Well, it finally happened. James Harden was traded away from the Houston Rockets and recently made his debut with the Brooklyn Nets, giving the rest of the NBA a glimpse of how terrifying they’re going to be from now on.
Harden was thrown into the mix right away and played big minutes, and as all superstars do, he made a huge impact in the blink of an eye. Clearly, he hasn’t missed a beat since he stopped playing next to Kevin Durant.
The Beard and KD completely torched the Orlando Magic and were an incredible two-man show in last night’s matchup, leading Brooklyn to an easy 122-115 win and leaving quite a solid first impression.
Steve Nash Teases James Harden After Debut With The Brooklyn Nets
Harden did a little bit of everything during his first game as a Net, scoring 32 points on 8/18 with 12 rebounds, 14 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, 3 three-pointers, and 9 turnovers. Ironically, it seems like the last stat was the one that impressed coach Steve Nash the most.
So, when talking about his debut, Nash jokingly addressed that situation by friendly teasing his new star:“Well, he stuffed the stat sheet! Wow, almost a quadruple-double! He’s a world-class basketball player,” Nash said after the game.
Needless to say, the former Phoenix Suns star later took his time to laud Harden for his game and the impact he made right away:
“I can’t say I’m surprised,” Nash said. “We had a pretty big simple size of him doing that [for] however many years in he’s been in the league. But it’s still not easy. He’s still not in his best condition yet, he’s joined a new group. Basically no practice time, and figured it out on the fly. He had a bunch of turnovers just because he’s new to the team and the group and you’re thrown out there in an NBA where the other team is an excellent-coached basketball team. (…) But all the things he did on the floor were incredible for his first game,” Nash concluded.
The Brooklyn Nets may have lost some depth with this trade but once Kyrie Irving is back on the court, they’re going to have one of the most impressive offensive juggernauts in league history. They just need to add a couple of veterans and they might as well end up winning their first-ever NBA championship.
