{"id":498399,"date":"2026-03-02T00:40:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T00:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/498399\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T00:40:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T00:40:07","slug":"harden-scores-22-points-with-broken-thumb-leads-cavaliers-over-the-nets-106-102","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/498399\/","title":{"rendered":"Harden scores 22 points with broken thumb, leads Cavaliers over the Nets 106-102"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK — – James Harden<\/a> scored 22 points in his return to the lineup with a broken thumb and the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> snapped a two-game skid with a 106-102 victory over the Brooklyn Nets<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Harden missed two games after fracturing his thumb earlier in the week. He bounced back and shot 5 for 9 from the field, 4 for 7 from 3-point distance and 8 for 12 from the line, with nine rebounds and eight assists. He was injured Tuesday night in a 109-94 home victory over New York<\/a>. X-rays Wednesday showed a non-displaced fracture of the distal phalanx. The 17-year veteran was traded by the Los Angeles Clippers to Cleveland on Feb. 4.<\/p>\n

Jarrett Allen<\/a> scored 20 points and Evan Mobley<\/a> added 16 points and 13 rebounds as the Cavaliers improved to 12-1 in their last 13 games against the Nets. Sam Merrill<\/a> finished with 15 points and Dennis Schroder<\/a> had 10.<\/p>\n

Michael Porter Jr<\/a>. scored 26 points on 10-for-17 shooting, and Danny Wolf<\/a> added 23 points and nine rebounds for Brooklyn, which lost its eighth straight game and for the 11th time in 13 games. Nolan Traore<\/a> contributed 17 points and Grant Nelson<\/a> 11 as the Nets slipped to 15-45 overall.<\/p>\n

The Nets led 56-42 at halftime, helped by 50% (21 for 42) shooting from the field.<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers rallied in the second half and led by eight points with just over three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter before Brooklyn rallied.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn closed within three points (102-99) on a basket by Traore with 28.6 seconds left and within a point (102-101) following two free throws by Wolf with 9.2 seconds showing. Schroder made a pair of free throws and Wolf hit 1 of 2, giving the Cavs a two-point lead with 5.9 seconds left. Schroder and Mobley added free throws in the final seconds to seal the win.<\/p>\n

Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell<\/a> was sidelined for a third straight game due to a groin injury. Dean Wade<\/a> also sat out due to a sprained ankle.<\/p>\n

Up next<\/p>\n

Cavaliers: Host the Detroit Pistons<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Nets: At the Miami Heat<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

——<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nba<\/a>br\/]<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK — – James Harden scored 22 points in his return to the lineup with a broken…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[227619,671,8174,352,355,99],"class_list":["post-498399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-227619","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-espn","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}