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Clippers Outrace Pacers in 151-127, Harden-Led Victory
The Clippers blew away the Pacers 151-127 in a strong road win highlighted by a 21-point 4th quarter from James Harden.
Summary
The first quarter started with a burst of offense and never let up. The Clippers held an early lead, largely because Kawhi Leonard went 5-5 from the field for 10 points. On the other end, Buddy Hield made threes and Isaiah Jackson shockingly scored in double figures, keeping the Pacers attached. The Clippers had to adjust their usual rotations when Kawhi picked up his 2nd foul, leaving PG as the star staggering with the bench. While PG scored 13 in the opening period, he took 11 shots, and the Pacers ended up seizing the lead late on a Hield three, holding a 38-37 edge after one.
Five quick Pacers points saw them grab a six-point advantage until Harden was able to stop the bleeding. Still, the Pacers were scoring at will until Kawhi and Zu returned at the 8 minute mark for Amir and Theis. The Clippers were able to tie it up by the 6:20 mark, which his when Ty Lue went to the “Normcore” unit with Norm in place of Mann with the starters. Kawhi, Harden, and Zu began to cook, and while the Pacers scored at a solid clip, dropping off just a tad allowed the Clippers to garner a 10 point lead. At halftime, the Clippers led 77-66, with all of their starters outside of Terance boasting double-digit plus minuses. Kawhi had 17 on 8-9 shooting, George had 18 on 6-12 shooting, and Harden had 14 and 6 on 5-8 shooting. Not much defense was being played.
The Clippers opened about as strong as possible, with a Zu and-one, Zu block, and PG three getting them to a 17 point lead in less than a minute. The Clippers continued to push their lead out, with their defense looking good and forcing consistent stops for the first time all game. However, they were unable to truly break the game open due to some missed open shots. The Clippers got their lead up to as high as 25, but the Pacers pushed back each time, and the lead sat at 20 going into the final frame.
The Pacers went out on a quick 5-0 run, bringing the Clippers’ lead down to 15, and had the chance to cut it further. From then on, James Harden took over in a spectacular way, one of the best concentrated displays of offense (and some of the worst defense by the Pacers) I’ve seen in thousands and thousands of NBA game. He scored 21 points in just over 6 minutes, including 18 straight points in about three minutes on a series of absurd stepback threes. His teammates were going wild, the crowd was doing the hushed murmuring you see when an opposing player is unstoppable, and the reactions on Twitter were glorious. Harden subbed out at the 5:22 mark after a particularly bonkers three, and garbage time ensued. The Clippers topped 150 points in the win, ultimately securing a 151-127 victory.
Notes
Big 3 Dominates, Again: For the first time maybe in the history of the Clippers’ franchise (apologies to DeAndre Jordan) the Clippers have a Big 3 that really feels like a Big 3. All of the Clippers’ three best players are clicking on just about every cylinder right now, both individually and as a collective. James Harden won player of the game honors for his bananas 4th quarter and overall 35 point, 9 assist night on 16 shots against the Pacers, but Kawhi had 28 on 12-18 shooting, and PG had 25 on 9-21 shooting, and none of them played more than 31 minutes. Outside of an occasional questionable shot here or there, the Clippers’ stars are playing in the rhythm of the offense, not forcing anything, and generating good shots nearly at will. If the Clippers keep playing like this (big if), they should have three extremely worthy candidates for the All Star Game.
ZuBlocca Raging: And yet, for all of the deserved praise for the Clippers’ stars, the Clipper having the best stretch of his career right now is Ivica Zubac. Big Zu had 18 points, 16 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 blocks in 26 minutes and the only time the Clippers’ defense looked somewhat competent is when he was on the court. The big man is developing a nice chemistry with both James Harden and Russell Westbrook, and is playing stellar interior defense alongside his usual solid rebounding. He’s not quite at an All-Star level, but Zach Lowe threw him out as an All-Defense candidate on a pod last week, and he’s not far below that tier right now. Good for the big fella.
Clippers Outrace Pacers in 151-127, Harden-Led Victory
Robert Flom