Swanson: James Harden keeps Clippers afloat against Mavericks

Things could be so different if Harden weren’t here to fill Kawhi Leonard’s lane with his own unique systematic stylings (scoring, distributing and helping close out a key playoff win) – just as he said he would.

DALLAS — If Bad Takes Exposed were a basketball game, the Clippers’ 116-111 series-tying victory over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 4 of their best-of-seven matchup was it.

“If (the goal) is a championship, I don’t know,” a scout told The Athletic in the aftermath of the Clippers’ November trade for James Harden from the Philadelphia 76ers. “It seems like it adds more of what they have: scoring and ball-handling.”

Another scout: “Honestly, I don’t know if James fits anywhere – like any team.”

There was CBS’ coverage: “Clippers take massive risk while 76ers win big.”

And so forth. Be honest, you very likely didn’t like the trade – Harden and P.J. Tucker for Robert Covington, Nicolas Batum, Marcus Morris, K.J. Martin, a couple of first-round draft picks, a first-round pick swap and two second-rounders – when it finally happened after four months of open and seemingly open-ended deliberations.

And that was before the Clippers lost their first six games with Harden in the lineup – and long before they announced that they have lost Kawhi Leonard indefinitely because of right knee inflammation, and a few hours later, lost the entirely of a 31-point lead in a playoff game, finding themselves staring at a potential 3-1 abyss.

The last two parts of the story happened Sunday at American Airlines Center, where Leonard’s latest bleak diagnosis was followed by what would have been a heartbreaking, historic collapse on the court, had it stood.

Had Harden not been there to keep the Clippers afloat. Had Harden not been on hand, lofting in one, two, three … five deftly executed floaters during fourth-quarter crunch time, when the lead was exchanged twice and the score tied twice and both teams’ stars had every fan tuned in on the absolute edge of his or her seat.

Had Harden not been there to exchange the baton with Paul George, who got off to a roaring start, with 26 of his 33 points in the first half, and who then helped Harden bring home the win. George’s beautiful rainbow 3-pointer from the corner put the Clippers ahead for good, 107-105, with 1:55 to play.

It would be so different now if Harden weren’t here to fill Leonard’s lane with his own unique systematic stylings – just as he said he would.

Remember when he was introduced on Nov. 2, and he delivered the Clippers’ first cool slogan since “Lob City”: “I’m not a system player, I am a system,” Harden said then.

On Sunday, before 20,411 delirious, deafening Dallas fans, Harden gave the class a visual lesson in what he meant.

He distributed, finishing with seven assists. He hit from outside, going 4 for 5 from 3-point range. He got to the free-throw line, of course, and went 5 for 5 from the stripe.

And then, when the walls had closed in, he willfully pried them back open with his soft touch around the rim, scoring 15 fourth-quarter points – the most by any Clipper in the final period of a postseason game since Montrezl Harrell had 16 against the Mavericks in Game 5 in 2020, a game they won, 154-111.

Harden showed up Sunday, just as he has all series, coming through as the Clippers’ most consistent scoring threat while Leonard tried unsuccessfully tried to fight through his knee inflammation and George struggled to get going offensively and to contend with Dallas’ dynamic guards without fouling.

After scoring 33 points on Sunday, Harden is averaging 26 per game entering Game 5 on 54.1% shooting, including 50% from 3-point range.

“For me, it’s the adjustment,” Professor Harden explained after the victory. “Offensively, I got the 3-ball. But if they want to try to take away the 3-ball; I get to the paint and I got my mid-range or I got the floater. Or if they want to come up and over-help, then I got my passing. So it’s a four-step process that you got to think about. It all happens so fast to where majority of the time I make the right decision.”

It didn’t happen fast, but the Clippers made the right decision.

“That’s what James is here for,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said before tipoff. “When PG or Kawhi or one of our top dogs is out, to be able to step in and fill in and be able to score the basketball, make plays for other guys, make it easier for Norm (Powell) and Zu (Ivica Zubac) and Mace (Mason Plumlee) and those guys.”

And, unfortunately, the Clippers’ fans know all too well there could be days like Sunday, when Lawrence Frank, the team’s president of basketball operations, calls one of his impromptu news conferences.

Those glum affairs are usually to update reporters on Leonard’s uncooperative knee, to breaks bad news like Sunday’s: Leonard is out and there is no saying when he’ll be back, but it won’t be until “he can make all the movements he needs to make, that’s when.”

But this postseason, the weight of all of Clipper Nation’s pent-up hopes and dreams don’t fall so squarely on George’s shoulders. (Recall how he led the way as they scratched and clawed their way into Game 6 of the 2021 Western Conference finals after Leonard sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament).

And the Clippers aren’t left with just a spirited supporting cast facing an unrealistic push. (See: the 2023 playoffs, when Russell Westbrook and the Clippers fought hard but lost every game after Leonard went out with a torn meniscus).

This time, they’re rocking the Beard.

Paul George and James Harden stepped up in a big way for the @LAClippers in Game 4 to even the series at 2-2!

Paul George: 33 PTS | 8 AST | 6 REB | 4 STL | 7 3PM
James Harden: 33 PTS | 7 AST | 6 REB | 4 3PM#NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel pic.twitter.com/QQJKc9jqWW

— NBA (@NBA) April 28, 2024

"It's a show. It's like elite, skilled, Hall of Fame basketball players going at it… there's only so much you can do defensively."

James Harden on the high-level talent in DALLAC Round 1 series pic.twitter.com/gzrSU5MWfG

— NBA (@NBA) April 28, 2024