got clean looks for a moving Merrill twice with Harden posted up on the elbow. The first was for a three when Merrill came around an Allen screen. The second was from using a screen to dive back inside for a layup.
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Atkinson’s offense will need to evolve to fit around Harden, but there’s ways to do that without disrupting what Harden does best. These are examples of how you can try to create a hybrid of both.
Not the burry the lede, but Merrill put up a career-high 32 points. He was on fire and couldn’t miss for long stretches of the game. He finished 9-10 from three and 11-12 from the field overall.
There’s nothing opponents can do to stop Merrill when he gets it going like he did on Wednesday. And playing with an additional star in Harden, who requires the defense to keep track of, is going to give Merrill more room to operate.
Jarrett Allen continued his run of good play. He went 8-8 from the field en route to a 21-point performance.
The addition of Harden has made life easier for Allen. He’s getting many more clean looks per game because of it. However, this impressive run goes back to before the trade. Allen has leveled up his game since Evan Mobley’s injury.
Now, we come back to this question: How do you get this version of Allen when Mobley returns?
If the Cavs had an easy answer, we would’ve likely seen it years ago. But there is one thing that they can do better.
“From my perspective, we have to get him involved more,” Atkinson said. “[I’m] just thinking maybe [we] didn’t focus enough on how important it is for him to touch the ball, to be involved. We ran an ATO (after timeout play) for him. I think it was the first one of the year today, first play of the game. I got to do that more. That seems like the formula. And of course, we’ll separate him and Evan (their minutes), but he’s got to be more involved. Touch the ball more.
There’s also concerns about how Harden — who has traditionally played with optimal spacing — would adjust to playing with two bigs.
But no matter how that looks, one thing is clear: Allen needs to be more involved. This version of Allen is playing at an All-Star level and elevates the entire team. He’s too skilled to be relegated to the glorified role player he’s been for the majority of this season.
