On February 17, Beijing time, because of the arrival of the All-Star, the league did not arrange a game, in fact, the season has been carried out so far, we have found that the situation in the West is clearer, first of all, the play-off area, the Lakers and the Warriors are not a big problem to get spots, because the Jazz and the Rockets have not been good recently, and they are gradually falling behind, and the 11th Jazz is currently 2 behind the 10th Warriors5 wins, this gap is not small, the Warriors will work hard in the future, and the gap may continue to widen next. The top four in the West are the Timberwolves, Thunder, Clippers and Nuggets, and they can't be left behind, and the only suspense is that each other's rankings will change.
The NBA official has just updated the power rankings, and the results show that the Timberwolves are ranked 1st, the Clippers are 3rd, the Thunder are 6th, and the Nuggets are 8th. But frankly speaking, although the Timberwolves and Thunder have excellent records, they may be difficult to play in the playoffs, and the disadvantage of the Thunder is that they are too young and lack playoff experience. The Timberwolves are in a much better situation, but if Edwards is targeted in the playoffs, then the Timberwolves will also be in a passive position. Unlike the Clippers, the Nuggets have a lot of playoff experience and a lot of stars.
The Nuggets have suffered 3 consecutive defeats recently, but no one will question their strength, because in terms of starting lineup, the Nuggets can be called the strongest in the league, and their shortcoming is that the bench strength is poor, but in the playoffs, most of the time it is the starters who are fighting, so the Nuggets' advantage will be reflected. Looking at the Clippers again, for a long time before, the Clippers were in the first place in the league, but as the season progressed, we found that the Clippers also had shortcomings, that is, the ability to protect the interior frame was too bad. According to reports, it is because the Clippers management believes in their stars that the Big Four will lead the team to the championship.
Since getting Harden, the Clippers' strength has increased significantly, and according to statistics, the time after Harden joined, compared with the same period last season, the Clippers' winning rate is 7% higher, which is Harden's strength. We all know the shortcomings of the Clippers in the past, they lack organizational guards, Ka Jiao often falls into a solo mode, and later gets Wei Shao, but unfortunately Wei Shao's organizational ability is at the top level, but the projection is poor, and it is easy to be empty by the opponent, resulting in a sharp increase in the defensive pressure faced by Ka Jiao, and the arrival of Harden solves this problem, and the opponent does not dare to let go of the beard. Not only that, but Harden can switch roles on the offensive and playmaking ends at any time, and when the Clippers need him, Harden can score high.
Like the game against the Hawks, Harden contributed 30 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists, the game against the Raptors, Harden's statistics were 22 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists, 35 points, 3 rebounds and 9 assists against the Pacers, and against the Warriors, Harden scored 28 points, 7 rebounds, 15 assists and 4 blocks. It's just that in most cases, Harden doesn't need to cut high scores, he will focus on organization. The beard has only one goal, that is, to compete for the championship, as long as he can win, it doesn't matter how much data sacrifice is, and he can even take a salary cut to renew his contract in the future, after all, when he was with the 76ers, Harden had a salary cut to renew his contract, and acted as a green leaf next to Embiid. And after coming to the Clippers, all Harden thinks about is how to get Leonard, George and Powell and others to play.
Unless the Clippers don't have a touch on a few big points, or can't open up the difference in the final quarter, Harden is likely to increase his shots. So far this season, many people in the Clippers have praised Harden, such as Leonard, after the previous game against the Warriors, Leonard said: "Harden made my game much easier, gave me open opportunities, he was speeding up the improvement of defense, Harden made me quickly into the game, not only me, Harden improved the game of our whole team." George also talked about Harden, saying, "Harden got me into the rhythm of the game so I could shoot as much as I wanted, and he got a lot of defensive attention, so a lot of times, I just had to play against the third best defender and at that point, you know, we were completely in control." ”
Clippers coach Coach Lu said: "It's great to have a player like Harden, who shares the ball selflessly, selflessly passes to his teammates, and the ball is in his hands, and it is easier for others to score." It can be seen that whether it is Kapepper or Tyronn Lue, they have been conquered by Harden, and the bearded man is indeed the most selfless superstar in the league. Of course, from the perspective of fans, we definitely want to see Harden on fire, because there are statistics that when Harden scores 25+ points this season, the Clippers have a 7-0 record, so Harden's high score is also good, which can attract more defensive attention and reduce pressure on teammates.