Ohm YoungmisukESPN Staff Writer November 7, 2023, 1:51am ET4 minutes read
James Harden gets his first Clippers bucket
James Harden double-teamed for his first basket as a member of the Clippers.
NEW YORK – Although it felt “kind of strange” playing in his first game of the season after missing training camp with the LA Clippers, James Harden had no trouble seeing what he, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Russell were doing Westbrook can achieve together.
“Unlimited possibilities,” Harden said.
Harden made his long-awaited debut for the Clippers on Monday night, and while the New York Knicks blew the event with a 111-97 win at Madison Square Garden, the Clippers kept their eyes on the big picture and what they think is happening There will be exciting times ahead of us.
Harden made 6 of 9 shots and had 17 points and six assists in 31 minutes. He admitted that it felt strange to play in his first game with the Clippers without training camp or preseason after the trade from Philadelphia last week.
“I feel kind of weird out there,” Harden said. “But I just haven’t really had a preseason game or a chance to participate in full training camp or any of that. It was easy.” [being] out there and basically winging it. Try to disregard my basketball instincts and what I’ve done over the last few years or whatever. I just went out and played the game and thought about it and tried to make it easier for everyone else.”
The Clippers started their four stars along with center Ivica Zubac. While all four scored in double figures and Leonard scored a game-high 18 points, the Clippers seemed out of sync several times and tried to test each other.
They turned the ball over 22 times, giving the Knicks 35 points. They outrebounded 48-31 and surrendered 18 offensive rebounds. And in the second half they couldn’t get any stops and gave up 69 points to the Knicks after halftime.
To make matters worse, the Clippers may have suffered a major blow to their second unit. Backup center Mason Plumlee had to be carried away by two Clippers personnel after Julius Randle flew into the side of his left leg. Plumlee was sidelined in the third quarter with a sprained left knee and will undergo further evaluation on Tuesday.
Harden may need to do more with the second unit. After Clippers coach Ty Lue hired Harden, he also had the point guard lead the second team.
While Lue said Harden was naturally tired in his first game action of the season, the coach saw things he liked about Harden. On an early pick-and-roll with Zubac, Harden delivered a precise rebound pass that went around a defender and turned to Zubac, who drew an inside foul.
“I was just thinking about orchestration overall,” Lue said of Harden’s style of play. “With the right play, the right pass and the right pick-and-rolls, he was really good. It will take a while for him to get into game shape. We understand that, but his presence on the field was clearly felt.”
Lue believes that after ten games he will have a better idea of how this will work and what he may need to tweak.
“He did a good job in his first game in a long time,” Leonard said of Harden. “And it takes time until his condition is under control. But he did a great job with me and got everyone involved in the pick-and-roll very well.”
Lue said at the start of the game that he had scripted how he would move his stars with the second unit and his rotations “a thousand times.”
He certainly didn’t think he would have to take his starters out of the game for good, with 4:25 left and the Clippers trailing 104-88.
But Lue said he won’t overreact and “I’m not going to panic now.” He saw sacrifice from his stars and the willingness to make it happen.
Westbrook finished the game with 17 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists while making 8 of 13 shots. But George was able to cool off from his hot start to the season with 10 points and 2-for-11 shooting.
Nevertheless, he emerged from Monday evening very optimistic.
“When it comes to the talent aspect, this is one of them [most] “They are talented teams that I have played for,” George said. “We’ll manage.” First game. Lots of moving parts, but it was fun. It was fun playing on the field with these guys and there was a lot of optimism for the future.”