James Harden was terrible on Thursday night.
That happens to star players - they have bad games. Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley were terrible in the Cleveland Cavaliers ' Game 3 loss to the Toronto Raptors, too. The 126-104 final margin took a lot of awful performances from Cleveland to produce.
But something is different when Harden has the terrible game. There isn't always a bounce-back game in him. There isn't the same ability to shrug and move on. Harden brings with him a lot of baggage from his past, and when he starts to open the zipper, it all comes bursting out.
And if Harden devolves into a playoff bust once more, the Cavaliers have no shot of winning multiple rounds in the playoffs. The Beard may doom the season.
James Harden has a history of doing this
Pick a year, and James Harden definitely made the playoffs (he has never missed the playoffs in his entire career) and he has probably disappointed. Sometimes the problem is injuries to teammates, or running into a buzzsaw of an opponenent.
Usually, however, the problem is Harden.
He has a nightmarish track record of folding under the bright lights. When a series gets tight, Harden wets the bed. Come up with a metaphor for failing under pressure, and you can apply it to one James Harden. From the Houston Rockets to the Philadelphia 76ers to the LA Clippers, Harden has an All-Star regular season, a couple of good games in the playoffs, and then he falls apart.
That is why one bad game is not a blip for Harden; it's a sign of things to come. It's stoking the fires of trauma for basketball fans who have seen this episode before. Harden is continually playing reruns of playoff failure each and every season like he is TV Land -- except instead of the quippy fun of M*A*S*H, he is playing a basketball horror story.
Cleveland is about to feel the pain
The Cavaliers knew what they were getting into when they traded for Harden. They had been living their own horror story the past few seasons, trying to win with a small backcourt, and decided to move on from Darius Garland. Necessary? Perhaps. But moving on to land Harden all-but-confirmed that they would disappoint in the playoffs. It's what he does.
Harden's shelves are lined with beard products and not playoff trophies because he is not built for the big stage. His descent into madness may not be linear; he could bounce back and have a good game or two still in him. In a few weeks, however, history screams that the Cavaliers will be heading home, and that Harden will be largely to blame.
Can Cleveland beat Toronto without Harden playing well? They can. Is there a scenario where the Orlando Magic make it to the second round and the Cavs get a beatable opponent? Sure. In the end, however, Harden will be their doom, and the team will take another disappointing playoff exit ramp.
It's what he does.
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