James Harden was hearing it from one of his old fanbases on Thursday (all times AEDT) — with chants that were in reference to one of his other former squads.
On free-throw attempts early in the first quarter against the Nets at Barclays Center, Harden, now a Clippers guard, heard chants of “Daryl Morey,” which was the president of basketball operations he seemingly butted heads with during his tenure in Philadelphia.
Harden, who made it known at the outset of the offseason that he wanted to be traded away from the 76ers, recently claimed that he felt like he was “on a leash” with the team.
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“Philly is just changing my role, knowing I could give more, knowing I could do more, but if you want to be honest, like being on a leash,” Harden said during his introductory Clippers press conference after finally getting dealt out of Philly.
Harden then clarified exactly what he meant by the “leash.”
“I meant that I think the game and I’m a creator on the court… (I need) somebody that trusts me, that believes in me, that understands me, that I’m not a system player. I am a system,” he said.
This came after a fraught summer in which Harden even called Morey a “liar.”
“Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of,” Harden said in a video posted by The Athletic’s Shams Charania in August.
“Let me say that again: Daryl Morey is a liar and I will never be a part of an organization that he’s a part of.”
Harden eventually got his wish and got a trade out of Philadelphia and is now with Los Angeles.
In just his second game of the season, Harden looked a bit rusty, making a second-quarter pass from beyond the 3-point arc in the corner that arced high and outside of the court, landing on press row and somehow in the lap of YES Network play-by-play man Ian Eagle.
Eagle, the veteran, made the catch and call with aplomb, despite getting some tea spilled onto his lap.
“That’s coming my way — I got it. Unbelievable. I could see it from the beginning,” Eagle said. “That might have been my greatest call in NBA history. I knew it from the second it left his hand.”
Harden finished with 12 rebounds, eight rebounds and five assists in the Clippers’ second straight loss, this time 100-93, in the New York area after a Tuesday night defeat at the hands of the Knicks.
-This story was originally published by Andrew Battifarano in The New York Post and reproduced with permission
WEMBY, SPURS SMASHED IN NY
Victor Wembanyama got a hostile introduction to the bright lights of New York.
The French prodigy and San Antonio Spurs struggled in a lopsided 126-105 loss to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.
New York busted out of the gates with 33 points in the first term to assert dominance on their younger opponent.
The Knicks led by as much as 30 at one stage during the third term to all but seal the result in an anti climax for Wembanyama’s highly-anticipated first game at the ‘Mecca of Basketball’.
New York fans at one stage went so far to brutally chant ‘overrated’ to the No. 1 pick when he shot a pair of free throws.
Wembanyama finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and a block, while Jeremy Sochan’s 16 points led the Spurs, who suffered their third-straight loss to fall to 3-5.
Julius Randle (23 points, 16 boards), Jalen Brusnon (25 points, six assists) and RJ Barrett (24 points, six assists) all led the way for the Knicks.
The win saw New York improve to 4-4.
GIANNIS EJECTED FOR TAUNTING … BUT BUCKS RALLY BY PISTONS
Despite Giannis Antetokounmpo being ejected for apparently taunting, the Milwaukee Bucks rallied past the Detroit Pistons 120-118 at home behind 34 points from Damian Lillard.
Lillard scored 18 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter and shot 12-of-13 from the line to lead a Bucks team that was also without Khris Middleton to its third consecutive victory.
Antetokounmpo’s night came to an abrupt end in the third quarter after he allegedly taunted Isaiaah Stewart after a dunking on the Pistons big, with the Bucks superstar receiving a second technical foul — and thus an automatic ejection.
Ejected for this?! Giannis cracks it | 00:54
The Bucks superstar attempted to sit courtside briefly before heading to the locker room.
“It’s an emotional game. He made a phenomenal play,” Bucks head coach Adrian Griffin said after the game, per the Associated Press. “It was exciting, emotional and I thought he moved on fairly quickly. So, I was surprised with the second technical, but that’s up to the league to decide.”
Detroit came surging back into the contest after including Stewart nailing consecutive threes late in the third followed by a Marcus Sasser triple to give the visitors the lead 88-87 with 2:13 left in the period.
The Pistons pushed ahead by as much as eight down the stretch of the third before Cameron Payne’s three-pointer reduced Milwaukee’s deficit to 95-90 heading into the last change.
Detroit got out to a nine-point advantage early in the fourth before Lillard took over, consistently getting to the free throw line in the last term to pace the Bucks.
Lillard made consecutive buckets inside the last two minutes and Brook Lopez buried a triple to give Milwaukee a 1179-115 lead with 40 seconds remaining that’d prove to be the match-winning shot.
Cade Cunningham (33 points, eight rebounds, eight assists) and Sasser (26 points, six boards) were Detroit’s best, while Bobby Portis scored 18 off the Milwaukee bench.
BROOKS, LEBRON RENEW RIVALRY
LeBron James and Dillon Brooks aren’t backing down from one another.
The two had an old-school showdown during the first quarter of Thursday’s game between the Lakers and Rockets — a 128-94 Houston win — that harkened back to 1990s basketball.
James and Brooks have a history dating back to last season’s first-round playoff series when Brooks was playing for the Grizzlies.
During Thursday’s battle, James used his strength to bully his way to the basket in the first quarter against some very tight defense by Brooks.
On the following possession, James attempted to do it again but had the ball stripped from him by Brooks, who emphatically celebrated the play.
In a video that was captured during pregame warmups, Brooks appeared to be staring down the Lakers side of the court, perhaps at James, trying to intimidate the opposition.
At another point during the game, a video showed Brooks and James standing toe-to-toe with one another and jawing back and forth.
Brooks’ feud with James can be traced back to last season when the then-Grizzlies forward called the NBA superstar “old” and struck him in the groin during Game 3 of the first-round series.
“I poke bears,” Brooks said to reporters in April. “I don’t respect no one until they come and give me 40.”
And going into Thursday’s game, Brooks told reporters he was “ready to lock (James) up.”
‘Psychologically warped’ Smith slams LBJ | 02:13
“He’s shooting the ball well. He’s been playing well. So I’m just there to make him tired, make him get into that fourth quarter early,” Brooks said.
James tried to keep his head above water in terms of feeding the rivalry ahead of Wednesday night.
The NBA superstar said going into the game that Brooks deserved the contract that he received — four years and $80 million — from the Rockets after the Grizzlies did not re-sign him.
“Every player that is rewarded with a contract is rewarded for a reason, and they’re worthy of the contract they get,” James told reporters during Wednesday’s shootaround. “I think in his case, he was worthy of the contract that he got.
“He’s put in the work since he came out of Oregon, and that’s what Houston found value in him and he’s here.”
James finished the night with 18 points while Brooks ended his night with five points and four rebounds in 25 minutes.
-This story was originally published by Christian Arnold in The New York Post and reproduced with permission.
ELSEWHERE …
Nikola Jokic scored 35 points as the Denver Nuggets defeated the Golden State Warriors 108-105 in a blockbuster showdown between the two NBA heavyweights.
A pulsating clash featuring the last two NBA champions lived up to the billing, with the Western Conference rivals going toe-to-toe in a game that saw the lead change hands nine times.
After trailing for almost the entire game at Denver’s Ball Arena, the Warriors edged in front heading into the fourth quarter after outscoring Denver 31-23 in the third.
But Denver recovered from a five-point deficit early in the fourth to snatch victory, clinching the win after Klay Thompson’s attempted game-tying buzzer-beater drifted wide.
The victory cemented Denver’s place at the top of the Western Conference, with the reigning NBA champions improving to 8-1.
“We don’t have the pressure of being a champion, we’re just trying to enjoy the moment,” Jokic told ESPN.
“I’m just trying to play the game the right way. And as long as we’re winning I think I’m doing a good job,” added Jokic, who also had 13 rebounds and five assists.
Reggie Jackson backed Jokic with 20 points while Michael Porter Jr. had 17. Steph Curry’s 23 points led the scoring for the Warriors, the 2022 champions who fell to 6-3 after the loss.
Elsewhere, Joel Embiid posted 27 points with 10 rebounds and four assists as the Philadelphia 76ers secured a sixth straight win of the season with a 106-103 defeat of the Boston Celtics.
Embiid received offensive support from Tyrese Maxey, who finished with 25 points from 11-of-27 shooting, including three from beyond the arc.
The victory leaves Philadelphia in first place in the Eastern Conference on 6-1, with the Milwaukee Bucks second at 5-2.
Kristaps Porzingis led Boston’s scoring with 29 points while Derrick White finished with 19 points and Jayson Tatum 16.
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse paid tribute to the contributions of Maxey and Embiid.
“We’ve got an emerging young star in Tyrese, we’ve got an unbelievable player in Joel, and we’ve got a lot of talented athletes around them who give us some depth,” Nurse said.
ALL RESULTS
CELTICS 103 76ERS 106
JAZZ 118 PACERS 134
WIZARDS 132 HORNETS 116
SPURS 105 KNICKS 126
CLIPPERS 93 NETS 100
CAVALIERS 120 THUNDER 128
PELICANS 101 TIMBERWOLVES 122
PISTONS 118 BUCKS 120
LAKERS 94 ROCKETS 128
SUNS 116 BULLS 115 (OT)
RAPTORS 127 MAVERICKS 116
HEAT 108 GRIZZLIES 102
WARRIORS 105 NUGGETS 108
BLAZERS 118 KINGS 121 (OT)