James Harden's reputation as a diminishing performer in the playoffs is well known around the league, having been something harvested across many years including multiple battles against the Golden State Warriors.
No, Harden has never played for the Warriors, but nevertheless they've seen up close the former MVP falter in the biggest moments. Unfortunately for the Cleveland Cavaliers, they're now realizing that their new All-Star guard has this reputation for a reason after a pair of underwhelming performances in Toronto during their first-round series against the Raptors.
Cavaliers reaching James Harden realization Warriors knew years ago
After Harden had a pair of relatively strong performances to help Cleveland to a 2-0 lead on their home floor, that's been followed by two-straight games where the 36-year-old has committed more turnovers than made field-goals.
Harden's 19 points and eight assists during Sunday's loss to the Raptors isn't completely horrific, but as a lead offensive creator, the Cavaliers simply needed something slightly more from their mid-season acquisition to prevent the hosts from claiming a low-scoring 93-89 win despite shooting just 32% from the floor.
Harden's averages of 21.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 2.0 steals on 47.5% shooting from the floor and 38.7% from 3-point range in this series isn't terrible, but his 24 total turnovers is certainly a massive problem that now has Cleveland in a serious fight with less favored opposition.
This is just the way things tend to go with Harden though. As the leader of an excellent Houston Rockets team during his prime, Harden had arguably two opportunities to take down the dynastic Warriors in 2018 and 2019.
James Harden simply couldn't get over the hump against the Warriors
The Rockets had a surprise 3-2 series lead against the Warriors in 2018, but even more pressure was lumped onto Harden considering a late Game 5 injury to Chris Paul. Harden did have 32 points in each of the final two games, but that's a bit misleading given it came on 53 field-goal attempts (including 6-of-25 from 3-point range) while also committing 14 combined turnovers as Golden State came back to advance on their way to a championship.
The year after it was the Warriors who were up 3-2, only to be heading to Houston for Game 6 without the injured Kevin Durant. Harden put up big numbers from a box score standpoint, yet again shot only 44% from the floor and committed six turnovers in a 118-113 defeat.
Harden does average nearly 30 points and over six assists per game in his playoff career against Golden State, but he shoots just 43.1% from the floor, 31.6% from 3-point range, averages 4.6 turnovers, and holds a 7-16 win-loss record in a fairly one-sided rivalry.
Perhaps this is why the Warriors have never put their hat in the ring to acquire Harden whenever he's become available, with the Cavaliers now the latest team to learn of his shortcomings in the playoffs.
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