The silence after the game is not the leader who is the playoffs Harden is the most real Harden

(The original article was published on May 7, and the author is Law Murray of the Clippers' Clippers' website. The content of the article does not represent the translator's views)

All-Star point guard James Harden did not accept media interviews after the Clippers lost to the Nuggets in tiebreak.

This is not surprising. The Clippers lost four games in this series, and the only time Harden was interviewed by the media after losing was after the G1 game, when he scored a game-high 32 points and sent the team's most 11 assists. Harden was not doing well in the other three losses in the series, so we couldn't hear him after the game.

I personally do not think that players fail to fulfill their obligation to accept media interviews is an offense. Perhaps Harden believes that being interviewed by "Starting5" is enough, or maybe he will express his true thoughts to his fans and fans of the team he plays in Ins News.

But once was an accident, twice was a coincidence, and three times became a routine. Leadership should not be reflected only in the team’s smooth sailing or winning. How to exercise leadership when things are not going well? How to face it when you encounter a loss? This is the key. Harden scored only 15 points in the G4 series, and this game will be recorded in history because of Aaron Gordon's buzzer-beating dunk, when Harden tried to jump at the same time as Gordon instead of getting stuck in the position to grab rebounds. After that game, Harden chose to remain silent, and the same was true after the G5 game. He only scored 11 points in this game, and his number of sports games dropped for the fourth consecutive game.

Of course, Harden spoke after the G6 game. The Clippers won and he scored a game-high 28 points (of which 17 points were the only second quarter). Since Harden played more than 46 minutes in G6, the possibility of G7 replicating this performance is slim, and he had to contribute to the victory in other ways.

"That's the case," Harden said after the G6 game, "this is part of the game. Whether the team needs me to play 47 minutes, 48 ​​minutes or overtime, I'm willing to go all out."

Harden has indeed tried to contribute, and G7 sent 6 of the 13 assists in the first quarter, with 3 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block. He also scored 2 free throws and had only 1 turnover. After the first quarter, the Clippers are still in the lead. But in the end, Harden was weak on both offense and defense.

In short, after playing this difficult series with the Nuggets, we still couldn't hear Harden. The Clippers' biggest shareholders had to speak for him, and from their words, we heard recognition of Harden's help to achieve excellent results in the regular season, but there was much less part about him changing the situation in the playoffs. Invisibility at the most critical moment seems to have become a plot that will be repeated on Harden. Before the 7th game of the

series, a group of Clippers fans from the fan wall of the Intuition Dome suddenly flooded into the area near the bottom line of the Nuggets' home court, a group of loyal Clippers fans from the Intuition Dome fan wall. This is a special arrangement by Clippers owner Ballmer to thank the fans, and it also demonstrates his confidence in the team's first breakthrough in the first round of the playoffs in four years.

ending is well known. Boss Ballmer sat in the first row of the sidelines and witnessed the Clippers' 101-120 defeat to the Nuggets, but his actions remained significant.

The team is still recovering from decades of destruction by Donald Sterling, who is one of the most stingy bosses in sports, and Ballmer allows Clippers fans to witness the possible glory. Unfortunately, Harden and his teammates messed up the most critical battle of the season. After the game, he was unable to even face these fans. This is the fourth time in eight years that Harden lost a tiebreak battle with different teams.

One is an accident, two is a coincidence, and three is a convention.

Clippers head coach Tyron Lu witnessed his team being eliminated again on his birthday. This was the first time he lost the tiebreak in his coaching career and the first time he lost the series with the opportunity to advance. Coach Tyron Lu praised Harden for "leading the team well...held the team before Leonard returns", but he had expected Harden to still lead the team this week.

"I haven't considered the offseason yet," said Tyron Lu, who looked frustrated after losing the game, "To be honest, my mind is full of preparations against the Thunder, but unfortunately things went against my wishes."

These words were cruel to coach Tyron Lu, but he still expressed his true feelings frankly after the game. Leonard, who had experienced many knee injuries and struggles to usher in his first life-and-death battle in four years, had a plus-negative value (-33) in tiebreaks set a record for his worst career in his personal playoff career.

"We could have played better, that's for sure," Leonard said. "I don't think the opponent is 30 points better than us. Just look at the first six games, but you have to admit that they played well."

Harden is also worthy of recognition. He always leads the team to the playoffs, and he has been doing this every year in his 16-year career. His results this season have been impressive in leading the Clippers that are not favored, even Leonard admits. Given Leonard's repeated injury history, no one knew when he would be able to get back to health and stay in peak shape before the season started.

"I think we did play well in the regular season," Leonard said. "Many people were not optimistic about us at first, but we came here, but reaching the playoffs was never the ultimate goal."

But after another disappointing ending, the question is: Can Harden lead the team further in the playoffs? It turns out that he seems hard to be placed on high expectations and become the leader who can carry the team on the highest stage.

Before the training camp began last September, Harden scoffed at the voices questioning his playing style.

"There will always be gossip," Harden said at the time. "When I was killing the Rockets, they said, "I can't win this way of playing," and a guy made it to the finals last season with the same style as me.. ”

Harden's team played the No. 4 seed and won more games than Doncic's team played the No. 6 seed, and he has not been traded midway through the season like Doncic. But it is obvious that Harden brought out Doncic as an example, precisely because he firmly believed that his team could do a great job in the playoffs.

Like Ballmer, Tyron Lue and Leonard, Lawrence Frank, president of Clippers basketball operations, did not expect the season summary conference to be held so early, but he still stood in front of the microphone.

"The tiebreak performance is extremely embarrassing," Frank said, "It is completely in line with the resilience and determination we have shown throughout the season... In the final analysis, playoff results are the criteria for judgment. ”

Frank thanked all the people he could thank at the press conference, not only the players and coaches, but also Ballmer, fans and even the media, and Harden has always been the object of his key praise.

"We have really high requirements for Harden," said Frank when he strongly recommended Harden to be selected for the best team. "With his age, it is incredible that he can deliver such a performance, and he played in 79 games in the regular season. And he has always maintained a steady performance, and we are deeply grateful for his attendance and continued contribution. ”

Harden, who is about to turn 36 in August, holds the player options for next season. According to TheAthletic, Harden is expected to stay in the Clippers in any form. President Frank said he has never considered the possibility of Harden or Leonard leaving next season, and Leonard has two years left on his contract.

"If you don't make an emergency plan for this situation, it's my dereliction of duty. "When talking about Harden's player options, Frank said, "But my starting point is that even if he does not implement the player options, we can reach an agreement that is beneficial to both sides. ”

If Harden leaves the team next season, the Clippers' strength will inevitably be damaged in the short term, which will endanger the team's goal of maintaining competitiveness in the West. Players like center Zubac will likely decline due to the loss of Harden. After all, the veteran did raise the team's lower limit in ways that many people would not expect, but renewing Harden may also cost other aspects.

One of the focus this summer is to determine Harden's backcourt partner. Reese Dunn has given Harden great help as a starting partner this season, and the top counterattack defense expert also shared the pressure of holding the ball. But ironically, Dunn was targeted for the three-pointer in the playoffs, while Westbrook shone with the three-pointer. Ideally, Derek Jones Jr. could start with Harden as a long-arm defender, but his ball-holding and organizational ability have obvious flaws.

Powell before the All-Star Weekend The quasi-All-Star level was a result of injury, but his efficiency dropped sharply in the second half of the season. The efficient scorer is about to turn 32 and has missed at least 20 games three times in the past four seasons, and his next contract will face challenges. Although Clippers president Frank praised Powell as "an example of subtraction to addition", Paul George, like Powell, scored only 9 points in 11 shots in tiebreaks, would cause an uproar. Nuggets starting point guard Braun scored 21 in tiebreaks 5 points more than Harden and Powell combined.

The starting backcourt composed of two defenders over 30 and doubtful defense - Harden and Powell, can the Clippers last another season? Do the Clippers need to optimize the lineup based on the two major needs of "strengthening the frontcourt and organizational capabilities" mentioned by Frank?

"When you can retain players who have played for many years with reasonable salary, there is no more ideal situation than this. "When talking about Powell whose contract is about to expire, Frank said, "We also have a common vision, and this is our team building idea, and we need to see if it fits." ”

Therefore, the Clippers will continue to advance their original plans, and Harden will still play an important role. It can be foreseen that he will still wear the Clippers' jersey next season and continue to dominate the team's offensive system. If Harden wants to appear on the All-Star stage of the Intuition Dome as a Clippers player in 2026, he may need completely different performances.

Harden will still help the Clippers to reach a playoff spot. This former league scoring champion and MVP have achieved all achievements except the championship at this stage of his career. .

Just don't expect to hear his voice when the situation is unfavorable. In recent days, he has left the responsibility for explanation to Tyron Lou, Leonard, Frank and other teammates. Such silence has shown that the Harden you see in the playoffs is the most real Harden. As long as he is still in the team, the Clippers should continue to accept such reality.

After all, this is the case.

Original text: LawMurray

Translated by: Li Taibai