Quietly won 9 in a row, secretly 17 wins and 3 losses! Once disliked by the whole league, now you can't afford to climb high

Halfway through the NBA regular season, just before All-Star Weekend, the Clippers officially topped the West. As you say, when you're strong enough, the whole world will make way for you. In fact, the situation in the West this season is very clear, the top four are staggered together, for the Clippers and Nuggets, Harden and Jokic are the bottom line, and it is no problem to maintain a winning rate of about 7 percent, while for the Thunder and Timberwolves, Edwards and Alexander provoke the beams, coupled with the excellent defense of these two teams, they can also play a 7 percent winning rate. The second group of Lakers quietly catches up with the Mavericks, which means that the Lakers are likely to enter the playoffs in the play-in format, and naturally, perhaps the top two in the West are a hot potato for some teams, and no one wants to touch the Lakers, at least not easily. In addition, it is the Suns, who have been hovering around the 5-7 spot, Durant and Booker are also X-factors.

The reporter with the Clippers lamented that the team chased for 3 months, but unexpectedly on the rest day, it topped the first place in the West. Since Harden came to the team, the team has gone through four phases to be exact. The first period was the initial six-game losing streak (Harden played in five), and Tyronn Lue would still be confident after the game that it would be better for opponents to take advantage of this opportunity while we haven't figured it out. The second stage was from Harden's 3+1 defeat to the Rockets to the end of November, the Clippers were 5-3 in this range, even though Wei Shao was substituted, but George still dominated the ball, including the defeat to the Nuggets The game was impressive, George ignored Harden at the last moment and chose to hit his own three-point iron. In the third stage, it was to completely establish Harden as the main body of the ball, and the Clippers immediately ushered in a wave of 9 consecutive wins. It was that winning streak that allowed the Clippers to finish fourth in the West.

Immediately following the injury of the small card, the Clippers lost to the Thunder and Celtics in a row, and everyone realized that without the small card guarantee, the team was still unstable when Harden had not fully used his talents. In the fourth stage, in the last 20 games, the Clippers are 17-3, losing one game to the Lakers, losing one to the Timberwolves, losing to the Cavaliers, and losing to the Lakers Tyronn Lue obviously didn't take it seriously, and against the Timberwolves and the Cavaliers, the opponents have a combination of twin towers, and the Clippers can't match it, so they are naturally at a disadvantage. Discover an interesting fact: It took nine games for the Clippers to go from 11th in the West to 4th in the West, and 20 games to go from 4th to 1st in the West. The reason why it was used quietly and secretly was because the Clippers did not receive any attention from the alliance on this northern expedition.

Even if the Clippers are already the first in the West, the team's boss Leonard, is only ranked eighth on the MVP list! Harden is not even eligible for the nomination, and he is not as good as Sabonis, Mitchell, Towns and others. Just over half a year ago, when Harden was in the series with the Celtics, a 42-point + three-point kill, a 45-point + three-point kill, but after the team was out, he was listed as the first responsible person by the Philadelphia media, when Harden was ready to leave, the Rockets reversed course and finally chose VanVleet; The Suns did initially take an interest in Harden, but immediately followed up with a deal for Beal. The Lakers media even said that Harden is not as good as Russell.

The way the Clippers succeed is simple, let Carl and George do what they do best, and let everyone on the team do what they do best. Harden, he just needs to change himself and fit the environment. That's actually very difficult, as you can see from the performances of Lillard and Beal on the new team. And the way Harden changed himself was to give up the data, try to control the shots, and use his God perspective and passing accuracy, including the attributes of being naturally trapped, to create comfortable finishing space for his teammates. Tyronn Lue has said many times that everything Harden has done on the court is traceable, and he fully supports Harden to control the pace of the game. Over the years, Harden has mastered the secret of regular season success, needless to say, the Rockets led the Nets to the first place in the East, and when the 76ers were in the 76ers, Embiid's winning rate was higher than the winning rate!

Harden is averaging 17 points and 8.6 assists per game, but he has the highest plus/minus in the league in the last 40 games, and the second-highest net efficiency difference in the game/absence in the league, which is the best interpretation of his dominance of the game. The core is more relaxed, and the role players have data to back it up, and they are also smiling. Why do the Suns often collapse in the last quarter? Why do the Lakers always lack a stable offensive point, and the role players are not always ineffective? Not to mention the Heat, after missing Lillard, Harden, and Brogdon, they finally chose Rozier? An excellent court brain can be met but not sought. At this point, not to mention that Harden is the first in the league, but there are not many who can keep up with Harden, Haliburton can count one, healthy Paul can also count one, and the others are really gone.

Harden was once disliked by the whole league, but now Harden's value is back, right? For the sake of the championship, Harden took selflessness as the main premise, and just encountered a small card that was strict with himself, and Tyronn Lue, who could read and use Harden, which was the fundamental reason for the success of the Clippers' Northern Expedition. In this model, Junior and George are high in attendance and healthy, and Harden makes everyone happy, which is the bottom line for Harden and why Tyronn Lue has emphasized time and time again that Harden is too important. Now you can't climb high!