Today's NBA regular season, the Clippers lost to the Thunder 115-134, there was basically no suspense in this battle, the Clippers fell behind by 6 points in the first quarter, and narrowed the gap in the second quarter, but the Thunder won by 12 points in a single quarter in the third quarter, and the Clippers withdrew their main force early in the final quarter and finally lost to the Thunder. In terms of statistics, Harden had 23 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 3 turnovers, George 22 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, Westbrook 15 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 turnovers, Powell 16 points and 4 rebounds, Coffey 9 points and 4 rebounds, Zubac 6 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, and Mann 5 points and 3 steals.
The Clippers' 9-game winning streak was ended, and Leonard did not play in this game, citing a hip injury, but in fact, to put it bluntly, it is a rotation rest, after all, Xiaoka has been in full attendance before, and today is back-to-back, it is really time to rest. Although the Clippers lost the game, it is not necessarily a bad thing, after all, during the 9-game winning streak, the Clippers are carrying a heavy burden, and the players are under a lot of pressure, at this time losing may not be a relief, it is a big deal to start from the beginning with another wave of consecutive wins, it can be seen from the fourth quarter when the game loses suspense, Harden and George are very relaxed on the bench, and Wei Shao is even talking and laughing with his teammates, which shows that the loss is within the Clippers' plan.
The Thunder is indeed a talented team, they are now ranked 2nd in the West, and the Timberwolves have become a big dark horse, the Thunder's talent is the envy of the whole league, Alexander is the top scorer, he got 31 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks in this game, can score, can defend, it is only a matter of time before he becomes a superstar in the future, he can compare with Jalen Green of the Rockets, obviously Green is more talented, but now he can't compare with Alexander. Holmgren got 23 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists, playing very tough inside, the Clippers couldn't prevent it at all, Alexander + Holmgren, the Thunder double-core combined to hit 54 + 4 + 11, and collapsed the Clippers.
Looking at Harden's performance again, the small card is absent, we all hope that Harden can be full of firepower, looking at the game, Harden does attack very resolutely, frequent shots, but either hit the iron or is blocked, Harden's attitude is no problem, but he played very hard in the face of Dort, and only scored 11 points in the entire first half. In the third quarter, Harden finally found his rhythm, broke through to make a foul, and then hit two three-pointers in a row, and continued to make layups and cut points in the next time, or make fouls, Harden scored 12 points in the entire third quarter, but unfortunately the Clippers gave too many empty opportunities, and the Thunder scored 45 points in this quarter.
George also played very well, and had a lot of cooperation with Harden, like at the beginning of the first quarter, Harden assisted George to score a three-pointer, and in the second half of the second quarter, Harden passed George, who scored a layup, but on the whole, George still seems to be affected by injuries, and the offense is not too active, maybe let George also take turns to rest, Harden will be better to let go, anyway, this period of time has a good record, it doesn't matter if you lose, Ka Jiao's health is the most important. Wei Shao also performed well after coming on the court, scoring and grabbing rebounds aggressively, and the only thing to pay attention to was to control the mistakes. And Powell, too steady, Bobby is now the strongest firepower point on the Clippers bench.
Harden was interviewed after the game, the bearded man was still in a good mood, he didn't care about the game at all, and when talking about the young Thunder team, Harden said: "It reminds me of when I was here, it was the beginning of the Thunder's rise, it's wonderful, it's been a long time since the rebuilding process but I think it's exciting, the fans here deserve a good game," and you can see that Harden misses himself when he was with the Thunder. Then came the point, when it came to ending a nine-game winning streak, Harden said: "Sometimes our offense stagnates, but we can't slip on the defensive end, we need to watch the game and figure out how to solve the problem, this loss showed us what was lacking, and I'm looking forward to us getting back on a winning streak." ”
What is called a super leader, Harden explained perfectly, he reminded his teammates that they need to improve their defense, at the same time, Harden also said that he saw the shortcomings of the Clippers, and will continue to play a wave of consecutive wins, which undoubtedly made the 29 team unable to sit still, Harden is very confident, after all, the strength of the Clippers is here, and it will be difficult for them to be defeated when Leonard plays. The Clippers' next opponent is the Celtics, this is undoubtedly a tough battle, then Leonard will definitely play, if the Clippers can win, then it is enough to prove that they have a rare opponent in the league, I hope that Harden can have a break at that time, and I hope that Cayenne can stay healthy.