The Cleveland Cavaliers are in the midst of one of their best stretches of the season, one coach Kenny Atkinson attributes to a “renewed confidence” brought on by the addition of James Harden.
“Bringing James on has given us a renewed confidence, if that makes sense. We understand we’re a better team,” Atkinson said after the Cavaliers’ 109-94 win over the New York Knicks on Tuesday night. “That spirit, that confidence for some strange reason, it makes you play harder, compete harder, compete harder defensively.
“I felt like we were kind of missing that edge, that belief. I feel like we’re regaining that. A lot of it has to do with who we added in the trade.”
The Cavaliers are 6-1 since acquiring Harden in a blockbuster deal ahead of the trade deadline, sending Darius Garland and a second-round pick to the LA Clippers in exchange for the 11-time All-Star. Overall, Cleveland has won eight of its past nine games.
“We’re pretty good, but the crazy part is we’ve had two practices,” Cavs star Donovan Mitchell said after scoring a team-high 23 points Tuesday. “There’s some nights we’re just playing off of each other … We’re just going off film and going off our IQ in this locker room and guys playing off each other and playing well.”
Harden has helped lift the offense. He is averaging 18.9 points and 8.0 assists on 49% shooting (49% from 3) in his seven games in Cleveland, despite not having much time to get acclimated to his new team.
“We got a few more notches to get to,” said Harden, who finished with 20 points against the Knicks. “We got what, 25 games? I think we can get there. Matter of fact, I know we can get there. I think it’s going to start defensively because offensively we can have six guys in double figures … defensive is going to be key.
“If we can find a way to really hone in defensively and really get stops and limit teams to one shot, we’re going to be very, very tough.”
The Cavs locked in defensively in the third quarter, holding New York to just 11 points, the Knicks’ lowest-scoring quarter since November 2022, according to ESPN Research.
That defensive intensity helped Cleveland get some vengeance on New York following a pair of high-profile losses on opening night and Christmas Day.
The Cavs avoided a season sweep by the Knicks and pulled into a tie with them for the No. 3 seed in the East.
Two months ago, on Christmas Day, Cleveland blew a 17-point lead to New York — a loss Mitchell pointed to after Tuesday’s game as a sign of the team’s growth over the past few months.
The Cavs are 20-7 since Christmas Day, the best record in the NBA, and Mitchell said he sees the belief growing in his team during this recent stretch.
“That was the first thing we brought up,” Mitchell said of the Christmas loss. “That’s why all year I’ve been talking about a lot of the struggles we went through. It’s kind of good to have because it’s like, you have stuff to point back to. So when you get into these situations, you have a team on the ropes, you got to finish it and get a knockout punch. That’s what we ended doing.”
