James Harden made his Nets debut Friday night and it couldn’t have gone much better.
He looked like the Harden of old, the Harden of the Rockets, finishing with 32 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds in the Nets’ 122-115 home win over the Magic.
The Nets didn’t get to unveil their entire Big Three. Harden and Kevin Durant played. Kyrie Irving (personal reasons/safety protocols) did not.
“Man it was incredible,” Durant told reporters of Harden’s debut. “You could see him trying to figure out the best way to play. Early on I felt like we were all overpassing, trying to make everybody comfortable. Then he just got into his mode of being aggressive to score and that opened up the whole game for all of us.”
As good as Harden was, Durant was even better. Durant erupted for 42 points, making 5-of-8 shots from behind the 3-point line. Joe Harris filled in as a third wheel, scoring an underrated 17 points off what seemed to be more good looks at the basket than usual.
But this night was all about Harden.
“I’m a hooper,” Harden said. “I’m very unselfish. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to win. And obviously KD is just an elite, different type of basketball player as far as the way he’s able to score. It’s so easy for him, and I know that. I just want to make it a little bit easier if I can. And for the rest of our teammates, our shooters and our bigs, make it easier for them. So it was pretty easy out there.”
All of which is bound to make life easier for first-time head coach Steve Nash, not to mention top assistant Mike D’Antoni, Harden’s coach each of the past four seasons in Houston.
“He stuffed the stat sheet. Wow, almost a quadruple double,” Nash said of Harden. “But James is a brilliant basketball player and we’ve got to incorporate them, find a way to make this thing jell and put him in a position to do what he does, and for him to make our guys better. … We know what he is: He’s a world class basketball player.
“He’s had obviously a very strange start to the season, stop-start year, he’s not in his best condition yet. So for him to do as many things as he did on the basketball floor was incredible. … He was incredible for a guy who is just trying to get himself in shape.”
