{"id":169053,"date":"2026-02-08T08:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T08:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/169053\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T08:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T08:12:12","slug":"james-harden-scores-23-points-delivers-winning-debut-for-cavs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/169053\/","title":{"rendered":"James Harden scores 23 points, delivers winning debut for Cavs"},"content":{"rendered":"

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — James Harden<\/a> scored 23 points in his Cavaliers<\/a> debut, and Donovan Mitchell<\/a> put up 35 to lead Cleveland to a 132-126 victory<\/a> over Sacramento<\/a> on Saturday night that sent the Kings to their 12th straight loss.<\/p>\n

Harden was acquired by Cleveland from the LA Clippers<\/a> on Wednesday for Darius Garland<\/a> and a second-round draft pick.<\/p>\n

Harden shot 7-for-13, including 5-for-8 from 3-point range, and registed eight assists against Sacramento.<\/p>\n

“I just gotta figure out where I fit in,” Harden said. “That won’t be hard at all. I told the guys just do what you all do and I’ll figure it out. I’m good enough to figure it out and insert myself in.<\/p>\n

“But you know, no practices. This is my first time playing 5-on-5 since about a week ago, so it’s a little rusty. I’m just happy we got the win.”<\/p>\n

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Mitchell, who scored 29 of his points in the second half, said he and Harden needed the first couple of quarters to feel each other out on the court:<\/p>\n

“When you have a guy who’s established like that … it takes that little bit of — not awkwardness because I’ve known him, but it’s one of those things when you’re trying to figure it out, it took a half to be like, ‘OK.’<\/p>\n

“It’s a testament to him; it’s a testament to our group. And it’s not just me; it’s everybody. You just continue to take steps, and then when it was time for the fourth quarter, you just pick and choose.”<\/p>\n

Harden also praised the way Mitchell played Saturday night, calling his style “very, very unselfish.”<\/p>\n

“Tonight, you didn’t even know he got 35,” Harden said. “He’s just so effortless; he doesn’t force it. He just plays the game the right way.”<\/p>\n

Jarrett Allen<\/a> posted 29 points and 10 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who won for the eighth time in nine games.<\/p>\n

Nique Clifford<\/a> scored 30 points to lead Sacramento, which hasn’t won since beating the Washington Wizards<\/a> at home on Jan. 16. Russell Westbrook<\/a> added 21 points and nine assists for the Kings, who have lost six straight at home.<\/p>\n

The Cavs went into halftime leading 57-55, but the Kings took the lead in the third quarter at 96-93.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SACRAMENTO, Calif. — James Harden scored 23 points in his Cavaliers debut, and Donovan Mitchell put up 35…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-169053","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-sacramento","9":"tag-sacramento-headlines","10":"tag-sacramento-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}