James Harden’s 3-point shooting is coming along, but his decision-making is not.
Harden recorded nine turnovers in the Nets’ 96-90 win against the Pistons on Friday. He now leads the league in total turnovers (44) and turnovers per game (4.89), one ahead of Russell Westbrook, who has been abominable as a new addition to the Lakers.
On one possession, Harden attempted to blow by Pistons second-year forward Saddiq Bey, and Bey poked the ball free into the backcourt. But instead of chasing the ball down, Harden opted to let the ball roll out of bounds.
That didn’t happen. Instead, Bey raced to the ball and took it to the rim for a two-handed stuff.
The Pistons scored 24 points on Brooklyn’s 17 total turnovers. Nets head coach Steve Nash conceded Harden has been irresponsible with the ball.
“I think I’d be lying if I didn’t say some of it was carelessness,” Nash said postgame. “But each game presents different tactical and emotional problems that you have to solve, and sometimes, I thought that, emotionally, we got a little bit off-kilter and we weren’t making simple, clear-headed decisions, trying to make home runs or just careless with it.
“It’s a good lesson for us. The positive is we found a way to win and the negative is we still realize we have a lot of work to do.”
Giveaways — and not the Thanksgiving turkey type — are the norm for Harden, who ranks first, third and fifth on the NBA’s all-time single-season turnover leaderboard. He is on pace to record 451 this season, which would slide him above Westbrook for No. 2 on the list, of course, behind himself.
But the Nets are going to need him to tighten up. Turnovers have been an Achilles heel for a championship-contending team off to a slow start. The Nets are averaging 15.4 turnovers per game, ranking 11th in the league in giveaways.
They will not be able to win a championship if they can’t take care of the ball. That’s a fact you’ll find on the inside of a Snapple cap.
Headed north
The Nets are taking their talents to Toronto for the second game of a six-game road trip. Kevin Durant is looking forward to playing up north because last season, the Raptors were forced to relocate to Tampa Bay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m excited that Toronto is open again and that they got their team back. It was a rough year for them,” Durant said. “That’s a unique fan base and you know they’re gonna be on their feet all game and giving their team some energy. So it’s gonna be a nice test for us. That’s a good team.”
Harden echoed Durant’s sentiment that the Raptors (6-4) will be a good challenge even though they lack star power now that Kyle Lowry has left for Miami.
“They’ve got one of the best fan bases, so it’s going to be exciting there,” he said. “They’re a scrappy team. I know it’s overlooked, but we can’t take anybody for granted.”
