Let’s be clear about something before we start.

I don’t want to talk about the Western Conference Finals right now. OKC and San Antonio can wait. Yeah yeah I know, best NBA matchup possible, two franchises shaped by the Warriors’ dynasty, playing for a trip to the Finals. And yet I genuinely do not care at this moment because something more important just happened.

James Harden, a man whose former general manager once argued he was FACTUALLY better than Michael Jordan at scoring the basketball according to an old ESPN interview, finished his season getting swept by the New York Knicks, shooting 2-for-8 in a Game 4 elimination where his team lost by 37 points at home. Then he walked to the podium and told reporters he thinks Cleveland is the better team after his team got Mike Tyson Punch-Out!!’d for four games.

This is not a roast. I sincerely want you to understand that. This is an appreciation article for the legend of James Harden. And legends deserve respect for what they are before you tell me what they aren’t.

Is James Harden an NBA champion? Absolutely not. But let’s talk about what he is: an exciting playoff good luck charm for whichever team happens to be standing across from him. TAKE MY WORD FOR IT.

Remember that Oklahoma City had something terrifying in 2012. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and a lefty Sixth Man of the Year off the bench named James Harden who looked like the next Manu Ginóbili except with a Mr. T mohawk and a giant beard. He was slashing, shooting threes, creating, passing. The whole package, coming off the pine. They made it to the NBA Finals but got overwhelmed by a savvier, legendary Miami Heat team.

Then they traded him to Houston because they didn’t want to pay him. We were all stunned. He was stunned. The city of OKC probably told themselves they’d be fine but it only took them a decade to reach the NBA Finals again.

Harden got to Houston and immediately became one of the most unstoppable offensive players in NBA history. There was a real debate about who was better between him and Steph Curry lmao. The Spurs really besmirched all of that in 2017. Their best player Kawhi Leonard didn’t even play in the pivotal Game 6 that saw Houston fall apart in a way that was absolutely mystifying. Harden had 10 points and 6 turnovers in an elimination game at home while the Spurs closed them out. That’s pretty damning.

Houston rebuilt around him. The 2017-18 version of James Harden was legitimately terrifying as he rolled to an MVP season. The Warriors almost lost to that team, as the Dubs got behind 3-2, Chris Paul got hurt, and the rest is documented in an ESPN 30 for 30 you should watch if you want to feel things. Harden’s flameout led to the team missing 27 straight three-pointers and collapsing at home.

That Houston team was James Harden at his absolute peak and it still wasn’t enough. The Warriors were just better. The next season the Warriors eliminated the Rockets again, something I documented in hilarious musical fashion:

But Harden kept going. Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and the Clippers. He was aging but still crafty, still great enough at the game of basketball to make GM after GM believe he was the missing championship piece.

Then Cleveland called, and the basketball world collectively thought: okay. That’s a contending roster with Donovan Mitchell and a fresh start. Let’s see what James Harden does with one last real shot. Then Cleveland was bashed by New York’s brooms in a vicious sweep. Harden got turned into a traffic cone by the Knicks’ calculated attack, and offensively he never put his imprint on the series.

You know a Harden team by the fingerprints it leaves behind. Everytime he starts failing somebody in a nice suit appears talking about analytics. Numbers get cited that don’t account for the score. Winning feels optional, philosophically speaking. Down 3-0 to the Knicks, his current coach Kenny Atkinson climbed to the podium and announced, with a straight face, that Cleveland had analytically won two of the three games they’d just lost.

Donovan Mitchell, to his credit, tried to defend his teammate after the sweep. He compared Harden to Michael Jordan, Stephen Curry, and Allen Iverson, said the man changed the game of basketball, and said we don’t talk about his greatness enough. Mitchell is a good teammate. He also lost four straight games to the Knicks and is going to need a long summer.

Here’s the thing every contender eventually learns.

Golden State didn’t just beat James Harden. They ruined his Houston Rockets’ championship aspirations. They studied him, game-planned for him, and when he showed up on the other side of a playoff bracket, the coaching staff treated it less like a threat and more like a weather forecast they’d already seen. Former Warriors assistant and current Knicks coach Mike Brown talked about it openly.

And when you have longtime Harden antagonist Draymond Green fighting to preserve Harden’s dignity on national television alongside Ernie Johnson and the Inside the NBA crew, that’s when you know it’s looking bad.

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