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James Harden and the Los Angeles Clippers have won eight straight games at home, the longest active streak in the NBA. In their most recent win against the Denver Nuggets, Harden stole the show with a dazzling move in the fourth quarter that brought back fond memories for a lot of fans.
During his days with the Houston Rockets, James Harden was known for his incredible one-on-one scoring ability. Once he's finish, “cooking up,” a defender, the superstar would make a, “stirring the pot,” motion. That celebration is one he made famous and some tried to emulate unsuccessfully.
Clippers' James Harden's reacts to stirring pot celebration
With a little over two minutes to play in a game that the Clippers led 118-114, James Harden drove to the basket and found himself switched onto Nuggets forward Peyton Watson. While a solid defender, Watson lacked the foot-speed to keep up with a guy like Harden.
Harden reset at the three-point line, got into his between the leg dribble to lull Watson to sleep, drove left before crossing back over to the right and knocking down a 17-foot mid-range jump shot — his only made bucket of the fourth quarter.
After the shot went in, Harden ran back on defense, but not before throwing up his signature, “stirring the pot,” celebration. The former Rockets guard popularized the celebration during his time with Houston, but did it less and less as his career moved away from Houston.
After the game, Harden was asked about the celebration and what that brought it out of him.
“I don't know what you're talking about it,” Harden responded with a grin. “Nope, I don't know what you're talking about.”
James Harden finished the contest with 39 points, nine rebounds, and 11 assists, leading the Clippers to a 126-122 victory over the Denver Nuggets despite an absurd 28-point, 14-rebound, 11-assist triple-double from three-time MVP Nikola Jokic.
Since their three-game losing streak in early November, the Clippers have won seven of their last nine games with James Harden averaging 24.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 9.7 assists, and 1.9 steals per game on 40.4 percent shooting from the field and 38.8 percent from three.
After getting double-digit free throw attempts just twice in the first 15 games, Harden has recorded at least 10 free throw attempts in five of the last seven games. He's also logged four double-digit assist games over that span as well, including a 16-assist performance against the Golden State Warriors.
“I’m feeling a lot better,” My legs are starting to — for an older guy in this league, 16 years in this league, it takes me a little bit more time to get acclimated. Especially [since] my role has changed. I haven’t had this role in four or five years, so it just took me some time to get there. But as you guys can see, game by game I continue to get better and I’ll eventually put a lot more efficiency in and less turnovers.
“But at this point, it’s just finding ways to win games. That’s the most important thing, and especially now having Norm back, it just made my job a lot easier. So, tonight is one of those games where you find a way to win and that’s all that matters.”
Norman Powell, who missed the last six games with a left hamstring strain suffered against the Golden State Warriors on November 18th, returned on Sunday in a limited fashion.
The Clippers' leading scorer scored 28 points in just 25 minutes of play, shooting 9-of-17 from the field and 5-of-8 from three. Powell and Harden combined to score 25 of the Clippers' 33 points in the third quarter on 8-of-12 shooting from the field and a perfect 6-of-6 from three.
“Just flow man,” Norman Powell said, describing what it felt like in those moments where shot after shot goes in. “It feels like we’re playing the game right way. Just flow—”
That's when James Harden cut him off with a laugh to say, “That sh-t feel good man, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“It's a flow man, a flow of the game, finding open shots,” Powell added. “I think it's good. It's the energy, you feel the energy from my shots to James to Nico [Batum], I mean Mo [Bamba] hit a big three in the corner. The game was going away, you felt the energy, you felt the shift in momentum in the game when we came out in the third and we kind of got some easy buckets and things like that. I think the shot-making and locking in on the defensive end really got us going. It definitely felt good, the energy was good.”
The Clippers' win over the Denver Nuggets gives them a 2-0 lead in the season series with only one scheduled back in Denver in January. LA will host the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night, the final game of NBA Cup play for them. That will help determine who the two teams are that they'll play in the week off that the NBA scheduled for NBA Cup play in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Norman Powell has already found his shooting stroke, but he just needs to stay healthy. If Harden is able to increase his efficiency closer to his career averages, it would go a long way towards helping a Clippers team that many are already surprised by.
