Good or bad, like it or not, these are James Harden’s Clippers.
The team has handed the 16-year veteran complete control of the offense in Kawhi Leonard’s absence and possibly beyond.
And how Harden goes, so does the team.
Harden has in the past carried a team on a nightly basis, most recently when he was with the Houston Rockets. But that was back in 2013 when Rockets general manager Daryl Morey called Harden a “foundational” player and made him the face of the team despite only playing a supporting role in Oklahoma City.
And when Harden was in his prime.
Now, Harden is 35 years old and while he still can lead a team, the job is made more difficult without a strong supporting cast, narrowing the Clippers’ margin for error. While Harden had a triple-double in Thursday’s 125-119 loss to the Phoenix Suns, he also turned the ball over six times.
Harden shook off any talk of fatigue, blaming the turnovers on his increased ball handling responsibilities.
“You seen the usage rate, it’s going to happen. Like turnovers are going to happen,” said Harden, who is averaging 6.2 turnovers. “I try to, but some of the passes that I thread, a lot of them are successful and some of ’em aren’t. So just trying to find a balance of when to throw and when not to.”
It’s been a delicate balance in the Clippers’ first five games. While Harden is often leading the team in scoring (23.8 ppg) and assists (11.6), he also turned the ball over eight times in the season opener against the Suns, five times against the Denver Nuggets, five against the Golden State Warriors and five against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Collectively, the Clippers are averaging 16.4 turnovers.
“The ones that’s unforced, I got to control those a lot better. But I don’t think it’s necessarily the turnovers that lost the game,” Harden said of Thursday’s loss, their third in the first five games.
“We came off that third quarter defensively, they didn’t feel us defensively, our presence, and they were just comfortable. They made shots and that got ’em back into the game.”
Coach Tyronn Lue said each possession matters and “until we understand that, it’s going to be tough games.”
The losses already are worrisome, especially losing back-to-back games after holding double-digit leads. Harden said the team needs to stick with its game plan and that means having him as its leader.
Until Leonard comes back.
In the meantime, the Clippers have put the ball in Harden’s hands, and it’s his job to make the others around him better. The Clippers have four players averaging double figures, led by Norman Powell’s 25.4.
Ivica Zubac is contributing 19.2 points per game, many coming off pick-and-roll plays facilitated by Harden, and newcomer Derrick Jones Jr. is averaging 11.8 points.
“With the responsibility of being the best two players with Kawhi, they got to make everyone else better as well, and he understands that,” Lue said of Harden before the season.
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