“That Won’t Happen Today”: How James Harden Makes Everyone Know His Name
James Harden gets shots ahead of a playoff game against the Boston Celtics; photo by Austin Krell/TPL
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Arrive early enough on game day and you can watch individual pregame workouts from any seat in the house. The Wells Fargo Center is a quiet retreat for a while. The only sounds are shoes squeaking on the hardwood, the basketball dribbling against the floor, and the repugnant growls players make when they make mistakes or the friendly banter evoked by good drills.
Sometimes there is a reserve development coach who is not involved in training, waiting for his assigned player to come out of the dressing room. Sometimes there are short breaks between drills while the lead development coach talks that player through the next step of the drill.
Those are your chances of having a conversation with whoever is standing idly by.
On Sunday, the chat started with an exchange of handshakes and a “Big game today”. It went on to James Harden, who melted away in a draining Game 3 loss.
“That won’t happen again today,” said the development coach confidently and without a pause.
Maybe he knew something I didn’t. Maybe he just had a strange feeling in his stomach. Be that as it may, he was right about the money.
“James was great. Simply, for a day and a half, James had to get himself back. No one did except James. Movie was great. We have talked. Probably 15,000 other people have talked to him,” Doc Rivers said after Game 4.
Harden scored 42 points to drag the Sixers to a crucial win, tying their series in the second round with the heavily favored Boston Celtics at two games apiece with three to play. It was his second heroic 40-point effort of the series, the only two times he scored at least 40 points while representing Philadelphia. Both carried the Sixers to victories.
Those two games held stinkers in Games 2 and 3, losses in which Harden combined to shoot 5-for-28 from the field.
“But, James, I sent him a gospel song before the game. The title is ‘Do you know my name?’. And James Harden was James Harden tonight,” Rivers said.
Boston’s lack of attention to detail on defense allowed Harden to get started. The bearded star came easily to his left on his first seven shots of the game. Using his strong hand as a weapon, Harden was hurriedly aroused. Once he saw a few go in, the question was simple: How far could he carry the Sixers?
It didn’t matter if Boston defended the pick-and-roll in drop coverage or in a switch. Harden got what he wanted in the first half.
The Celtics adapted. Only two of Harden’s next eight brands came from lefty drives. But he was already in a groove.
It all started with the number Rivers texted his starting point guard in the hours leading up to Game 4.
“I’m on my way to the game and I get a text from Doc and I’m like ‘What’s going on?’ It’s a gospel song. And I’m like, ‘Okay, whatever.’ So I just say to my homies, ‘Let’s play the song.’ It’s a seven-minute song, but I let the whole song play and I thought, ‘Okay, there must be some kind of good juju in this song or whatever,’ Harden told reporters after the game.
That good juju carried Harden all the way through the Sixers’ final possession in overtime.
Jaylen Brown pulled in from the strong side as Joel Embiid pushed Jayson Tatum back to the restricted area on an isolation that started just outside the right elbow. That decision left the man open in the corner with 39 points. Embiid’s pass to Harden as Brown fully committed to a double partnership with the big man was a little off target. Harden had to widen his gait to the left to retrieve the ball. But Harden is left-handed. So the pass was not in the most desired direction. The attack on his shot was not compromised, the bearded man stringing the triple to give the Sixers the lead. It was the last basket of the game.
“However [Rivers] is to feel, that’s how I want to feel.’ I think it worked, so whatever. It’s the first time he ever texted me a song, so I wanted to see how he felt,” Harden said with a hint of a smile.
“You better play it again on Tuesday. You better play it again,” PJ Tucker said with a laugh.
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