Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden moved up in the record books on Sunday in Game 7 against the Toronto Raptors.
Harden collected his 297th playoff steal in the third quarter against the Raptors in Cleveland for eighth all time. He passed former Boston Celtics great and Hall of Famer Larry Bird, who had 296 career steals.
Harden needs another five steals to pass Jason Kidd, the Dallas Mavericks head coach, who played in the NBA between 1994 and 2013 with four different teams. Former Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers is the all-time steals leader at 501 and counting.
Former Chicago Bulls Hall of Famers Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan ranked second and third respectively with 395 and 376 steals. Hall of Famer and former Lakers star Magic Johnson ranks fourth with 358 steals.
Former Utah Jazz great and Hall of Famer John Stockton ranks fifth with 338 steals. Late Lakers great Kobe Bryant ranks sixth with 310, another player Harden could pass in his career.
Harden, who is second among active players for career steals behind James, came into the game with 295 steals, tied with former NBA guard Maurice Cheeks. Cheeks played between 1978 and 1993 for five different teams before his coaching career, which includes his current stint as an assistant with the New York Knicks.
James Harden Gets Honest on Beating the Raptors
Harden and the Cavaliers closed out the Raptors 114-102 on Sunday night in a series that tested Cleveland from start to finish, and he admitted it was a lesson for the team.
“That it’s gonna take all of us,” Harden told reporters afterward. “Give Toronto credit. They’re a really good team, especially defensively. They get after you, they swarm to the basketball, they create turnovers and get out in transition.”
“They just do things different. This was very effective. So, throughout this entire series, like, it wasn’t going to be easy,” Harden added. “We won the first two games at home, like we had an opportunity the first two quarters of Game 3, Game 4, the same thing and then even in Game 6. It just didn’t go our way, but we didn’t quit.”
James Harden Discusses Upcoming Pistons Series
Harden acknowledged that the challenges of the Raptors will help for the next round against the Detroit Pistons, which also won a Game 7 on Sunday against the Orlando Magic.
“They got Cade [Cunningham], who’s the head of the snake, who’s playing well,” Harden said. “Tobias Harris is playing extremely well, so we got another handful and, we’ll watch some film, figure out what they like to do, figure out what we want to do and just take it from there. Take it one game at a time.”
Cleveland won the last meeting 113-109 on March 3 and split the regular season series. Harden downplayed the regular season matchups, however.
“Yeah, but I mean, they’re a different team. I’m sure they put some different wrinkles in and different offensively, different sets, probably defensively doing some different coverages and things like that,” Harden said. “I’m not sure if we played them with a full roster, but, like, it doesn’t really matter just because, after game one, they’re going to make adjustments, we’re going to make adjustments, they’re going to switch and, do different things. And like, so it’s just all of it is a game within the game within that series.”
James Harden Makes NBA History With Cavaliers