Shocker: Kings hold James Harden to four points; beat Nets to end seven-game losing streak
Former MVP James Harden has scored more than 23,000 points during his illustrious NBA career. In the days and weeks ahead, he will pass Elgin Baylor and Dwyane Wade to move into the top 30 on the league’s all-time scoring list, but he didn’t move much closer Wednesday night in Sacramento.
The Kings held Harden to four points — one of the lowest-scoring games of his career — while snapping a season-long seven-game losing streak with a 112-101 victory over the Brooklyn Nets at Golden 1 Center.
Kings forward Maurice Harkless served as the primary defender on Harden, who finished with four points on 2-of-11 shooting with eight rebounds, 12 assists and six turnovers in 37 minutes. Interim Kings coach Alvin Gentry said assistant Mike Longabardi designed the defensive game plan for Harden and Kyrie Irving, but it was up to the players to execute, something they have struggled to do all season.
“I’ve never seen (Harden) play 37 minutes and score four points,” Gentry said. “I don’t even know how to address that. I thought we tried to do what Longo set up from a game plan standpoint and we tried to keep him out of the paint as much as possible. We also tried to make sure on his step-back 3s, we were challenging him, but not to the point that we would be called for shooting fouls, and I thought we did a good job.”
Harrison Barnes had 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists for the Kings (19-34), who were missing De’Aaron Fox for the sixth consecutive game due to left ankle soreness. Davion Mitchell and Buddy Hield scored 18 points apiece. Tyrese Haliburton recorded his 13th double-double of the season with 12 points, 11 assists and zero turnovers in 39 minutes.
Nic Claxton had a career-high 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Nets (29-22), who have lost six in a row with Kevin Durant out due to a sprained MCL. Kyrie Irving was held to 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting with four turnovers while being guarded primarily by Mitchell, the defensive dynamo who came out of Baylor as the NCAA Defensive Player of the Year and the No. 9 pick in the 2021 NBA draft.
Gentry was right in his assessment of Harden, a nine-time All-Star and three-time NBA scoring champion. Harden was held to six points in 34 minutes against the Memphis Grizzlies on Nov. 17, 2014, but over his 13-year career he had never been held to less than six points while playing 30-plus minutes.
Gentry credited Harkless, who finished with 10 points, four rebounds, two blocked shots and a team-high plus-15 rating in the plus-minus column.
“To do that type of job on James is phenomenal,” Gentry said. “The 11 shots he took, I thought there was a challenge on 10 of them, for sure, and I just thought the fact that he did a good job of keeping him out of the lane, and he didn’t have nearly as much dribble penetration.”
The Kings acknowledged the Nets were on the second night of a back-to-back after losing to the Warriors on Tuesday. Fatigue might have been a factor, but Kings fans still rose to their feet, offering a standing ovation after Harkless and Mitchell spearheaded an inspired defensive effort.
“James and Kyrie, obviously, their offense is predicated on them having the ball through ball screens or iso situations,” Haliburton said. “Davion and Moe are great defenders, so I think they did a really good job. I thought when guys got switched on to them, we did a good job of just helping out and being there. I thought we did an amazing job as a collective unit, but credit to Moe and Davion for guarding those guys for the majority of the night.”
This story was originally published February 3, 2022 at 1:55 AM.
