James Harden has been the LA Clippers’ most consistent and dependable player through the first four games of these playoffs, prompting me to wonder whether it’s time to buy stock in him as the stakes rise in their series with the Dallas Mavericks.
I want to believe he can continue to perform with great efficiency and meet the big moments with confidence, but we’re talking about James Harden, after all, a person whose ability to lift his team in the playoffs has never kept pace with his ability to elevate his scoring average.
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But something feels different entering Wednesday night’s pivotal Game 5 in Los Angeles. Harden has played with poise and discipline and delivered in moments when he tended to shrink in postseasons past. Take the fourth quarter Sunday, for instance.
The Clippers had squandered a 31-point lead and were in danger of falling behind 3-1 in the series. The Dallas crowd was in a frenzy, and Kawhi Leonard was on the bench with a bad knee. Paul George was attempting to do his part, but he needed help.
Enter Harden, who after attempting only one field goal in the third quarter suddenly turned assertive, repeatedly driving for floaters that kept the Mavericks from completing an improbable comeback. At one point he scored on three consecutive possessions and finished with 15 of his 33 points in the period — 13 in crunch time — to lift Los Angeles to a 116-111 victory.
James Harden scored 15 4th quarter points in the win!
Harden This series
28 PTS, 8 AST, 6 3PT, 1 TO
22 PTS, 8 AST, 1 TO
21 PTS, 5 AST, 5 3PT (54% FG)
33 PTS, 7 AST, 4 3PT (70% FG)pic.twitter.com/wBr9N5NvN7— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) April 28, 2024
In some respects, it was vintage Harden. In his prime, he was an all-time great isolation player who could get any shot from anywhere at any time. Scoring was as natural to him as breathing. He didn’t have to think about it; he just did it, averaging 32.4 points and 8.8 assists per game while winning three scoring titles, one of his two assists crowns and one league MVP from 2017-20, his final four seasons with the Houston Rockets.
But those accomplishments are often overshadowed by his disappearances in the playoffs, where he has had a reputation for being spectacularly good one game and mind-numbingly bad the next. For instance, in a second-round series against San Antonio in 2017, he had 33 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in one game only to shoot 2 of 11 from the field, with six turnovers and a minus-39 rating, two nights later in an elimination-game loss.
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In the Western Conference finals the next year, he had no trouble putting up points as a volume shooter, but his performances were woefully inefficient as he converted on just 24.4 percent of his 78 3-point attempts and shot 41.5 percent from the field overall. In the decisive Game 7 loss to the Golden State Warriors, he was 2-of-12 on 3s as the Rockets missed an NBA-record 27 consecutive attempts behind the arc.
ESPN highlighted his postseason struggles at the end of his eight-season run with the Rockets, reporting that during that time he shot 41 of 108 (38 percent) from the field and 9 of 50 (18 percent) on 3-pointers when the teams were separated by 5 points or fewer in the final five minutes of games. And yet Harden has been the oxygen that has allowed the Clippers to remain alive in these playoffs.
He is averaging 26 points per game on 54 percent shooting, has converted on half of his 34 3-point attempts, and is averaging seven assists, four rebounds and only two turnovers in 41 minutes a game. But the numbers do not tell the full story. The poise and willingness to accept the challenge of the moment are the better indicators.
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Full disclosure, I did not expect this from him. When he forced his way out of Philadelphia before the season, I openly said there was no way I want him on my team. He appeared too selfish and disruptive. In the past few years, he had burned bridges in Houston, Brooklyn and Philadelphia. Why waste draft capital and money on a temperamental, declining player?
And though a midseason hot streak showed the positive contributions he could bring, late-season struggles only reignited questions of whether he was a smart addition for the Clippers. Some of the concerns colleague Sam Amick raised the first week of April persisted through the end of the regular season, with Harden averaging just 13.5 points while shooting 36.7 from the field and 27.9 on 3s over his final 17 games.
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But he has been Mr. Dependable thus far in the postseason, particularly with Leonard in and out with a knee injury. He has been the player Los Angeles was hoping for when it sent a collection of players and draft picks that includes two future first-round selections, a first-round pick swap, and two seconds. So why am I so skittish about buying in? In a word: history.
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There have been too many disappearances or too much inefficiency in elimination games. Since he left Oklahoma City in 2012, his teams have reached a conference final just twice, the last time in 2018. Even if he leads the Clippers past the Mavericks, the perception of him is unlikely to change. That will require time and memorable moments of success. One series cannot wipe away more than a decade of struggle, particularly with the top-seeded Thunder awaiting the Clippers should they prevail.
And yet, I have no problem admitting I was wrong to believe Harden would not be a good fit with Los Angeles. The challenge now is for him to prove his presence will make a difference in the Clippers’ quest for a title. Buying that stock seems risky at best.
(Top photo: Tim Heitman / NBAE via Getty Images)
