{"id":635154,"date":"2026-05-10T18:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T18:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/635154\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T18:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T18:00:10","slug":"james-hardens-late-takeover-fuels-cavaliers-game-3-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/635154\/","title":{"rendered":"James Harden\u2019s late takeover fuels Cavaliers\u2019 Game 3 win"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

James Harden added 19 points in the Cavaliers\u2019 Game 3 win.<\/p>\n

CLEVELAND (AP) \u2014 James Harden endured plenty of criticism after the first two games of Cleveland\u2019s Eastern Conference Semifinal series<\/a> against Detroit.<\/p>\n

With the Cavaliers in danger of falling into a 3-0 hole that no NBA team has ever overcome, the 17-year veteran showed he can still come up big in the clutch.<\/p>\n

Harden hit three shots in the final two minutes Saturday to lift the Cavaliers to a 116-109 victory over the Pistons<\/a> in Game 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love it. When my number\u2019s called, just getting to my spots,\u201d said Harden, who finished with 19 points and seven assists in 40 minutes. \u201cDon(ovan) Mitchell had been working so extremely hard throughout the course of the game, just trying to find opportunities to help him. So that last minute and a half, two minutes, however long it was, it presented itself. And for me, just going out there and taking my shots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harden was 8-for-14 from the field after going 3-for-13 in Thursday\u2019s 107-97 loss at Detroit<\/a>. His long-distance shooting also picked up as he went 3-for-7 on 3-pointers. He was 3-for-20 from beyond the arc in his last four games before Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the James Harden I\u2019ve seen for how many years he\u2019s been in the NBA. That\u2019s the James we needed tonight,\u201d Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. \u201cWe were searching and we got some good screenings into the matchups we wanted and he went to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harden was scoreless in the fourth quarter and took only three shots during the second half on Thursday, along with a critical turnover in the final minute that ended any hopes of a Cleveland comeback.<\/p>\n

The 2018 NBA Kia MVP<\/a> had nine points in the fourth quarter on Saturday, with seven coming in the final 89 seconds.<\/p>\n

With the shot clock running down, Harden drove the lane and hit a 16-foot step-back jumper with 1:29 remaining to push Cleveland\u2019s lead to 108-104.<\/p>\n

After a driving dunk by Detroit\u2019s Cade Cunningham, Harden came up big again. He drove past Duncan Robinson and made a floating 7-footer in the paint to put the lead back up to four.<\/p>\n

Cunningham responded with a 3-pointer before Harden provided the decisive blow with 25 seconds remaining on a step-back 3-pointer while being guarded by Tobias Harris to make it 113-109.<\/p>\n

\u2033We understand that [James Harden] hit some tough shots and made an impact on the game. But we can be tougher than that,\u201d Harris said.<\/p>\n

After committing 11 turnovers the first two games of the Detroit series and averaging 5.2 in Cleveland\u2019s first nine playoff games, Harden had only three on Saturday. It was only the second time he has committed fewer than four this postseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m literally here to find my spots and figure out what needs to be done and try to contribute in the best way possible. So I mean, chatter is going to be chatter regardless. I mean, whether you do something good, whether you do something bad,\u201d Harden said. \u201cI\u2019ve done an unbelievable job throughout the course of my career of just understanding what the job needs to be, especially as I get older and doing whatever it takes to win the game. So that\u2019s the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell, who had 35 points and 10 rebounds, said there is a balance for opponents in figuring out who to guard because of the scoring ability of him and Harden.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving the ultimate trust in him and vice versa I think is why those moments happen. Every game calls for something different and you\u2019ve got to be able to just kind of find a way to manipulate it and be selfless. And I think as a collective, that\u2019s the biggest thing,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Harden added 19 points in the Cavaliers\u2019 Game 3 win. CLEVELAND (AP) \u2014 James Harden endured plenty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[274332,355,99],"class_list":["post-635154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-james-harden-takeover-game-3","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635154","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=635154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}