20 Second Timeout

Nuggets Overwhelm Clippers in Second Half of 120-101 Game Seven Rout

The L.A. Clippers led 26-21 after the first quarter, but trailed 58-47 at halftime and then collapsed in the second half as the Denver Nuggets won game seven 120-101 to advance to a second round matchup versus the Oklahoma City Thunder; the final score obscures the fact that the Nuggets led 103-68 with 8:49 left in the fourth quarter before calling off the dogs. The Nuggets became the first team to have six players each score at least 15 points in a seventh game. Aaron Gordon led the way (22 points), followed by Christian Braun (21 points), Nikola Jokic (16 points), Jamal Murray (16 points), Russell Westbrook (16 points), and Michael Porter Jr. (15 points). Jokic led the Nuggets with 10 rebounds and eight assists, while Westbrook contributed five rebounds, five assists, and a game-high five steals.

Kawhi Leonard scored a team-high 22 points on 6-13 field goal shooting, but he did not impact the game across the board the way that he usually does, finishing with five rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots, and a game-worst -33 plus/minus number. James Harden, the All-Star guard who is supposed to be the team's reliable second option, had seven points on 2-8 field goal shooting and a -29 plus/minus number; his game-high 13 assists were not nearly enough to make up for not only his poor shooting but his refusal to shoot in an elimination game: the game was still within reach at halftime, but the game was out of reach after Harden scored 0 points on 0-2 field goal shooting while playing all 12 third quarter minutes. Leonard had eight points during the third quarter.

Before digging into the details of yet another pathetic performance to add to Harden's horrific elimination game resume (which now includes a 3-11 won/loss record since he fled Oklahoma City after the 2012 season), we will give credit to the Nuggets. Each Denver starter had between 11 and 16 field goal attempts, and Westbrook provided a critical energy boost during his 27 minutes off of the bench; the 2017 regular season MVP is not the first or second option on a regular basis at this stage of his career but--unlike many players who struggle to accept a lesser role when doing so becomes a necessary reality--he is a team-first player who embraces with enthusiasm his current role as a player who provides hustle, scoring, playmaking, rebounding, and defense off of the bench. The Nuggets took a double digit lead into halftime in large part because Westbrook had 10 points, three assists, two rebounds, two steals, and no turnovers while playing all 12 minutes in the second quarter. When Westbrook rebounded his own missed free throw and scored in traffic at the 3:10 mark of the second quarter, I thought about how stupid it sounded when Amin Elhassan and Zach Harper giggled their way through a segment on their radio show while asserting that Westbrook is a stat padder who obtains easy rebounds from complicit teammates. Westbrook is not a stat padder; he is an energetic game-changer: that play sparked a 9-4 run to close the first half, and set the stage for Denver's third quarter avalanche that ended the game and the series.

Westbrook is not a perfect player and he is the first to admit that, but he never cheats the game, his teammates, or the fans: he plays hard, and his basketball IQ is underrated; after the game, Christian Braun--who drew the primary assignment of guarding Harden--mentioned that Westbrook's knowledge of the Clippers' offensive sets in general and Westbrook's knowledge of Harden's tendencies in particular were invaluable to him.

If you love watching basketball being played the way that it is supposed to be played, then you have to love Westbrook; you may not root for him if he is on the opposing team, but you have to respect his approach to the game. 

The emotional exclamation point for Denver's win happened after Westbrook stole the ball and delivered an uncontested fastbreak dunk at the 6:53 mark of the fourth quarter to put Denver up, 107-76. Westbrook hung on the rim for an extended period, and did not care at all about the ensuing technical foul; during the stoppage of play, Westbrook exchanged high fives with Denver fans while very emphatically telling the Clippers' fans in the crowd to go home. One got the sense that Westbrook was not only sharing joy with Nuggets' fans while talking trash to Clippers' fans but that he was also letting out a lot of pent-up energy directed toward both of his former teams in L.A.--not just the Clippers, but also the Lakers and the sycophantic media members who unfairly made him a scapegoat even though knowledgeable analysts like Hubie Brown praised Westbrook during his time with the Lakers. 

James Harden is the exact opposite of Russell Westbrook: Westbrook keeps himself in shape all of the time, plays hard, accepts his role, and focuses on doing with high energy whatever his team needs him to do, while Harden is often out of shape, often does not give maximum effort, pouts if he does not like his role, and disappears like clockwork when his team needs him most, as if he looks at his Gucci and knows that in clutch moments it is "time to get ill." 

Harden has said that he does not play in a system because he is "The System." His biggest fan, Daryl Morey, insists that Harden is a better scorer than Michael Jordan. Look up delusional in the dictionary, and you should see those two statements as prime examples.

Morey loves "advanced basketball statistics," but the basic boxscore numbers are more than sufficient to tell Harden's story. When Harden's team plays in an elimination game, you can write the story template before the game and then just fill in the specific statistics after the final buzzer, because you know that he will choke and his team will lose. In 2023 as a 76er, Harden scored nine points on 3-11 field goal shooting with seven assists, and five turnovers in a 112-88 loss to the Boston Celtics; the 76ers trailed by just three at halftime, but Harden looked at his Gucci and got ill in the second half with three points on 1-3 field goal shooting. In 2024 as a Clipper, Harden scored 16 points on 5-16 field goal shooting with 13 assists in a 114-101 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, including four points on 2-5 field goal shooting during the decisive third quarter when Dallas outscored L.A., 35-20. This year versus Denver, Harden gave a game seven preview when he disappeared in Denver's 131-115 game five win (11 points on 3-9 field goal shooting with five assists, four turnovers, and a game-worst -16 plus/minus number). Coach Tyronn Lue may deserve the Coach of the Year award for coaxing 28 points on 10-20 field goal shooting out of Harden in a 111-105 game six L.A. win; that is the most points Harden has scored in an elimination game in five years.

Nuggets-Clippers was the most closely contested first round series this year--Golden State-Houston is the only other series to even reach a seventh game, to be played on Sunday night--but game seven turned into a blowout because it is difficult for a team featuring Harden in a first option or second option role to overcome his propensity to disappear when it matters most: if a player who is expected to score 12-15 points only scores 6-10 points, his team can overcome that, but if a player who is expected to be a dominant scorer who draws double teams instead just disappears then there is no way for his team to overcome the huge gap between expected production and delivered production. Very few players are capable of filling the first or second option role on a championship contending team, and Harden is not one of those players, as I noted 12 years ago after Harden fled Oklahoma City instead of accepting a third option role behind Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.

Harden is not the only reason that his teams have lost so many elimination games, but he is the biggest reason because of his overall approach to the game: if the purported leader is out of shape, does not play hard, and shrinks in big moments then his teammates are going to follow that example in one or more ways. Leonard, who is candid if dry during his press conferences, admitted that the Clippers' game seven effort was disappointing.

Westbrook lifts his teammates' energy, and Harden deflates his teammates' energy.

At least Leonard went to the post-game press conference. Harden left the arena without speaking to the media, which is not the first time that he has done this after a crushing loss, and is yet another example of how ill-suited he is to the role of being a franchise's best player or second best player; a leader does not shirk responsibility for a loss, and speaks to the media even if he knows that there will be uncomfortable questions. 

Labels: Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun, Denver Nuggets, Jamal Murray, James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, L.A. Clippers, Michael Porter Jr., Nikola Jokic, Russell Westbrook

posted by David Friedman @ 12:31 AM

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