{"id":631478,"date":"2026-05-08T19:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T19:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/631478\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T19:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T19:42:09","slug":"you-shrink-stephen-a-smith-calls-out-james-harden-after-playoff-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/631478\/","title":{"rendered":"‘You Shrink’ – Stephen A. Smith Calls Out James Harden After Playoff Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith<\/a> chose violence this Friday when talking about Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> star James Harden<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Harden had a miserable performance in Game 2 against the Detroit Pistons<\/a>, finishing with 10 points, four turnovers and three assists. It marked the second game in a row that the former MVP had more turnovers than field goals made.<\/p>\n

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This isn’t just a two-game slump for Harden. He’s averaging 5.2 turnovers per game this postseason. He’s also making just 32.2% of his attempts from downtown, which is on pace to be his lowest 3-point shooting percentage since 2018.<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

\"May<\/p>\n

May 7, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden (1) shoots in the first half against the Detroit Pistons during game two of the second round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images\u00a9 Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images&period;<\/p>\n

During this Friday’s edition of “First Take,” Smith addressed Harden’s struggles in the postseason. Not only did he put the 11-time All-Star on notice, he suggested his Hall of Fame status could get revoked.<\/p>\n

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“We look at players and say their Hall of Famers before they get there. I’m going to look at the camera and say this to James Harden: Your status is on the verge of being revoked,” Smith said.<\/a> “Somebody needs to tell him this. … As the moment intensifies, you shrink!”<\/p>\n

Cavaliers still have confidence in Harden.<\/p>\n

After dropping Game 2 on Thursday night, Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell<\/a> made it clear that he’s still got a ton of confidence in Harden turning this series around.<\/p>\n

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“He’s James Harden; we’re not sitting here worried,” Mitchell told reporters. “He’s going to figure this out.”<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers are running out of time for Harden to figure things out. A loss on Saturday would essentially put this series to bed.<\/p>\n

Game 3 between the Cavaliers and Pistons will tip off at 3 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by The Spun<\/a> on May 8, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA<\/a> section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith chose violence this Friday when talking about Cleveland Cavaliers star James Harden. Harden had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[8174,4576,13054,6418,355,99,3692],"class_list":["post-631478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-donovan-mitchell","tag-james-harden","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-stephen-a-smith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631478","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=631478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}