The Clippers’ train goes full steam ahead with only 6 games remaining on the regular season! They were written off just a couple of months ago. The return of Kawhi Leonard has brought them back where they belong—in prime position to translate their recent up in form into the playoffs. They still sit at 7th though, which won’t get them automatic qualification. But LA do have the joint-best form of all the other playoff contenders in the West. We knew Leonard coming back was going to be monumental—but seeing James Harden performing like this at 35? It’s quite remarkable.

He’s already one of, if not, the best shooting guards in NBA history. Age does catch up to people, not James Harden though. Fans are suddenly reminiscing his Houston Rockets days. He’s fresh off a 21/10 double-double in their win over the Pelicans last night, and also had 1 block and 3 steals to go with it. But after their postgame sound, the Lob City faithful must be thinking—they’ve won, but at what cost? Well, the cost is a possible injury concern to Harden.

“Obviously, the ankle did hurt. And it was my ankle, and it was my foot. I got very flat feet. So it was my foot. But I had two days to kind of do round-the-clock treatment and these games are very, very important for us to be in a position to make the playoffs and have a good run. So every game counts,” said the Beard.

It’s crazy how he’s never caught flat-footed, despite possessing flat feet. But that works against an athlete’s long-term fitness, especially when it’s someone who’s still giving their all to the team at age 35 like James. This does put coach Ty Lue in a dilemma though. The Beard explained it perfectly—every game counts. They still have to hope for an automatic spot rather than the gruelling nature of the play-ins. Kawhi has a history of getting injured in the playoffs too. So, in order to avoid such circumstances, an automatic playoff spot is the aim.

But despite such concerns, there’s this buzz of positivity around the Intuit as of late. And Lue talked about what’s been the catalyst for them during his postgame press.

‘Privileged’ Coach Lue clear air on playoffs strategy

The hopes are high, heading into the last 6 games for the Clippers. All the woes of the mid-season seem like a fever dream now. They’ve now won 8 of 10, and are heading into their double-header against the Mavericks looking like they can win the whole thing. People might have their own speculations, but the legend Ty Lue dumbs it down to one key aspect—squad depth.

“I feel really privileged. You know, we have a good team. [Like] I said, a lot of guys deserve to play but you can’t play, you know, 13, 14 guys. And so it takes a lot of sacrifice… So we know, going to the playoffs, you wanna have a set nine and then you gotta go eight, you gotta go eight. But right now I’m pretty confident where we’re at,“ said Lue on his rich availability.

It’s a position that would bring a lot of teams into a spot of jealousy. They’re somehow able to keep players fit and available despite the NBA’s ruthless schedule. And it’s not just the ability to keep them fit, it’s the right players that are played at the right time which has bred the recipe to success.

The players are having fun too. That’s the difference. James Harden touched on this well when he said, “I just know our chemistry is very, very good… There’s only an opportunity to get better. I think that road trip helped us out a lot. And now we get back home and we do our thing at home.” The Clippers won 3 of 4 away games heading into their 5-game homestand that begun with the win over the Pelicans last night.

But the Clips have been here before. They know exactly what it’s like heading into the playoffs with an abundance of positivity, before it all goes down the drain. Do you think they have what it takes to qualify for the playoffs?