James Harden Responded to Doc Rivers' Request In Bucks Matchup

When James Harden was traded from the Houston Rockets to the Brooklyn Nets, many were skeptical about the superstar's ability to play alongside other

When James Harden was traded from the Houston Rockets to the Brooklyn Nets, many were skeptical about the superstar's ability to play alongside other ball-dominant players such as Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.

In Houston, Harden ran the show. With the Nets, he had to share the shine. Harden proved many of his doubters wrong as he transformed into a selfless playmaker. During his 80-game stint with the Nets, Harden averaged over ten assists per game.

Now, he's a member of the Philadelphia 76ers. And Sixers head coach Doc Rivers kindly rejects the Brooklyn version of Harden and wants to see the aggressive scorer that hooped in Houston.

On Tuesday, before the Sixers and the Milwaukee Bucks met for the third time this season, Doc Rivers and Harden had a half-hour sit-down to discuss the progress that's been made and work on what needs to happen over the next couple of weeks.

It's no secret that Rivers and the Sixers have been asking for Harden to be more aggressive, so it comes as no surprise that was the basis of the conversation between the two on Tuesday. 

Rivers Reveals the Conversation

"We had a good talk today, James and I," Rivers said. "He's trying to fit in and get guys going, and I told him, 'No, thank you.' I said, 'You get going, and we'll figure it out. We just need you to be you.'"

Harden's short stint with the Sixers so far has had its ups and downs. While he's consistently scored over 20 points, he went through a rough shooting stretch recently. After most games, Harden has admitted that everything is still a work in progress -- and that was still the case after Tuesday's loss to the Bucks.

"I'm trying to get it right," said Harden on Tuesday. "I'm trying to be the best James Harden I can be, and I'm trying to make sure that I'm doing the things necessary to help my team win, whatever that needs to be."

Rivers told Harden what the team needed. While it's essential to get other guys going on offense, the Sixers head coach is stressing the fact that there is no need to force-feed the ball to anybody else as other guys will get going naturally.

"Don't worry about everyone else," Rivers told Harden. "As long as you and Joel are in the right spots, we'll figure out everyone else, but we need you to think of yourself as a scorer. Not the way you played in Brooklyn when you were a point guard trying to run the team. We want him to be James and tonight. He was. So, that was a big step for us."

Hours after their talk, Harden took what Rivers said to heart, and he utilized that mindset in Tuesday's game. While the 76ers fell short to the Bucks with a two-point loss, Harden had his best scoring game with the Sixers as he put up 32 points in 37 minutes while knocking down 55-percent of his field goals and 40-percent of his threes.

"[Doc] told me, to sum it all up, to go out there and just be you," Harden continued. "That was my mindset today, so it felt good just to have that confidence from Doc from here on out. [I'm] just being aggressive and not really worrying about anything, but being aggressive. Getting my teammates involved will happen, but that was my mindset tonight."

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.