TNT's NBA Cup Doubleheader Features a Blowout and a Matchup of Contrasting Basketball Philosophies
In the first game of TNT's NBA Cup Tuesday night doubleheader, the Oklahoma City Thunder routed the San Antonio Spurs, 123-87. The Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a game-high 28 points, grabbed six rebounds, passed for five assists, and swiped a game-high seven steals; he made the All-NBA First Team last season, and he continues to demonstrate that he is an elite level player. Josh Giddey showcased his all-around game by contributing 18 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, and two blocked shots while shooting 7-11 from the field. Jalen Williams was the only other Thunder player who scored in double figures (11 points), but Oklahoma City's balanced attack featured five other players who scored eight or nine points each as the team shot 46-89 (.517) from the field. Although the Thunder played well against a flawed Spurs team and have started the season with a 7-4 record, it should be recalled that the Thunder built this roster by tanking, and teams that tank do not win championships.
Zach Collins and Julian Champagnie led the Spurs with 13 points each, while 19 year old rookie Victor Wembanyama scored eight points on 4-15 field goal shooting as he posted a "Harden" with more turnovers (five) than field goals made, though he did control a game-high 14 rebounds. It should not be surprising that a Spurs squad that tanked to get Wembanyama has started the season with a 3-8 record: Wembanyama is a talented but raw and inconsistent player, and it is not reasonable to expect him to lead this team to the playoffs. It is a disservice to Wembanyama--and disrespectful to the NBA's established great players--for media members to keep hyping up Wembanyama as opposed to giving him some time for his body and his game to develop.
In the second game, the Denver Nuggets defeated the L.A. Clippers, 111-108. The Nuggets, even without injured All-Star caliber guard Jamal Murray, are a complete team. Nikola Jokic is the best player in the world, a scoring/rebounding/passing dynamo who--contrary to popular belief--is one of the best athletes in the NBA. Jokic led the Nuggets in scoring (32 points) while posting game-high totals in rebounds (16) and assists (nine). He shot just 8-23 from the field--missing several shots that he normally makes--but he drained all 14 of his free throw attempts. Jokic's deft passing plus the extra defensive attention that he attracted helped the Nuggets to shoot 39-73 (.534) from the field. Aaron Gordon (20 points, five rebounds, five assists) and Reggie Jackson (18 points, four assists) provided excellent support to Jokic's dominance.
In contrast to the Nuggets' well-oiled championship machine that was built organically and functions as a cohesive unit, the Clippers feature four star players--Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden--and try to overwhelm their opponents with pure talent instead of relying on cohesive execution. George scored a game-high 35 points on 13-26 field goal shooting, but the Clippers shot just 37-86 (.430) from the field. Leonard won two NBA Finals MVPs (2014, 2019) as the efficient focal point of his team's offense, but versus the Nuggets he ranked third on the team in field goal attempts (14) behind George and Harden (15).
The Clippers actually had a very solid squad after Westbrook joined the team late last season, but Harden has proven his all-around impact by simultaneously destroying the
Clippers' offense and defense, both of which cratered right after the Clippers foolishly acquired him from the Philadelphia 76ers.
The crunch time offense with Harden on the court is quite a sight to
behold, with Harden bricking layups and the Nuggets triple-teaming Leonard while daring anyone else to beat them; meanwhile, the Nuggets
worked over the undersized Clippers in the paint, closing the game on a 19-9 run, doing most of that damage after Harden replaced Westbrook down the stretch. Harden treated that fourth quarter like it was game seven in the playoffs, scoring zero points on 0-1 field goal shooting while posting a -6 plus/minus number; he will be a real treat for Clippers fans to enjoy during the playoffs, assuming that the Clippers can right their listing ship and make the playoffs. The Clippers are 0-6 since trading for Harden, including 0-5 when Harden has played.
Jokic and company make no excuses with Murray being out, in marked contrast to many other players and teams that continually whine and complain about not having enough talent. Harden, perhaps the NBA's "Whiner in Chief," calls himself "The System" but the reality is that his slow-paced, overdribbling game is systematically destroying the Clippers. Harden emphasizes that he did not have a training camp this season while neglecting to mention that the reason he did not have a training camp is that he pouted his way out of Philadelphia, much to the delight of 76ers' fans who have watched their team thrive in the wake of Harden's departure.
TNT's Charles Barkley correctly noted that (1) the Clippers made their best run versus the Nuggets when Harden was not in the game, and (2) the Clippers' lack of size is a major problem.
Westbrook was the only Clippers' starter with a positive plus/minus number (+1) even though his boxscore numbers were not impressive (eight points on 4-12 field goal shooting, six rebounds, three assists). Westbrook thrives in the open court, but now that the Clippers have sold their soul to Harden they are consigned to playing at a slower pace while Harden dribbles the air out of the ball. I feel great sympathy for Westbrook. First, LeBron James and his media lapdogs tried to destroy Westbrook's reputation. Then, Westbrook finally escaped to the Clippers, who understood how to utilize his skills and who played well with him running the point--until Harden showed up and wrecked everything.
It is obvious that the Clippers with Harden will win a game at some point, and that they will win a fair amount of regular season games just based on talent alone--but the only conceivable way for this team to make any noise in the playoffs is to hand the first team offense back over to Westbrook while assigning Harden with the task of running the second unit.
Labels: Denver Nuggets, Kawhi Leonard, L.A. Clippers, Nikola Jokic, Oklahoma City Thunder, Paul George, Russell Westbrook, San Antonio Spurs, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Victor Wembanyama
posted by David Friedman @ 2:24 AM
12 Comments:
Being a long time fan of the NBA, I am often hesitant to question coaches without sufficient information. Too often does a NBA head coach have to balance organizational/management issues, their player personnel (both on and off the court), and even their own coaching staff, which can all have negative impact on their schemes. However, I've seen enough to say that Ty Lue is an incredibly overrated coach. He makes extremely inexplicable decisions and is often very late to make obvious adjustments.
If I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt, I'd like to believe that he is purposely putting the Clippers in these situations as proof to justify to Harden why he needs to come off the bench. Anyone with an ounce of basketball intelligence can see that the offense is bad primarily because Harden does not add anything to it.
The Clippers play their best when they play fast. The Clippers are struggling with rebounding. The Clippers need active players on defense when they play small ball. The Clippers need a leader on the floor because their two best players are not known to be vocal. For the life of me, I cannot understand how one could know these things and prioritize Harden over Westbrook when Westbrook does all of them and Harden does none.
Before the trade, I said that Harden does have a place on this team - the one that Norman Powell plays. 6th man. Microwave off the bench. Step up when one of Kawhi or PG inevitably go down with an injury. Instead, the Clippers are electing to force Harden into their offense which is negativity impacting almost everyone on the team:
1. George CLEARLY plays best when Westbrook is on the floor.
2. Kawhi is struggling to start the season and this offense is doing him no favors to get him into rhythm. Less touches for your best player in favor of a career loser is mind boggling.
3. Westbrook's minutes are down, his role seems to be diminishing, which I can imagine is not great for his confidence especially when the eye test AND stats like +/- suggest that he should not be the one with a smaller role
4. Mann, whom is a promising young role player, plays much better in a faster offense similar to George
5. Zubac is being forced into a pick and roll center when it's clearly not his strong suit
6. Bones Hyland has fallen out of the rotation
The fix for this is so clear and yet it is not being implemented. It honestly makes no sense whatsoever.
Kyle:
I thought that Ty Lue did a very good job coaching the Cavaliers to the NBA title. I realize that some people may say that anyone can coach a great player like LeBron to an NBA title, but history shows that there are many coaches who messed up potentially great teams/great players.
I also thought that Lue had done a reasonable job with the Clippers prior to this season, assuming that he is not the one making the load management decisions (and I have no reason to think that he is).
All of that being said, I agree that his coaching decisions since Harden arrived are puzzling. You may be correct that he is trying to demonstrate--to management, Harden, or both--that having Harden as a starter is not going to work. It is also possible that Lue has been instructed that Harden must start. Regardless of why Lue is starting Harden and then also using Harden with the closing lineup, you are correct about all the reasons that this is doomed to fail.
David:
I agree that Lue did a fantastic job in Cleveland. Managing LeBron and his camp's antics is a job within itself. By no means would I suggest that he is a bad coach. However, this Harden situation is not the only instance of Lue making questionable decisions. I'm not in the locker room or front office so I don't know everything that goes on behind the scenes, but there are too many coincidences that point to Lue just not being as strategic as some say that he is like a Spoelstra, Nurse, Malone, or even Carlisle.
I've watched every Clippers game since Westbrook joined the team. Even last year, it was not uncommon for Lue to take Westbrook out in favor of other bench players to close the game. Lue elected to not play Zubac or Tucker to guard Jokic last night. Small ball has been a common theme for the Lue/Kawhi/George Clippers going back several years now. Those were the only two reasons they lost last night. I don't want to dump this all on Lue, but in my mind, I've seen enough to argue that he is as big of a problem with this team as Harden's ego. And that says a lot because I don't think there is a single NBA player (maybe outside of Karl Malone) that I have despised more than Harden for as long as I've been a basketball fan.
I've listened to many post game interviews from Lue. Ballmer does not come across as a bad owner. Outside of the loan management silliness, Clippers management has shown willingness to build competitive teams. Again, I could be wrong, but I just don't see the evidence that Lue is the guy for the job.
I was never completely against the Harden trade. The Kawhi/George version of the Clippers is on year 5. 3 of the 4 years were derailed because of injuries to either one or both of them. Having Harden as an insurance option and a way to win unimportant games for playoff seeding is not a bad idea.
Maybe I overestimate my sense of basketball intelligence, but sports media and overall insight from most fans is just stupid to me. Everyone is saying the Clippers got Harden for his playmaking without understanding that his style of play is incompatible with the Clippers players. It's plain as day. Harden's role should be firepower during scoring droughts and when one of the Kawhi/George goes down. Nothing more. Nothing less. His game is not built to add any other relevant dynamic to this roster.
Kyle:
Last year, the Clippers were battling injuries and load management while integrating Westbrook into the mix. I thought that Lue had figured out everything pretty well on the fly until the injuries derailed their playoff run.
I understand the theory behind acquiring Harden, but in practice this is not going to work if winning a championship is the goal. We have over 10 years of evidence about Harden. He is not going to change his ways, nor is he going to improve as a player. At his best he was never as good as many people said that he was, and now he is not only a declining player but a declining player who can no longer fall back on the "flop and flail" antics that the NBA does not reward as frequently as it did during Harden's prime. I would argue that "flop and flail" was worth at least 10 ppg for Harden in terms of extra free throws plus teams giving him more space to avoid being called for nonsense fouls. So, even when Harden was a 30-plus ppg scorer he was really a 23-25 ppg scorer to me.
In terms of helping a team win a title, Harden has always been a loser and that is unlikely to change. In terms of making hundreds of millions of dollars and achieving a status that virtually guarantees HoF induction, Harden has been massively successful.
David:
We've always been in agreement about Harden. I want to remain optimistic about Harden working on a championship team, but in reality I know that it's a pipe dream. However, I do believe that Harden's antics would not be tolerated in an organization like the Spurs or the Heat. Great coaches and organizations in the past have been proven to integrate selfish players into winning systems.
If you want a good chuckle, check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpyF6v8-pBI ... more proof of lack of accountability and awareness.
@kyle,
You nailed all 8 points and your point about Westbrook's strengths being what the Clippers needed. He really took the reigns of leadership. Organized offseason workouts and team get-togethers, took some of the young guys under his wing (Bones), brought energy, excitement, and an edge to the court, brought discipline and routine to how he approaches getting ready for games, and made the game easier for PG and Kawhi.
Harden does none of those things. In fact, he's the opposite. Took the offseason off. Skipped training camp. Has a history of not working hard in practice, partying before games, and icing out all-star and MVP level teammates. Forces his teammates to conform to his one-trick pony offensive system.
Clips didn't need Harden at all. They just needed Mann to get healthy. Mann is a swiss army knife that can fit in and defend multiple positions, hit open shots, take advantage of closeouts, and when needed, run an offense. He's EXACTLY what the starting unit needed and exactly everything Harden is not. If he had been healthy to begin the season, I believe the Clippers would've started off 6-0.
The Clippers gave up valuable depth and defensive versatility for Harden. Batum, Covington, and even Morris are playing important minutes for Philly. I think losing Plumlee has really hurt the team as well, and contributes to the small ball being played currently (but doesn't excuse Lue from seasons past). The Clippers can really used someone like Biyombo who'd fit nicely playing next to Harden and/or Russ.
There was zero reason to trade for Harden when the Clippers did. They were rolling and were exciting to watch! Paul George was playing like MVP candidate 2018 PG. Kawhi was able to pick his spots and was getting easier looks playing a more uptempo game. The bench was coming along. The young players were getting run (Martin, Hyland).
Harden has literally taken all of that away from the team. Adding him has also decimated what little future draft capital the team had as well. The worst part is he could have been signed in the offseason as he's a free agent.
Clippers should've kept the team it had in place and seen where they could go. If Kawhi or PG got hurt, then it would strengthen their position to not offer a max to them. But, odds are that they'd both play through injuries this season and give their all to try and sign a max.
It’s worth mentioning that the Clippers went on to lose their first five games after acquiring Westbrook but it’s also worth mentioning that the first loss was in double overtime while also being the second highest scoring game in NBA history, the second loss was in overtime, and the fifth loss was by a single point. The Clippers then went on to win four in a row and post a winning record in the remaining regular season games after their five game losing streak. Also, there were no questions about Westbrook’s level of fitness or effort.
It might sound bizarre to feel sorry for someone who made $47.1 million last season but at a certain point it’s not about the money. I don’t care how much money someone makes, nobody wants to be relentlessly and unfairly bashed by the media, especially when they always put maximum effort into their job. I do feel sorry for Westbrook based on all of the reasons you mentioned: the Lakers traded for him, didn’t utilize him correctly and then blamed him for all of their problems. They didn’t seem to mind or come to his defense when the media strung him up as a piñata and took turns taking petty, vindictive wings at him. Westbrook was then traded to a team who appeared to embrace him as their starting point guard but then made the unthinkable mistake of trading for Harden which put Westbrook’s role into question.
Westbrook cannot seem to catch a break and I hope the Clippers lose every single game after their mindless acquisition of Harden. Going 0-72 for the rest of the regular season is the appropriate punishment for their self-destructive decisions.
Kyle:
I saw the interview last night. If self-awareness were fuel, Harden would not have enough to power the world's smallest lawnmower.
Michael:
In Westbrook's first game with the Clippers, he had 17 points, 14 assists, and a +3 plus/minus number in a 176-175 loss to the Sacramento Kings. The Clippers had been 2-2 over the previous four games, and were 33-28 when Westbrook arrived.
This year's Clippers were 3-1 pre-Harden, with an elite offense and a good enough defense. They lost the first game after the trade (Harden did not play) and then lost the next five with Harden playing. George and Leonard are fully healthy this season and are not load-managing.
I don't expect the Clippers to go 0-72 with four future HoFers, but this team will never reach its potential with Harden dribbling the air out of the ball.
David - I really like Paul George, but I'm not entirely convinced that he's a sure fire HOFer. Then again, everyone is getting into the Basketball Hall of Fame these days, but whatever. Also, I count the Harden trade as 6-0 because they were down 2 rotation players (Covington & Batum) on a back-to-back against the Lakers. I believe they would have won that game had it not been for the trade.
Jordan - we are in absolute agreement, though again, I understand the idea of having Harden as insurance considering Kawhi & PG's injury histories. I guess the problem isn't the theory of having another talented offensive player to step up in their absence as backup, it's more so the reality that Harden does not have the attitude to fit that role.
Michael - Thank you for bringing up the Clippers going 0-5 last season with Westbrook. Those games showed promise. There is a huge difference this year. The offense currently looks terrible. I too find myself rooting for the Clippers while simultaneously hoping they lose the more they diminish Westbrook's role in favor of Harden.
Kyle:
I don't consider Harden or George to be HOF-caliber players, but I believe that they both will be inducted in the HOF based on how the voting appears to be done.
The reality of Harden outweighs any theoretical considerations. He could have been the Thunder's Manu Ginobili, but he chose to be some combination of Marbury, Melo, and Arenas.
I agree that it is fair to say that the Clippers are 0-6 post-trade because even though Harden did not play in the first game post-trade the Clippers were without the traded players who likely could have helped them to win.
Stats aren't everything, but they are valuable when they confirm what you already see plain as day.
Last 5 games:
Harden on court without Westbrook: -34
Harden on court with Westbrook: -36
Westbrook on court without Harden: +9
Harden on court without PG: -25
Harden on court with PG: -45
PG on court without Harden: +14
Harden on court without Kawhi: -14
Harden on court with Kawhi: -56
Kawhi on court without Harden: +21
Clippers are -70 with Harden on floor
Clippers are +24 with Harden off floor
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