![]() It would be a fitting, unceremonious end to yet another Clippers era that, despite the franchise’s escalating competence and grand ambitions, couldn’t manage to shake its cursed past and hoist its first title. How would Westbrook, who couldn’t play alongside Harden and couldn’t manage to find his place alongside LeBron James just a year ago, react to the inevitable reduction of his role? How long until Harden started plotting his next destination, leaving a wake of destruction behind him? How long until George and Leonard, with player options for next season, decided they were out, too? The misfortunes of Harden, who had become a symbol of player empowerment run amok, became a source of strongly worded monologues and mass schadenfreude. In their first five games together, they produced a net rating three points worse than that of the 3-35 Detroit Pistons. The starting lineup, overcrowded with four future Hall of Famers in Westbrook, Harden, Leonard, and George, was an absolute mess. These, of course, are champagne problems for a team that looked like it was on the verge of collapse two months ago. Why would I run and cut over there when I could just catch and shoot it? When you get to the playoffs, it’s a whole different animal, so we gotta start building those habits.” When you have great players that can score on anybody, sometimes it’s too easy. “We gotta be 100 percent execution, with our talent. “Half of it is great talent, and I think half of it is execution,” he said. But as evidenced by their 0-5 start in the Harden era, raw talent alone is nothing without offensive execution, effort, sacrifice, and rotational chemistry. The Offer Sheet: Kawhi Cashes In Kram Session: The Lakers’ Chances, a Fake Zach LaVine Trade, and More Can the Atlanta Hawks Salvage the Trae Young Era?Īmong the four of them, Westbrook, Harden, Leonard, and Paul George have 27 All-NBA nods. “We were in the mud a little bit, moving a little slow and no communication,” he said. He was more fixated on the fact that despite the win, the Clippers were sloppy on both ends. “I’m in the moment this season,” he said after beating the Raptors, “and I’m trying to get us to a place we haven’t been before.” Leonard, who before Wednesday’s game agreed to a $153 million extension that will lock him in through the 2026-27 season, is resisting any reflection on the Clippers’ recent success or his place in franchise lore. Since November 17, when Terance Mann replaced Russell Westbrook in the starting lineup, the Clippers are 21-6-the NBA’s best record over that span-with the NBA’s second-best net rating in crunch time. This was the promise of the Harden trade: His playmaking genius can project itself onto a talented but disorganized offense, allowing him to strategize-to run the clock and let the game dwindle down, in this case-without overburdening him with the pressure to create, on a night when he was just 5-of-13 from the field.
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