James Harden celebrated his Cleveland Cavaliers debut with a win at Sacramento on Saturday night, but he and his new team will have a tougher challenge when Cleveland visits the Denver Nuggets on Monday night.
Harden had 23 points and eight assists in the Cavaliers’ 132-126 win over the Kings despite not getting a chance to practice first. The veteran guard is learning on the fly, but he has no concerns about it.
“I just got to figure out where I fit in,” Harden said after beating Sacramento. “That won’t be hard at all. I told the guys just do what you all do and I’ll figure it out. I’m good enough to figure it out and insert myself in.”
Cleveland acquired Harden from the Los Angeles Clippers before the trade deadline last week to improve its chances in the Eastern Conference, where it sits fourth, two games behind New York and Boston for second place.
Harden bolsters the Cavaliers’ backcourt and his combined 25.4 points a game this season adds to the guard scoring punch. Darius Garland, who went to Los Angeles in the deal, was averaging 18 points a game but has been out since Jan. 14 with a toe injury.
Donovan Mitchell leads Cleveland with a 28.9 average and combined with Harden they average 14 assists per game. Evan Mobley is third in scoring at 17.9 points a game and leads the Cavaliers with 8.8 rebounds, but he has not played since Jan. 26 due to a calf strain.
He has been ruled out against Denver, which has suffered its share of injuries as well. The Nuggets, already without power forward Aaron Gordon to a right hamstring injury, saw his replacement, Peyton Watson, go down with the same injury.
Watson was hurt in a double-overtime loss at New York on Wednesday night and will miss a month. Denver did get a boost in Saturday night’s win at Chicago with the return of Cameron Johnson from a right knee bruise. Johnson scored 14 points in his first game since Dec. 23 and is averaging 11.8 points for the season.
The Nuggets got another scare in the 136-120 win when Jamal Murray left late in the game in apparent discomfort. Head coach David Adelman said after the game that it was a hip issue.
“He seemed confident that he was OK,” Adelman said.
Murray helped carry the team when Nikola Jokic missed 16 games with a left knee injury. Murray is averaging career-highs in points (26) and assists (7.5) and has 14 double-doubles this season after finishing with 28 points and 11 assists against the Bulls.
Jokic reached another milestone on Saturday night with the 182nd triple-double of his career. That broke a tie for second with Oscar Robertson, behind only former teammate Russell Westbrook, who has 207.
Jokic has not shown any rust after missing a month. In the five games since his return, he is averaging 24.6 points, 12.4 rebounds and 8.8 assists; he is averaging a triple-double for the season — 28.9 points, 12.2 rebounds and 10.7 assists.
