“I think production-wise, playing for my country is probably where I tend to play the best”: Patty Mills disagrees with James Harden’s view that the former Spurs guard is in the form of his career
James Harden believes his fellow Brooklyn Nets teammate is having the best stretch of his basketball career but Patty Mills says he has played better for the Aussies
One year after Kyrie Irving set the Christmas Day record for threes with seven 3-pointers, Patty Mills broke it by scoring 8 against the Lakers. That’s not the only record Mills broke this season due to Irving’s unavailability for the Brooklyn Nets.
The Aussie point guard spoiled Christmas Eve for LeBron James and Co, equalling his career-best 34 points. Mills scored his 100th three for the season, going 8/13 from downtown. His fellow guard James Harden believes that this season is Patty’s best stretch as the 33-year-old is having his career-best season in the NBA.
“Yeah, I think so,” Harden said when asked if this was Mills’ best stretch. “Obviously people know how many big shots Patty hit when he was in San Antonio consistently, but he has a much bigger role on this team just because we’ve been having all the injuries and dealing with guys being out of the lineup.”
But Mills believes otherwise.
Patty Mills believes he has played better for the Australian National Team
The 12-year NBA veteran, Mills has played the majority of his career with the San Antonio Spurs. Largely coming off the bench, Mills played a big part as a sniper for Gregg Popovic’s successful Spurs team that won the Larry O’Brien over LeBron’s Miami Heat in 2014.
But it’s the ongoing season that gave Patty the best opportunity to show the NBA what he can do with the minutes he’s getting. And even after averaging his career-best 14.3 points per game, he believes it’s still not the best stretch of his career, disagreeing with his fellow teammate.
James Harden thinks this is the best basketball of Patty Mills’ career, but Mills leans otherwise: “Yeah, it could be. Production-wise, playing for my country is probably where I tend to play the best.” #Nets
— Kristian Winfield (@Krisplashed) December 26, 2021
“Yeah it could be [my best stretch] maybe in the NBA,” Mills said. “I think production-wise, playing for my country is probably where I tend to play the best as well. But, yeah, possibly,”
The Tokyo Olympic Bronze medalist continued, “A lot of factors go into that I think. But like I said, I’m just having a lot of fun playing with this team and playing with these guys and that’s definitely coming into play as well. So, yeah, possibly.”
Mills plays a lot of minutes for his national team and is a FIBA legend of the sort, who torches most of the teams he faces. He averages around 20 points per game, playing just over 30 minutes for the Australian National team.
Mills never had the opportunity to play that many minutes in the NBA. Having just under 20 minutes career average, he has not averaged more than 26 minutes in a season.
But due to the Nets’ struggle with Kyrie Irving and the players under health and safety protocols, he’s getting massive minutes. He is making the most of the opportunity he is getting, by getting important wins for the Nets even without Kevin Durant.
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