“The Crowd Threw Me Off”- James Harden Reacts to the Audience Present Against Celtics
The Brooklyn Nets went head to head against the Boston Celtics in the first round of the eastern conference playoffs and came off on top in their first game against the Celtic squad. However, James Harden admitted that the reason for his slow start was the presence of fans and the crowd back in the arena, chanting and cheering on.
James Harden, a part of the Brooklyn big three, had the least productive game, ending the night with 21 points.
But if you look at the full stat sheet, Harden no sense whatsoever had a bad game. Though he just had 21 points, many players in the NBA can’t even finish the game sinking 2, but moreover, Harden’s full game stat-sheet was 21, 9, and 8; 21 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists. That’s almost a triple-double right there. And as Harden has taken over the point guard responsibilities since his arrival to Brooklyn, I, for one, would not say that Harden had an off-game.
Kevin Durant was the star of the game ending the night with 34 points, and Kyrie ended the night with 29 points, and Harden was the least productive out of the three in the first game against the Boston Celtics.
Though I believe James Harden is the key to this matchup with the Celtics due to the absence of Jaylen Brown. Brown has been a defensive anchor for the Celtics, and his absence affects them majorly on the defensive side. And since Brown is out of the Celtics lineup, Marcus Smart has been given the assignment to cover the shifty lefty, Harden.
The Celtics had a poor performance in game 1, but that can also be credited to the Nets Stellar defense, which we know isn’t the case. The Celtics did not play well in the first game. Kemba Walker struggled the whole game, the main scorer Jason Tatum got shut down early, and other role players did not chip in enough.
If the Celtics really want to win this matchup, they will have to make some changes, bring new players off the bench and try different combinations to go against the Brooklyn big three because all three players of the BBT(Brooklyn Big Three) are pure scorers that can pour it in any given night.
Even after calling it an off night, Harden almost had a triple-double. This only means that James Harden is prepping to drop a 50 point game soon. Whether the crowd threw Harden off his game this one time or not, it’ll surely not happen again because Harden is absolutely resilient that way; scoring 40 to 50 points in a jam-packed arena with a hand in his face. He is unfazed that way, so the people counting on Harden having another off night, I’d suggest you stop counting to save both your time and energy because Harden is going to have a monster game as far as I feel real, real soon. And it may just be against the Boston Celtics.
The Brooklyn Nets will be facing the Boston Celtics for Game 2 of the first round of the eastern conference playoffs this Wednesday, 26 May, at 5 am IST. It is surely going to be an exciting game to watch.
