“We need him to be special until Kawhi gets back.” With Paul George out of the picture and Kawhi Leonard ruled out indefinitely, Ty Lue has put major responsibility on James Harden’s aging shoulders. Surprisingly, The Beard has been doing well so far, averaging a double-double in the first five games. Despite that, the Clippers are finding it hard to add wins to their column. With them blowing a 21-point lead to the Suns tonight, Harden revealed exactly what led to their loss after he got exposed by his opponents.

Well, the Clippers committed a whopping 14 turnovers tonight, six of which were by Harden. When asked about it post-game, he said, “You see the usage rate I got, its gonna happen.” Obviously, his usage rate has skyrocketed this season because there is no second superstar to share the load with Kawhi who is still out with the knee injury. Even though Harden claims he is trying to find the right balance, the more he handles the ball, the chances of him turning it over increase.

However, the former MVP believes that was not the main issue tonight, “I don’t think it was necessarily the turnovers that lost us the game. We came off that third quarter defensively, they didn’t feel us defensively our presence and they were just comfortable.” Yes, he claims it was the team’s defense in the second half that made the comeback too easy for Kevin Durant and Co. After limiting the Suns to only 20 points in the opening quarter, Ty Lue’s squad conceded 39 in the third. There in lay the problem as they could not stop Devin Booker and KD’s lethal offense.

James Harden revealed his ‘frustration’ and claimed they have enough talent to win

As expected, James was not happy losing to the Suns for the second time just five games into the season. Especially the way they did tonight. “Definitely frustrating you know, but nothing we can do about it,” said Harden. The Clippers can only try to get better the next game and not repeat the same mistakes they have made so far. Yes, they are not at complete strength without The Klaw. But that’s something they will have to get used to because there is no timeline for Kawhi’s return so far.

Harden has faith in the squad that is available, “We got enough talent.” But they need to come out with energy every night and not lack on defense the way they did in the second half against the Suns. Well, the former MVP has done everything in his power to keep the Clippers afloat as he even posted a triple-double tonight. And now, Ty Lue needs to find a way to convert this effort into wins.