Following the Clippers’ 131-122 road win over the Phoenix Suns on Jan. 3, James Harden didn’t hesitate to call out the naysayers who didn’t believe that him joining the Clips — his fourth team in four seasons — would work.
Harden called out those detractors in his postgame media session.
“Obviously, it didn’t start off well. It gave people so much to talk about in a negative way,” Harden said. “And now those people that was talking, they’re nowhere to be found. Like, literally, nowhere to be found.”
Harden can talk that way with the Clippers 13-2 in their past 15 games, which is the best mark in the league over that span. During that time frame they’re shooting 52 percent from the field and 41 percent from three, both tops in the league.
In all they’re now 15-5 since Russell Westbrook opted to come off the bench to help team cohesion.
The streak has the Clippers sitting at 22-13 and fourth in the Western Conference. And it could’ve easily been 15-0 if Leonard didn’t miss back-to-back losses to the Boston Celtics and OKC Thunder.
LA Clippers Putting It Together, But It’s About Postseason
The Los Angeles Clippers are finally looking like the championship contender we’ve been expecting since Kawhi Leonard and Paul George joined forces in 2019.
It’s been an injury-riddled four seasons of constant underachievement for the Clippers. Coming into the 2023-24 season the belief was even if they could stay healthy, they still were not constructed to be title contenders.
That was prior to the arrival of Harden, who came over in a trade on Halloween. Harden’s arrival was followed by a season-long six game losing streak.
During the streak many questioned if Harden was a good fit for the Clippers.
Dallas Mavericks analyst Brian Dameris even went viral with his Harden take in November, in which he pretty much called “The Beard” a problem.
Harden Is The Catalyst
Since Leonard and George arrived in 2019, the Clippers have lacked a playmaker that could make life easy for them.
Way too often they were asked to score and make everyone better. While they often did it during the regular season, things bogged down in the playoffs. With Harden, who’s got that unique ability to score efficiently and distribute at a high level, it makes this the most formidable the Clippers have been in the Leonard-George era.
This season Harden, a former MVP, ten-time All-Star and seven-time All-NBA selection (including six first-team selections), is averaging 17.7 points, eight assists and nearly five rebounds on 47 percent shooting.
He’s also won the scoring title three times and assists title twice, including last season when he averaged a league-high 10.7 dimes with the Sixers.
If the Clippers are to advance to and possibly win their first NBA title, Harden, who’s still in search of that elusive ring, will play a huge part in it.
