James Harden: ‘When I’m making shots, obviously it’s a blowout’
The Beard had some things to say on his role with this Nets team after beating the Boston Celtics yesterday. Harden posted a near-triple-double against Boston with 22 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists.
“My job is easy. Go out there and be a playmaker and then a scorer. Even nights when I’m not shooting the ball well like tonight, you got other guys that are able to make up for that. That’s the beauty of a great team.”
When it was Landry Shamet’s turn to talk on the mic he said “James (Harden) is one of the best passers I ever played with and probably the best I ever will play with.”
Looking at the numbers, James Harden was 6-16 from the field against Boston, which is not a typical shooting night for him. Harden usually ends the game shooting over or close to 50%. Now looking at his assist numbers, he had eight of them despite seven turnovers. So how were the Nets still able to beat the Celtics by 11 if Kevin Durant was still unavailable and Harden had a bad shooting night? The answer is quite simple:
“When I’m making shots obviously it’s a blowout” says Harden. “But if I’m not making shots, I know OK, now I’ve got shooters that get involved, try to get my bigs involved, and obviously [Kyrie] does what he does.”
In other words, the Beard does not need to have a good shooting night to win a game even if it’s up against a good team like the Celtics. No matter how what struggles happen in the game, his passing ability makes up for it.
