Los Angeles Clippers are in a tough spot since they had added James Harden a few weeks ago. In a trade that shook up the NBA as Harden joined the star-trio of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Russell Westbrook, the veterans’ superstar hasn’t clicked together for the struggling Clippers.
Head coach Ty Lue touched on the subject of Harden’s integration in the Clippers rotation and why his team needs Harden to be himself and perform in his standards to win this season.
“I saw some intriguing things, but … we got to be better,” Lue told reporters, per Law Murray of The Athletic. “It wasn’t really a good flow, offensively, as far as a good flow on the offensive end.”
The Clippers lost to the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday dropping their fifth consecutive game since the James Harden trade. More importantly, the LA team seems to be disconnected and unable to put effort on both ends of the floor. The Clippers were a team worst minus-28 with Harden on the floor.
“Just play, like just do your thing,” Lue claimed that he told Harden. “Like, if you do it too much, we’ll let you know. And he’s a special player. And so we understand that. And when you come into a new situation that you have really good players, you know, it’s always tough to come in and just try to take over.”
The Clippers are 3-6 after starting the season with a positive 3-1 record in October. They remain the only NBA team with a winless record in the month of November. Ty Lue’s team will return to the court on Tuesday for an in-season tournament game vs. the reigning champion Denver Nuggets.
