James Harden’s arrival in Cleveland has sparked a fresh sense of life within the Cavaliers, a team that had been riding a rollercoaster season. He has helped turn things around, guiding them to the number four seed, leaving them just 2.5 games behind the Boston Celtics in second place. Donovan Mitchell, for one, is delighted.
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Mitchell is still searching for that ever-elusive NBA title. At age 29 and in his ninth season, he knows he will not remain in his prime for much longer. That is why, since the Cavs traded for Harden earlier this month, he has not been afraid to get candid about his goals alongside the All-NBA guard.
The former Jazz player spoke about how, when Harden arrived in Cleveland a few weeks ago, everyone was asking the same question.
“It’s the question everybody asks: How are we going to coexist? What are we going to do?” Mitchell told Andscape on Saturday at the Intuit Dome before the NBA 3-point competition.
“I’ve never played with a guy like James Harden. I never had a guy like that on my team. And we’re not here to figure out like who’s bigger, better, or whatever. How are we going to win?” he added.
So far with the Cavs, Harden and Mitchell have gone undefeated together. They have won three straight games heading into the break, with the latter scoring at least 30 points in each contest. Meanwhile, Harden is averaging 19 points and nearly nine assists per game. They have shown no issues coexisting.
“I don’t care how it happens. Let’s try to win the game,” he added. “Winning is the end-all, right? I’m not worried about how we’ll fit and how we’ll coexist because we have the same goal in mind, and it doesn’t matter how we get there. We just want to get there.”
If Harden can continue to stay motivated alongside his new teammate, one has to wonder how much noise the Cavaliers can make in the East. They are only one season removed from going 64–18 and coasting to the top seed in the conference. So far this season, they have looked like a sleeping giant.
But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. The Cavs’ wins with the duo have come against the Sacramento Kings, Denver Nuggets, and Washington Wizards. Two of those teams are basement dwellers, while the Nuggets have struggled as of late.
At the same time, Cleveland had already begun to turn things around before Harden arrived. Since the turn of the calendar year, they have gone 15–5 with Mitchell leading the way. He has been the constant heartbeat of the team and has kept them firmly in the mix for contention.
Together, Harden and Mitchell could be special. They have already shown flashes of what they might become, and now we get to watch that partnership unfold over the second half of the season and into the playoffs. It is exciting from a fan’s perspective and gives the team more juice than it had before.
