Clippers Are Failing James Harden

The Los Angeles Clippers fell to 4-9 on the season after dropping a hard-fought nail-biter to the Boston Celtics on Sunday afternoon. A slow start was expected after the Clippers played a two-overtime game on Friday in Dallas and had to fly to the East Coast for an early Sunday game. After falling behind by 24 points, the Clippers made an impressive comeback and had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer when James Harden's three went in and out of the basket.

The biggest takeaway from the game was once again Harden's individual performance. Only 36 hours after playing a career-high 51 minutes and delivering a 41-point triple-double, the 36-year-old had another masterpiece, especially in the second half. Harden scored 32 of his 37 points in the second half, adding seven rebounds and eight assists in 38 minutes of action.

It was a vintage performance from Harden, who had his stepback three going and consistently baited Celtics defenders into fouling him. He ended up shooting 15 free throws and put multiple Celtics defenders in foul trouble. He carried the team on his shoulders in the fourth quarter, hitting a series of threes in the final few minutes to give the Clippers a chance.

James Harden's Elite Season Is Wasted on These Clippers

Harden is averaging his most points since the 2019-20 season, when he finished third in MVP voting. He is also in the midst of his most efficient season of his career with 65% True Shooting. He is also hitting a career-high 39.8% of his threes, all while carrying a massive offensive burden, and using more isolation possessions than any other player in the league, per NBA.com data.

As well as he is playing, this is simply way too much to ask of James Harden at this stage of his career. The fact that the Clippers built a roster so bereft of offensive talent that Harden has to play over 35 minutes every game and have a usage rate of almost 30% is embarrassing.

When the Clippers made their offseason moves, depth was supposed to be a big strength of the team. Less than a month into the season, Bradley Beal is out for the season, Kawhi Leonard is once again nowhere to be seen, and Chris Paul is getting a DNP-Coach's Decision designation every night. Those three were supposed to be the group to take some burden off Harden, but the opposite has been true.

The front office has failed Harden by putting this roster around him. Kawhi Leonard has failed Harden by not being able to stay healthy. And now Ty Lue is failing Harden by not finding ways to make things easier for the star point guard. The Clippers are wasting an elite James Harden season, and he has every right to be furious.

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