Halfway through the NBA regular season this season, the situation in the East and West is gradually stabilizing. The three championship giants in the West, the Suns, Warriors, Lakers and Rockets are entangled together, and they have been hovering at 8-11, and the Rockets can play a game with a 5-to-11 winning rate, which is full of progress, but the three giant teams have unspeakable secrets. The Warriors are in civil strife, Kuming is in a hurry to get on the top, and Kerr respects the system and style of meritorious basketball, and there are contradictions and conflicts that are inevitable. Curry and Klay's shooting touch, in fact, it is difficult to make up for the Warriors' loopholes on the defensive end, the team's shortcomings due to age and height disadvantage, the key Paul left hand fracture, at least 2 months out of action! The Lakers' problem is more serious, Ham can't find a suitable lineup, the team lacks a pitcher, lacks an attacker, and the key average can make the opponent shoot 22.5 open three-pointers per game!
I really hope that the Lakers keep losing, Ham gets out of class as soon as possible, and the Lakers always have someone to take responsibility for the chaotic first half of the season. In contrast, after Beal's return, the Suns and Booker are gradually on the right track, and Durant can also use this time to rest. The hidden danger of the Suns is that they do not have a mature defensive system, and their defensive efficiency has been hovering in the middle and lower reaches, whether it is Booker or Beal on the offensive end, they also need to take on more tandem organizational responsibilities. The three championship-contending giants are lonely, but one team has gone all the way to the north and has approached the three in the West: the Timberwolves, the Thunder, and the Nuggets! Quietly won 12 consecutive victories and quietly became the first in the league! The NBA team without a soft underbelly was born, and the league is really about to come to an end! This team is the Clippers, Wei Shao's initiative to sacrifice Harden to complete Harden, and Harden let the Clippers take off on the rocket.
Let's start with a set of data. Since Wei Shaoying was asked to be a substitute, the Clippers have won 19 of their last 24 games, 14 of their last 16 games, and recently won five in a row, just one win away from the second-place Thunder. It's worth mentioning that the Clippers have won 12 straight games since Leonard played in December, and Leonard missed four games, the Clippers lost to the Thunder, the Celtics, and then the Hornets and Grizzlies. In these 24 games, the Clippers have three core points: first, Harden's ball-handling role is fixed, in Tyronn Lue's words, he hopes that Harden will increase the proportion of ball-handling, and the whole team trusts Harden immensely; The stats speak: Harden just came to the Clippers and started at the same time as Wei Shao, with a net efficiency value of -36 and a Clippers record of 0-5.
In November, when Harden was on the floor at the same time, the Clippers were 5-3 and had a net efficiency value of -10. But by December, Harden was 10-2 at the same time, with a net efficiency value of +28! Here is another set of statistics, this season when the Clippers put out Harden + Mann + George + Jr. + Zubac as a starter, they played a total of 272 minutes, with a net score of 96, an offensive efficiency of 125.8, a defensive efficiency of 108.6, and a net efficiency value of +17.2, which was the first in the league in defensive efficiency and net efficiency at the same stage. After the big win over the Pelicans, George said something that drew Tyronn Lue's approval: James (Harden) and Kawhi (small card) they get a lot of attention, I'm just open and then pitching, I'm going to take those tactical opportunities. Both Leonard and Tyronn Lue have emphasized this.
Why is it so comfortable to play with Harden? Harden's vision and passing accuracy are put aside first, and in the last 24 games of the Clippers, incomplete statistics, Harden has encountered at least 10 games with more than 10 rounds, including the Kings, Mavericks, and Pelicans, and they have to wrap Harden. Leonard stands in the low post, Harden and Zubac block and dismantle, George is on the weak side, or in the bottom corner, how can the opponent defend? The key is that Harden can score 1.24 points per round in singles this season, ranking first in the league, and the small card has 1.22 points and is third in the league. The opponent would rather be singled out by Leonard, and would rather be shot by George 6 or 7 three-pointers in a game, and they can only be recognized. Because if you don't contain Harden, the two forwards can't be guarded either, and the key Harden's efficiency is there!
Tyronn Lue had put the team's problems on the table in consecutive losses to the Celtics and Thunder: lack of pitchers, lack of points for Harden to catch the ball, and the need for teammates to seize open opportunities. George can be a pitcher, Leonard comes back to solve the problem directly, and in the pick-and-roll link, Zubac who starts, Theis and Plumlee who come off the bench, these three have greatly improved their efficiency this season. The key is that Harden himself has never cared about personal data, and the game with the Knicks in December was impressive, when George and Leonard were hot, Harden only had 6 shots in a game, and after feeding the small card to George, the two combined for 61 points, while Harden easily had 12 assists. This Clippers, because of Harden's existence, really has no weakness.
After all, it's the regular season, after all, the Clippers haven't reached the first place in the West, even if they get to the first place in the West, it's nothing, Harden was able to play the first place in the East with the Nets! The performance of the Clippers during this period confirmed Harden's ability to guarantee the team's lower limit. The Clippers want Xiaoka and George to stay healthy, they don't need Harden to score, and no team in the West or even the whole league can threaten the Clippers, including the defending champion Nuggets, the front line is not matched, and the guard has no one to match Harden's confrontation. I don't want to see the Clippers overdraft the state of the small card and Harden in order to win, just keep the top four, the playoffs are the real horror moment, the league really wants the finale!