The Los Angeles Clippers earned their finest win of James Harden's early tenure with his hometown team on Saturday, blowing out the Dallas Mavericks 107-88. Paul George led the Clippers with a team-high 25 points, while Norman Powell and Russell Westbrook combined for 29 points off the bench, helping compensate for rare single-digit scoring performances from both Harden and Kawhi Leonard. Terance Mann thrived in his new role as a starter, too, scoring 17 points while serving as a primary defender of both Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving.
The win moved LA to 7-8 on the season and 4-6 since the team made its long-awaited trade for Harden in early November. The Clippers have found new life since Westbrook offered to give up his starting role to Mann, though, at 4-1 in their last five games including a competitive loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.
Shortly after the trade was completed, both Harden and coach Tyronn Lue stressed they would need 10 games to assess how to best move forward with their star-studded, new-look team. Harden was asked how feels having reached that threshold following Saturday's game, reiterating his all-for-one approach to playing in their native Southern California alongside Leonard, George and Westbrook.
“I feel really good. Playing a back-to-back, really good, to win a game,” he told Law Murray of The Athletic. “Individually this is not about me. I'm gonna keep saying this is about the team, and the whole purpose of me being here—and I think everybody can speak for that—is us winning as a unit, so tonight was a good win for us.”
Clippers' path forward with James Harden
It's hardly surprising the Clippers have found their footing with Westbrook coming off the bench. His lack of shooting range and propensity for ball-dominance has made him an increasingly problematic fit next to primary playmakers during the back half os his career.
Los Angeles signed Westbrook off the waiver wire last February to fulfill Leonard and George's desire to play with a real table-setting point guard, a distinction that's never quite applied to Westbrook. Harden hasn't always been a bastion of pass-first playmaking, either, but at least his pull-up shooting prowess and largely theoretical ability to hit spot-up triples projected him as a much better fit next to Leonard and George than Westbrook. Slotting Westbrook in an off-ball role next to his fellow future Hall-of-Famers, though? That dynamic wasn't just far from the optimal use of the Clippers' overall talent, but sparked diminishing returns on both sides of the ball.
Westbrook entrenched as a reserve, Los Angeles has finally begun to look like a potential threat in a crowded, unpredictable Western Conference. Harden was once the best scorer in basketball, the type of high-usage, high-efficient three-point shooting and free-throw maven the likes of which basketball has never seen. He's at least a couple years past that prime now, though, and seems ever comfortable admitting that reality in his new circumstances with the Clippers.
Asked how he wants to improve as the season continues, Harden once again alluded to his new role as a shot creator for others first and foremost.
“Finding ways to generate really good shots consistently, whether it's myself or hitting our bigs for a layup or dunk or generating a really good three,” he told Murray. “I think that's me in the entire season and the postseason, is generating quality shots consistently. I feel like if we can do that and not turn the basketball over and make teams guard us and then get back and give ourself a chance defensively in the halfcourt, it's gonna be really, really tough to beat us. Obviously it's a building process and that's where we wanna be at the end of the year.”
Los Angeles has a long way to go before reaching its ceiling. Even that peak may not be enough for Lue's team to compete with the best teams in the NBA when it matters most come spring and early summer. But we won't know for sure unless the Clippers strive toward reaching that ceiling together, a hopeful development they all seem committed to seeing through as the season continues.
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