“Apologize to James Harden”: Malik Beasley’s ‘Okay Damn’ Reaction to James Harden Dropping 50 Has NBA Fans Up in Arms

One night ago, James Harden turned back the clock. The Beard dropped a 50-piece on the Detroit Pistons, thanks to a solid night from behind the arc (6 total threes), that led his Clippers to a 123-115 victory. Harden balling out was widely discussed online, including by Pistons star Malik Beasley, who was stunned by the 35-year-old’s performance.

Interestingly enough, Beasley claimed that Harden was “easy to guard” during an appearance on a live stream a couple of weeks ago. He argued that Harden dribbles nonstop before making his move. So “if you know the game,” it was ineffective. He added that players like Klay Thompson or Steph Curry were much harder to guard because of their ability to move off a screen.

That wasn’t the position he took after Harden torched the Pistons on Wednesday. Instead, Beasley tweeted out, “He had 50 Okayyyyyyyy damnnnnn,” an indication that he, as Shaq would say, was not familiar with his game. Beasley didn’t get off that easy though.

A slew of fans rushed to comment on the post and remind the 28-year-old of what he had said previously.

“Apologize to Harden,” wrote a user named @FeelLikeOBK. The smoke didn’t stop there.

Another person wrote, “Need a formal apology written out to Uno.”

To give some credit to Beasley, on the same live stream where he boldly stated that Harden was “easy to guard,” he did compliment the southpaw’s step-back jumper, a weapon he heavily utilized in his 50-point game. The Beard also dropped 20 points from the free throw line. It was that stat that didn’t sit right with Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff.

Bickerstaff was asked about Harden’s 50-bomb in the post-game press conference

Harden’s insane performance was one of the first questions brought up to Bickerstaff in the post-game presser. He admitted that Harden deserved all the credit, but pointed to a flaw in the rules that saw The Beard get to the line far too often.

“If you’re not allowed to put your body on him legally and he’s allowed to shoot 20 free throws, you’re not gonna be able to guard him,” said J.B.

He did go on to call Harden an “elite offensive scorer,” but recognized that their gameplan for him was essentially ruined due to the amount of free throws he shot.

Regardless of J.B.’s gameplan or Beasley “knowing ball,” what Harden did Wednesday was historic. This marked his 24th 50+ point game, putting him one behind the great Kobe Bryant for the 3rd most 50-point performances of all time.