Harden, '213' Race Clippers Past Pacers in Offensive Onslaught
The Clippers' 8th straight win featured a hilarious concoction of shot-making.
The primal scream reverberated throughout Gainbridge Fieldhouse in downtown Indianapolis on Monday evening, emanating from behind the bushy beard that calls James Harden’s face its home.
It was the latest sign from the LA Clippers guard that he had found his footing with the team that traded for his services nearly 50 days ago.
“That's why we brought him here,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said to reporters after the game. “To score the basketball and make plays for other guys, make it easier for Kawhi (Leonard) and PG (Paul George), and he’s done that. Some nights he takes five shots, some nights he takes 15, 16 shots. All he cares about is the win.”
The Bearded Wonder finished with a season-high 35 points. Harden scored 21 of those 35 in a fourth quarter for the ages, a stretch that lasted just 5 minutes and 51 seconds as he rained in six 3s to put the Pacers away and deliver the Clippers their eighth straight win.
The final 3-pointer from Harden elicited the scream and — in what, as the Southern California News Group’s Mirjam Swanson pointed out, can only be considered an homage to Olaf from “Frozen” — a picturesque ‘floor angel’ that preceded it.
‘Tis the season indeed.
“It was very entertaining,” forward Kawhi Leonard commented to reporters in the locker room postgame. “It was like I paid for some seats tonight, and I’m happy to be on this side of him being hot. Seen it a lot being on the opposing team. But tonight, it was amazing to watch.”
Harden added nine assists that resulted in another 21 points while also notching three rebounds, one steal, and one block.
It’s never down to just one player, though, and on Monday night the Clippers got a little aid from their ‘213’ crew to turn this game into yet another win.
Kawhi Leonard started off the night by making his first eight field goal attempts before closing his ledger with 28 points in 27 minutes. Leonard made 12 of his 18 field goal attempts.
Paul George returned to Indiana and, as he has done in past visits, traumatized them all over again by having a fantastic offensive night. George tallied 27 points, four assists, and three rebounds in 32 minutes, making five 3s in the process. The superstar has scored at least 27 points in each of his last five visits to the city that he used to call home.
Everyone chipped in during Monday’s triumph.
Norman Powell led all scorers off the bench with 19 points in 30 minutes while Russell Westbrook had a highly productive 17 minutes that saw the future Hall of Famer contribute 10 points, five assists, and four rebounds on 4-for-6 shooting.
Starting center Ivica Zubac carried a heavy workload at times on Monday night as he finished with 18 points, a season-high 16 rebounds, three assists, and three blocks in 26 minutes. Zubac and Harden have started to cultivate a level of chemistry that has seen Zubac’s game take off in recent weeks.
Terance Mann had four points and two rebounds in 28 minutes, Daniel Theis returned to Indiana and scored four points and grabbed nine rebounds, and Brandon Boston Jr. scored six in mop-up duty.
The Clippers shot 57.1 percent, their highest mark in a game this season. It eclipses what they did on Saturday night against the New York Knicks when they shot 56.8 percent. The 19 made 3s were a season-high.
The team managed to score at least 37 points in each of the game’s four quarters, and they’ve now achieved eight consecutive quarters of scoring at least 30. The Clippers moved to 16-10 on the season while the Pacers slipped to 13-12.
It wasn’t all candy canes and catchy carols in this one, though. The Pacers came to fight, at least early on.
This game was knotted at 57-57 with roughly five minutes to go in the second quarter. However, the Clippers used a 20-9 run to end the frame before then seizing even greater control in the third by rattling off a 21-8 run. All told, in roughly 12 minutes of basketball, the Clippers outscored the Pacers 41-17 and put this one slightly out of reach before Harden’s heroic feats could finish the job.
“Once we, after that first quarter, just locked in and tried to give Tyrese (Haliburton) different looks, I think [it] slowed him down a little bit, really helped us out,” Lue said after the game about the team’s second- and third-quarter bursts.
“He’s the head of the snake. So, we wanted to give him different coverages, we just didn’t want to let him get comfortable, and just show him different looks and try to keep him off-balance because he’s a special player.”
Haliburton had arguably his worst game of the season, finishing the night with only eight points to go with 11 assists in 31 minutes. Haliburton was just 3-for-12 from the field and finished with more turnovers (4) than made shots.
Indiana was without starting center Myles Turner on the night which allowed Isaiah Jackson to get the nod. Jackson notched 15 points in 25 minutes but was held scoreless in the second half after a strong opening two quarters.
Guard Bennedict Mathurin led Indiana in scoring with 34 points off the bench. Veterans Buddy Hield and Obi Toppin finished with 14 apiece, Bruce Brown had 11, and T.J. McConnell added 10 off the bench.
It’s easy to overlook just how good this Clippers team has been considering how poorly they were playing just over a month ago. Just 32 days ago the Clippers were 3-7 and looking a lost season square in the eyes. But they didn’t blink. They persevered and overcame, and now they’re six games over .500 as they begin a pivotal back-to-back on the road against the Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder, two teams above them in the Western Conference standings.
As a result of Monday’s win over the Pacers, the Clippers moved to 13-3 since Nov. 17, the second-best record in the league in that span behind only the West-leading Minnesota Timberwolves.
They have wins over the Pacers, Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings (twice), Denver Nuggets, and New York Knicks — all teams with winning records at the present moment. They also have wins over the Golden State Warriors (twice) and broke a miserable road streak in Utah against the Jazz.
Or, as Ned Stark could have said in “Game of Thrones”: The Clippers are coming.