In an NBA game that ended today, the Clippers narrowly defeated the Trail Blazers 132-127, the battle process was very intense, although the Clippers led by 11 points in the first quarter, but the Trail Blazers narrowed the gap in the second quarter, the two teams were evenly matched in the third quarter, and the difference in the final quarter was still not open, Leonard and Harden stole successively at the critical moment, Powell and George scored free throws, and the Clippers won thrillingly. In terms of statistics, Leonard had 34 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals, Harden had 20 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 blocks and 3 turnovers, the dual-core combined 54+13+12, George 20 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists, Wei Shao 12 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 turnovers, and Zubac had 18 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks.
To tell the truth, the Clippers played a very ugly game, and the win is not worth celebrating, after all, the Trail Blazers are underdogs, not even an All-Star, and the Clippers have a big four. Looking at the whole court, the Clippers mainly exposed the problem of poor defense and more mistakes, the position of the guard line, Harden, Wei Shao and Powell almost did not defend, all kinds of leaks, resulting in the Trail Blazers' three-point shot is getting smoother and smoother, in other words, Harden is the defensive hole of the Clippers' starting lineup, the beard must recognize this, Harden can score, of course it is a good thing, but you also have to work hard to defend, you can't expect Ka Pepper to wipe your ass all the time.
When the Clippers suffered a losing streak before, a very important reason was that Leonard lost his leadership role, George, who had the most shots from the Clippers at that time, or the players took turns to play singles, and the small card was not present enough, even the commentator Perkins couldn't stand it, he complained that Tyronn Lue needed to figure out who was the leader of the Clippers, it was Leonard, not George, give the ball to Leonard, don't play around. Luckily, Tyronn Lue finally listened to the persuasion, and Leonard's possession improved significantly during the four-game winning streak, with 19 shots today, compared to 23 in the last game, which is the most in the team. Compared with George, Leonard is much more stable, reliable at critical moments, and can affect the game both offensively and defensively.
Leonard delivered 11 of 19 efficient shots, especially in the third quarter, Leonard really had all kinds of unsolvable singles, and also scored three points against Simmons, and the same was true in the final quarter, Leonard made meritorious contributions on offense and defense, stealing Simmons in the decisive stage, hammering the Trail Blazers, and then Harden's steal, as well as George and Powell's free throws, it turned out that how to make Leonard score more is the way the Clippers should win. Harden also made a great contribution, he only scored 9 points in the first half, seeing that the point difference could not be opened, Harden couldn't stand it, hit two three-pointers in the third quarter, and also staged a one-arm round dunk, stunning the audience, as for the last quarter, Harden had a 2+1, singles shook off Tanhua Henderson, and then the last moment of the steal.
Harden can't just be responsible for passing, or more offense, it's not difficult for the Clippers to win, give the ball to Leonard, Xiaoka is the main offense, Harden guarantees at least 15 shots, George assists in offense or defense, increases the use of Harden and Zubac's blocking and pick-and-roll, Wei Shao and Harden should not be on the court at the same time, if the point difference in the final quarter can't be opened, it is best not to go to Wei Shao, do this, the Clippers will be difficult to beat. Of course, we don't mean to criticize Wei Shao, in fact, the Clippers can get on the right track, the most important thing to thank is Wei Shao, Wei Shao does not make sacrifices to play the bench, the Clippers are probably still in a losing streak, and Harden is unable to integrate into the team.
With a wave of 4 consecutive wins, Harden ushered in the expected ending, and the bearded man came to the Clippers to win the championship, not to lose. Harden was also interviewed after the game, and he said about the four consecutive wins: "I think the team is showing real quality, it's a process, the season is still long, we definitely have a lot of room to improve, we are not happy with today's win, but we are moving in the right direction." Harden's meaning is very easy to understand, he thinks that the Clippers are gradually gaining strength, and at the same time, Harden believes that the Clippers still have room for improvement, and the beard knows very well that with the strength shown by the Clippers on this game, competing for the championship is tantamount to a fool's dream.
Later, Leonard was also interviewed and said of the four consecutive wins: "Winning is a team effort, I see everyone finding the rhythm together, building chemistry, and we definitely have something that we don't do well, we need to build a connection on the defensive end, we just need to keep playing more games and keep figuring it out." It can be seen that Xiaoka also thinks that the Clippers have exposed problems in this game, and he specifically mentioned defense, indeed, the Clippers' defense is not watchable, which requires Harden and Wei Shao and other guards to be more focused, and finally, George should reduce the number of times he holds the ball, hoping that this difficult game can make the Clippers sober up in time.