Tobias Harris would like this clip to quickly be lost to the sands of time.
Harris and the Detroit Pistons hosted the Cleveland Cavaliers for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals in the NBA playoffs.
Early in the first quarter, Cavaliers All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell executed a crossover so nasty that Harris, a veteran forward for the Pistons, went tumbling backward. Mitchell effortlessly sank a floating jumper, while Harris remained on the floor, grimacing and grabbing his hip.
The Pistons called a full timeout to assess Harris, who was in visible pain, but luckily, the only injury Harris suffered was a bruised ego.
While Mitchell finished with a game-high 31 points, Harris got the last laugh. The Pistons won, 107-97, to take a commanding 2-0 series lead. Harris finished with 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the floor (2-of-3 from three), six rebounds, two blocks, and two steals in 37 minutes.
Harris also combined with Ausar Thompson to force a turnover of James Harden with 29.2 seconds left to essentially seal the game.
The Pistons stared disaster in the face when they went down 3-1 to the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic in the first round. When the Pistons won Game 7 to eliminate Orlando on Sunday, head coach J.B. Bickerstaff told reporters exactly how he felt about Harris’ impact on the team’s comeback.
“Nobody can say [expletive] to me about Tobias Harris,” Bickerstaff said. “He is dependable, reliable, prepared for the moment. He’s a leader. He’s a great teammate. He’s a great human being. He’s a high-level competitor.”
Since going down 3-1 to the Magic, the Pistons have won five straight games in convincing fashion and look every bit the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Now, the Cavaliers are the ones in a bind, and, fairly or unfairly, Harden will wear a lot of it. The 11-time All-Star and 2018 NBA MVP has chronically underperfomed in the playoffs.
“Today was James Harden’s 182nd career playoff game,” FS1’s “First Things First” host Nick Wright wrote on X. “It was the 36th time he’s had 3 or fewer made field goals. Nearly 20% of his career playoff games. It was the 46th time that he’s had as many or more turnovers than made field goals. More than 25% of his career playoff games.”
The series will head to Cleveland for Game 3 on Saturday afternoon.