Prior to Monday night’s game between the Nuggets and 76ers, Doc Rivers had an important message for James Harden. He revealed that he wants the former MVP to be aggressive when he’s on the court.
Harden is an excellent facilitator, there’s no doubt about that. Nonetheless, Rivers doesn’t want his All-Star guard to be passive early in games.
“Yesterday, I thought he came out to be more of a passer,” Rivers said, via ClutchPoints. “I told him I never really liked that. I want him to be more aggressive early. His ability and instincts are fine, where to pass the ball at, I thought in the fourth [quarter] he got more aggressive.
“I like the aggressive version of James [Harden] more than the point guard version because he’s going to be a point guard anyway.”
Unfortunately for Rivers, this message didn’t exactly go through on Monday night.
Harden attempted just 11 shots in the 76ers’ 114-110 loss to the Nuggets. He did, however, finish with 24 points and 11 assists.
The 76ers want Harden to run the floor and set his teammates up with easy looks, but they also want him to come out with a scorer’s mentality.
It’ll be interesting to see if Harden changes his approach on Wednesday when the 76ers face the Cavaliers.
Tipoff for the 76ers-Cavaliers game is at 7 p.m. ET.
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