INGLEWOOD — The two-minute mark was approaching in the fourth quarter, and LA Clippers point guard James Harden was on the way towards completing a second half where he did not leave the game once. Denver Nuggets power forward Peyton Watson found himself on Harden’s island, a treacherous place in terms of NBA history.
No player uses more isolation possessions per game than Harden. Per Synergy, Harden finishes 8.1 isolation possessions per game, 0.5 more than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Harden and Gilgeous-Alexander average 8.2 points per game on isolations, the only players who average more than Jayson Tatum’s 7.7 isolation points per game.
While Gilgeous-Alexander is in the prime of his career, Harden hasn’t been an All-NBA selection since 2020 or an All-Star since 2022. He’s put in his work, heightened by being the 2018 NBA Most Valuable Player. Harden is 35 years old now, and playing in his 16th NBA season. Perhaps those legs were weary — Harden made nine field goals in this game, including six 3s, but none in the fourth quarter.
But Harden drove on Watson to get him backpedaling. Harden put his body into Watson’s, and Harden slammed on the brakes. Watson stumbled back as if Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat sprayed the court with a sheet of ice. Harden was able to gather himself in relatively unfamiliar territory: the midrange. As he completed the successful field goal, Harden broke out his old pot stir celebration from his Houston Rockets days:
Harden feigned ignorance on his vintage celebration, with backcourt partner Norman Powell falling in line.
“What’s he talking about?” Harden said.
“I didn’t see anything, I was running back on defense,” Powell said.
Silliness aside, Harden’s clutch bucket against Watson, along with a season-best and game-icing perfect performance from the free-throw line on 13 attempts, helped the Clippers begin December with a 126-122 win against the Nuggets. Harden had 39 points, four days after scoring a season-high 43 points in a road win against the Washington Wizards.
Harden already has as many games with 30-plus points this season as he had all of last regular season. And he’s clearly getting more comfortable as the Clippers commence the second quarter of this season.
“I’m feeling a lot better,” Harden said. “My role has changed. You know, I haven’t had this role in, four or five years. So it just took me some time to get there. But you guys can see us, game by game, I continue to get better.”
The Clippers have leaned heavily on their defense this season, a unit that ranked in the top five entering Sunday’s game against a Nuggets team that had three days off.
Black Friday night saw the Clippers hold the Minnesota Timberwolves to 93 points, the team’s eighth game of the season where they allowed under 100 points. Last season’s Clippers team didn’t have their eighth game of allowing less than 100 points until February 23, after the All-Star break. But the Clippers were unable to score enough to win Friday night.
It was the opposite against the Nuggets on Sunday. The Clippers entered Sunday’s game with a 0-7 record when allowing more than 105 points. Denver had an 83-73 lead with 4:10 left in the third quarter.
But Harden, Powell, and reserve Terance Mann outscored the Nuggets 43-39 by themselves over the last 16 minutes of the game. And it wasn’t just Harden getting to isolation midrange shots. It was also Harden being a part of the offense instead of always being the driver of it.
Watch how the Nuggets try to force the ball out of Powell’s hands and force center Ivica Zubac to make a decision. With Terance Mann cutting from the corner following former Clipper Russell Westbrook’s attempt to meet Zubac and force a turnover, Watson had to leave Harden. Zubac was able to retain possession after Westbrook’s deflection, and Harden made a timeout-inducing 3 off the catch — no dribbles required.
“I’ll eventually put a lot more efficiency in and less turnovers,” said Harden. “But you know, at this point, it’s just finding ways to win games. That’s the most important thing, and especially now having Norm back has just made my job a lot easier. So tonight is one of those games where you find a way to win and that’s what matters.”
(Photo: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
