NBA playoffs: What’s at stake for James Harden, Donovan Mitchell

Donovan Mitchell knows What is at stake.

As this Cavs 2026 playoff run begins, one of the most important post-LeBron JamesCleveland’s team of the era, Mitchell talked about the weight of being a superstar. It’s lonely at the top, he told ESPN, and few players realize the burden it carries. He has been doing this for a long time.

That’s why, he said, he’s so grateful to have his new backcourt partner. James HardenAnd why is that? The Cavaliers earned an 11-time All-Star — The huge weight of being a team’s No. 1 option to help on Mitchell’s shoulders.

“I appreciate when you have a guy like that,” Mitchell told ESPN. “He’s here. He’s been where I’ve been and trying to go. I feel like we can talk to each other through the good, the bad and the indifferent.”

The Cavaliers made, perhaps, the boldest move of any team this season when they traded the 26-year-old former All-Star point guard. Darius Garland For the 36-year-old Harden. It teamed up with Mitchell, 29, a kindred spirit and tortured basketball soul.

Harden and Mitchell have made the postseason every year of their NBA careers, 17 seasons for Harden and nine for Mitchell.

Still, neither won the championship. Mitchell didn’t even make a conference final. It’s this shared void that the Cavs hope propels their team toward a deep playoff run.

Since their first game since the trade in February, Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said he saw a natural chemistry between the two, which clicked instantly.

“This league is about a lot when You get a player in their career,” Atkinson said last week. “I think we got James at the right time.”

Completion of Harden’s evolution, from young bench scorer with the Thunder to volume scorer and perennial MVP candidate Houston RocketsNow a more traditional point guard role, fits perfectly with what the Cavaliers need. He’s comfortable in his role as a table setter and looks to lend his veteran leadership and wisdom to a Cavs team that hasn’t gotten out of the second round since 2018.

That effort is multifaceted. he Also Trying to rewrite his own narrative around his playoff mistakes and doing so while trying to cement their combination on the fly. “I know we’re behind,” Harden said. “What speeds up the process is communication and talking, helping each other.

“We have, I don’t even know how many games together. So during games, practice days, whatever, our communication on the plane is very important. It can get us over the hump.”

That’s the Cavs Seven games are needed To overcome the No. 5-seed Toronto Raptors The first round only fueled those narratives, adding pressure on a pairing and a franchise surrounded by palpable excitement.

After a dominant start in the Toronto series, neither Harden nor Mitchell played up to their high standards. Mitchell opened the playoffs with back-to-back 30-point games but has since been held under 25 points in six straight games, averaging 20.5 points, shooting 30% from 3 and getting to the free throw line just 1.7 times per game.

Meanwhile, Harden has turned the ball over more times than he has made field goals in three of his last six games. He has recorded such games 29 times throughout his playoff career – the fifth most in NBA history.

Cleveland lost in the second round for more than the third straight time this season Trace already top pick Detroit Pistons 1-0 entering Game 2 Thursday night — the Cavs will almost certainly need more from their star duo. How the Cavs finish this playoff run will have a significant impact on the duo’s reputation and, perhaps more importantly, determine the future of the most expensive roster in basketball.

“I’ve been here before, the pressure isn’t really — I don’t really feel it,” Mitchell told ESPN. “It’s not stress. It’s stress to get your next meal. Where am I going to be? You know, it’s stress. It’s an opportunity. It’s fun.

“At least I know we put our best foot forward regardless of the outcome. … In years past, something — just didn’t go my way. Now I’m like: We’ve made the moves. We’ve discussed. Now, just keep walking.”

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Their search continues In the most famous place — Trailing 1-0 in the playoff series.

Two days after their Game 7 victory over the Raptors, Harden added another breakout performance to his playoff resume.

He shot 2-of-8 through the first three quarters and turned the ball over five times. He called his turnovers self-inflicted this postseason and vowed to clean them up, yet his 43 turnovers in eight games during this playoff run are second-most in the league. (of Detroit Cade Cunningham (There are 48 turnovers through eight games.)

Harden’s fourth quarter response. His vintage performance, going 4-of-7 from the field with 13 points, marked the first time he had double digits in the fourth quarter since the first round of 2024. LA Clippers.

The Cavs tied the score with 5:28 left, but the Pistons responded with seven points. They were the team that made the plays down the stretch to seal it, while Cleveland still couldn’t find a way to unlock Harden and Mitchell, who was 2 of 6 with six points at the same time this postseason.

“It’s just a matter of being sharp,” Mitchell said after Tuesday’s game. “There was some carry-over from the last series, but we will clean that up and move forward.”

Harden echoed his backcourt mates.

“For me, I’ve got to get better,” Harden said. “I’ll be fine, not turning the basketball over.”

Since leaving Houston, Harden has transitioned into a more traditional point guard role in recent years — a conscious effort, he said, to extend the longevity of his career.

“I’m not the center of the offense anymore, it’s a tough transition,” Harden said, “but I’ve adjusted very well. Guys that adjust very well, especially as we age, the better you’re going to be.

“I don’t get a lot of credit for that. It’s just fitting in and figuring out how to be the best James Harden, but still trying to try whatever the coach or the system is.”

As he has adapted, Harden often focuses on creating offense for Cleveland’s frontcourt first. Evan Mobley And Jarrett Allen.

“It takes humility about you,” Mitchell told ESPN. “You’ve scored 60, 50, 50-point triple-doubles so far, not necessarily doing it, but realizing, I’m going for Don, but I’m also here to help JA. I’m here to help Evan.

“What he said, he had nothing about himself.”

So far in these playoffs, Harden and Mitchell haven’t produced the flashy numbers they’ve become known for, but neither said they expected to.

Mitchell even joked that he saw that Before the movie, where he scores a lot of points. He knows how it ends.

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Mitchell backpedals up Court, in turn, shouted his first pump and himself, a sold-out crowd in Cleveland roared back at him.

it was First quarter of Game 2 The Cavaliers’ first-round playoff series with the Toronto Raptors and Mitchell knocked off just one step-back 3-pointer, giving the Cavs a 15-7 advantage and forcing the Raptors to call a timeout to counter Cleveland’s opening blitz.

Mitchell took a moment to revel in the playoff atmosphere, with his new co-star right behind him, one veteran looking to impart a beat of wisdom to another.

When Mitchell jab-stepped and dribbled forward Scotty Barnes And RJ BarrettHarden slid toward the baseline, directly to Mitchell’s left, Harden told Mitchell.

He was open in the corner, but Mitchell let his own 24-foot jumper fly.

“I was fired up,” Mitchell said. “And he took that time, ‘Hey, yeah, we scored. We filled the goal. We still got a bucket out of it, but there was a way to get an easy bucket.’

“That special moment was a wonderful snapshot of our chemistry.”

And it was a window into the mindset of the Cavs’ star duo, knowing how important this postseason is beyond simply advancing to the conference finals.

During the lead-up to Game 7 this past Sunday, with all the pressure sitting on the Cavs’ shoulders, Atkinson was struck by how calm his two superstars were at the moment.

“I can’t really tell if it’s the regular season or the playoffs,” Atkinson said. “They’re business as usual. Same routine. Positive. Trying to help where they can.”

Mitchell explains why. “It’s the work that keeps you,” he said. “Kenny emphasized throughout the playoffs. It’s like, ‘This is why we worked harder. This is why we worked, sprinted extra. All these things we did.’

“I said after last season: Take a step forward. That’s why you do these things — so you don’t falter.”