INGLEWOOD — James Harden played as if he had something to prove, to show that he can still produce at a high level despite his age. And it didn’t take him long to validate that belief in himself.
With three starters on the bench and former President Barack Obama watching from a courtside seat, Harden scored 50 points and carried the Clippers to a 123-115 victory on Wednesday night at the Intuit Dome.
Playing on the second night of a back-to-back set, the 35-year-old point guard made six 3-pointers, shot 14 for 23 from the field and 16 for 20 from the free-throw line to go with five assists and four rebounds. It was his 24th career 50-point game and first with the Clippers. It was the seventh time this season that Harden has scored 30 or more and his fourth game with 40 or more.
Harden’s explosion was the eighth 50-point game in franchise history, but the first since Lou Williams on Jan. 10, 2018, at Golden State. Harden joined Bob McAdoo, World B. Free and Lou Williams as the only players in franchise history to have at least four 40-point games in a season.
It was a stark difference from 24 hours earlier, when Harden looked slow and sluggish, often caught flat-footed in a road loss to the Phoenix Suns.
On top of that, Harden had bristled when Coach Tyronn Lue suggested last week that he was showing signs of fatigue, saying “that’s not accurate.”
Yet, there was some measure of truth to what Lue was suggesting. The 35-year-old Harden has been playing roughly 40 minutes per game over the past month and averaging 34.7 minutes this season, picking up the slack in the early months as the team waiting for Kawhi Leonard’s delayed return to the lineup.
On Wednesday, Harden logged another 37 minutes.
With Harden taking the lead, the Clippers showed what kind of team they can be even with a short-handed roster if they remain focused and competitive for all four quarters.
The Clippers were again without starting guard Norman Powell, who sat out his eighth game in recent weeks because of a right hamstring strain. Forward Derrick Jones Jr. missed his bobblehead night because of a groin strain and Leonard isn’t yet cleared to play in back-to-back games.
Despite their limited roster, the Clippers snapped a three-game losing streak as Obama watched alongside team owner Steve Ballmer from baseline seats.
The Clippers, who had lost six of their past seven games, found themselves in another tight contest as the Pistons, who came into the game having won 10 of their past 11, kept the game close down the stretch.
Trailing 99-97 with 7:44 left, Clippers guard Bogdan Bogdanovic buried back-to-back 3-pointers then Harden dunked to push the Clippers ahead 105-99 with 6:04 remaining.
Harden wasn’t finished. He added another dunk, a layup and a 3-pointer in a two-minute span that gave the Clippers a 112-105 lead. After the Pistons’ Dennis Schröder buried a 3-pointer, Harden banked in a jump shot for a 114-108 lead with 3:02 left. He added two free throws with less than two minutes to play then closed out his monster night by making three more foul shots.
Bogdanovic finished with 23 points on 7-of-15 shooting (3 for 6 from 3-point range), and center Ivica Zubac had another double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds.
Before facing the Pistons, the Clippers needed to shake off lingering images of Tuesday night’s disastrous fourth quarter in Phoenix. After three near-perfect quarters, the Clippers’ transition defense went stagnant and watched as the Suns torched them for 43 points – 19 in transition – in the final 12 minutes to erase a 19-point Clipper lead.
“Guys just felt disappointed last night because we let one go that we thought we should have won,” Lue said.
Putting that game behind them wasn’t that simple. The Clippers experienced a sense of déjà vu against the Pistons as they saw an early 13-point lead dissolve into a two-point deficit late in the first half. The Pistons battled back in the second quarter, outscoring the Clippers 10-3 to tie the score at 53-all.
The team exchanged baskets in the final 24 seconds to keep the score tied at halftime.
Cade Cunningham led the Pistons with 37 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists. Schröder added 21 points and seven assists.
More to come on this story.