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The Los Angeles Clippers have finally won a game in the James Harden era. After dropping six straight following the blockbuster trade, the Clippers edged the Houston Rockets in dramatic fashion on Friday, with Harden cashing what proved to be the game-winning four-point play in the waning seconds.
Clippers 106, Rockets 100.
With the score tied at 100, the Clippers, if you care to read into the hierarchy stuff, went to Kawhi Leonard on the wing for the final possession. Leonard isolated on Jabari Smith, who closed him off and forced the pass back to Harden, who then went to work in vintage fashion.
VINTAGE JAMES HARDEN 4-POINT PLAY 😤 pic.twitter.com/MRLyWCLARm
Harden finished with 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting, including 2-of-4 from 3, to go with nine rebounds and seven assists. He was a team-high plus-21 in his 34 minutes. This is the first time Harden has registered a positive point differential in a Clippers uniform.
You want box-score balance: To go along with Harden’s 24, Leonard finished with 26 and Paul George 23. Russell Westbrook came off the bench for the first time with the Clippers, and played just 17 minutes and scored eight points on nine shots.
This also goes as the first In-Season Tournament win for the Clippers, who move to 1-2 in Group B of the Western Conference. With the win, they improved to 4-7 overall for the season.
The Rockets, who are the surprise team of the year thus far, fell to 6-4 overall and 1-1 in the IST (also in the West’s Group B).
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