James Harden Calls Out Critics, Says 'People Are Going to Talk' After Cavs' Win vs. Knicks

James Harden shrugged off criticism regarding his slow start to the 2026-27 campaign after scoring a season-high 32 points in Wednesday night's win over the New York Knicks.

"I was averaging 36 and 35, whatever the case may be, people had something to say about that. 'You can't win like that.' So then I averaged 20-something, it's like, 'can't win like that,'" Harden said after winning in Madison Square Garden, per Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press.

"So I think the most important thing for me, like, people are going to talk. So I just focus on myself, things I need to do and try to get in really good shape and learn my teammates and learn how to play a different brand of basketball, because I'm not the same fast person that I was like five or six years ago."

Harden put up his Wednesday night scoring total on 9-for-14 shooting from the field, including 5-for-7 from deep, to go along with nine made shots on 11 attempts from the free-throw line.

Cavaliers-Knicks Highlights

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Both Harden and Donovan Mitchell expressed confidence after the game that Harden would continue bouncing back after a sluggish start:

"It's my 18th year. My name is James Harden. I used to score a lot of points," Harden said (h/t KOS magazin's Darko Dželetović). "Now it's like... I still score points, but I find other ways to impact the game as well, and I think that's what people don't understand.

"Donovan averages a lot of points. He's a scoring machine on this team. So, just picking and choosing when I have opportunities to be aggressive and score, and then do other things to impact wins. Get off to a slow start, but I think I'll find out my rhythm... eventually things will turn around."

Mitchell said in an appearance on ESPN's SportsCenter Harden's success "alleviates a lot of pressure" from the rest of the Cavaliers roster.

"I think tonight, he's starting to find it in different ways," Mitchell said. "I think the biggest thing now is just continuing to play that way, continuing to do those things. We have all the trust in him, and tonight was a great example of that."

Mitchell and the Cavaliers will now hope to see Harden ride the momentum of his most productive outing of the season into a Friday night road game against the Miami Heat. The Heat, after a slow season start of their own, are heading into the matchup on a 5-2 streak.