Doncic Shines, Harden Disappears as Mavericks Rout Clippers 123-93 to Take 3-2 Series Lead
"Lookin' at my Gucci, it's about that time."--Beastie Boys, "Time to Get Ill"
Like clockwork, James Harden looked at his Gucci in a pivotal game five and decided it was time to get ill, producing a "Harden" and a "concert tour" in the same contest: more turnovers (four) than field goals made (two)--the "Harden"--and a field goal percentage that looks like a concert tour date (2-12 for an ice cold winter performance). Harden had a game-worst -25 plus/minus number, and his triple single (seven points, seven assists, four rebounds) sealed the L.A. Clippers' fate at home as the Dallas Mavericks ran, jumped, and dunked to a 123-93 win, the worst margin of defeat in Clippers' playoff history. Paul George scored 15 points on 4-13 field goal shooting, and his game-high 11 rebounds were not nearly enough to make up for his anemic scoring, particularly with Kawhi Leonard out due to injury and Harden invisible due to being Harden.
Luka Doncic dominated for Dallas, scoring a game-high 35 points on 14-26 field goal shooting while also dishing for a game-high 10 assists. He outscored George and Harden combined in game five, which is enormously important because the game five winner in a series tied 2-2 goes on to take the series more than 80% of the time. Doncic scored almost as many second half points (20) as George and Harden scored in the entire game combined (22). Doncic has led the league in playoff scoring in each of the past two seasons, and even though he is hobbling around with various injuries he is still averaging 30.2 ppg versus the Clippers.
Maxi Kleber added 15 points off of the bench, while Kyrie Irving and Jaden Hardy scored 14 points each.
The Mavericks' excellence under pressure is the main story--along with the reality that Jason Kidd is an underrated coach--but Harden's horrific play must not be ignored. I've been saying it for a decade, but it seems like no one listens and no one learns: no team with James Harden in a key role is going to win a championship--and if you liked game five Harden, wait until you see elimination game Harden.
Harden's elimination game resume is so terrifying that children should not be allowed to view it, and it should be read out loud by the voiceover guy who concludes movie trailers by growling, "Rated Rrrrrrrr." Last year, Harden had nine points and five turnovers for Philadelphia in a 112-88 loss to Boston.
Never forget that Daryl Morey--the king of the "stat gurus"--declared that Harden is a greater scorer than Michael Jordan. Morey has never backed off from that ludicrous assertion.
It was hilarious to watch people get so excited when Harden played reasonably well earlier in this series. Harden was selected to the NBA's 75th Anniversary Team, so there is a responsibility and an expectation for him to play well during playoff games. Keep in mind that Harden was selected over Chris Bosh, Adrian Dantley, Alex English, Artis Gilmore, Dwight Howard, Bernard King, and Tracy McGrady (among others).
It should surprise no one that with the series on the line Harden fell apart, because he has done this over and over and over again.
Harden looked at his Gucci, and he knew it was about that time.
Harden being Harden should not obscure the fact that the self-proclaimed "Playoff P" entered the chat as well. Paul George might be Harden's long lost cousin, because they have the same playoff DNA: when all the chips are down, they fall down. George shot .420 or worse from the field in nine of his 18 playoff series prior to 2024, and he is hovering just above .420 in this series heading into a win or go home game six. In his three playoff games when his team faced elimination since joining the Clippers, George has shot 6-15 (.400), 5-15 (.333), and 4-16 (.250), so it will be fascinating to watch Harden and George work their game six magic on Friday night in Dallas.
Labels: Dallas Mavericks, James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, L.A. Clippers, Luka Doncic, Paul George
posted by David Friedman @ 1:41 AM
1 Comments:
A 2-12, 4 turnover performance in a crucial playoff game from Harden shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who has objectively followed his playoff career and Paul George is also in the “Overrated Regular Season Players Who Get Exposed In The Playoffs” club.
Another very interesting storyline in these playoffs is that back in 2019 the Clippers traded for Paul George with a package that included a young Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Numbers usually need context but this is one of the exceptions. Here are the playoff averages for both players in the first round:
Gilgeous-Alexander: 27.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 5.0 apg while shooting .476 overall in a sweep of the Pelicans.
Paul George: 19.8 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 4.6 apg shooting .428 overall while his team trails 2-3 in the first round.
The numbers are self-explanatory.
Also, another thing you can count on in the playoffs is that Kawhi Leonard will suffer some sort of bizarre, vague knee injury that turns out to be way more serious than initially thought. Since leading the Raptors to the championship back in 2019, Leonard has not played a single second of Conference Finals basketball. The Clippers reached the WCFs in 2021, but unsurprisingly, Leonard missed the entire series with a partial ACL tear that was initially ruled a sprain.
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