This season has been one big education for Harrison Barnes.
The fifth-year pro has quickly become the Mavericks’ top offensive option in his first season with the club. He leads the team in scoring at 20.4 points per game and is receiving an unprecedented workload, compared to what he’d been used to earlier in his career.
But with all of responsibility comes expectations, both externally and from within. It means carrying the offensive burden throughout, and recognizing times in games when the team is going through minutes-long cold spells and needs a bucket. A couple of those situations arose in Wednesday’s 95-85 loss to the Detroit Pistons, and after the game Barnes said he needs to do a better job of attacking in those moments.
“I have to be more aggressive, I have to get to the free throw line, I have to somehow come up with that basket,” Barnes said. “There are a lot of situations where I have to do more, and I have to be more aggressive. That’s part of the learning experience.”
Barnes said that fourth-quarter responsibility is something relatively new to him at the NBA level, after playing fourth and fifth fiddle for the Warriors for most of his four seasons. There, it was up to Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and others to end cold stretches.
In Dallas, especially without Dirk Nowitzki, Barnes is finding he’s the guy Rick Carlisle calls plays for to put an end to scoreless spells by whatever means necessary. As a result, he’s more than quadrupled his fourth-quarter scoring averages from last season, and he’s embraced the challenge of generating points in high-leverage moments.
“Great players know when to take over, when to get their team over the top,” Barnes said. “That’s what it is. Whether it’s a free throw, whether it’s a foul that can kind of settles us in, whether it’s a made shot, those are kind of the plays that you just need.”
Of course, turning the offense into Barnes-on-5 isn’t wise, either. What’s made Nowitzki so special is his ability to enable his teammates to play off of him and remain involved in the offense, even in isolation sets. Per Synergy Sports, Barnes has played the fourth-most isolation possessions in the NBA this season, and while he’s scoring more efficiently than all the players ahead of him — including James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Carmelo Anthony — the new Maverick realizes playing 1-on-1 too often can have an adverse effect on his teammates’ rhythm.
“There’s a balance between going so many isos to where you take guys out of the game, versus getting a basket,” Barnes said. “That’s something I’ve got to do a better job of. Great players do it both ways. They know when to get an iso basket and they know how to keep their teammates engaged. Finding that balance is something I’ve got to do.”
This conversation is probably not something many people thought Barnes would even be having as recently as two months ago, as he suffered through a poor preseason and didn’t do much to show that he could become such an offensive foundation piece so quickly. But here we are, with the 24-year-old routinely putting up 20-point performances.
Barnes has remained both humble and realistic throughout his first season in Dallas. He’s having by far the best season of his career, and he’s proven a lot of critics wrong already, but it’s been difficult for him to enjoy his play too much, given his team’s 6-19 record. It’s a reminder, though, that his work isn’t done. Everyone knows the team must improve, but Barnes won’t deny that he can continue to get better, as well.
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