Today in Nets history: Joe Harris sets career-high against former team

Joe Harris has gone off for 30 points once in his NBA career, and he did it against his old team and LeBron James.

With the NBA on hiatus — which NBA commissioner Adam Silver set at 30 days — and New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, placing a ban on gatherings of more than 500 people for the foreseeable future due to the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, no Brooklyn Nets games will be played for the time being.

For the Nets, as much as any team, this comes at an odd time — Brooklyn was battling the Orlando Magic for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference standings. At the stoppage of play, the Nets had a half-game advantage over the Magic.

Since there aren’t any games, each day Nets Wire will highlight major individual performances and key developments throughout Nets history:

Heading into the Brooklyn Nets’ March 25, 2018 matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Joe Harris’ single-game career-high scoring total was 21 points. He had just reached the mark in December, and it was the only time he’d reached the 20-point mark at the NBA level.

Then came the visit from Harris’ former team, which was still led by LeBron James. The Cavs got the better of the Nets, winning 121-114 (full box score), but Harris made sure to let his old team know how much he’d grown since his time in Cleveland.

Brooklyn’s sharpshooter scored 30 points off the bench on 11-for-14 shooting. Half of his shot attempts were from beyond the arc and he drained six of them — at the time, this was also a career-high for Harris. (He would drain seven in a game the next season.)

Harris also had seven rebounds, two assists and a steal.

“Joe has been a true professional,” DeMarre Carroll said about Harris the night of his big game. “I feel like he’s one of the key guys that shows which direction this program is going and how you can keep getting better each and every day.”

Carroll finished second on the team in scoring with 18 points. Spencer Dinwiddie (16), Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (15) and D’Angelo Russell (12) each finished in double figures, as well. Caris LeVert scored eight points and led Brooklyn with seven assists.