Clippers’ James Harden-Russell Westbrook Strategy Breakdown: How Ty Lue is Making the Most Out of ex-MVPs?

The Los Angeles Clippers has one of the most star-studded rosters in the league, with two MVP awardees. While it may seem like a strong and favorite team to clinch the title, it requires proper planning to have the machine running. The Clippers head coach had a mammoth task in his hand to rotate his stars at the start of the season. Especially after the inclusion of James Harden. Let’s find out how Ty Lue extracted the most out of his stars.

The Clippers fans were in ecstasy when the management announced the surprise trade of Harden. But on the other side, the team lost 6 games in a row after his inclusion. The starting line-up included all four superstars, the Beard, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and Russell Westbrook. Following the worrisome 6 straight lost games, Westbrook took the hard call to bench himself, and their fortunes changed immediately.

Tyronn Lue’s strategy to contain Harden and Westbrook

Russell Westbrook found his spot with the Clippers after a poor campaign with the Los Angeles Lakers. He stuck with the Clippers despite a meager 2-year contract worth $7 million. One of the reasons behind the former MVP’s Clippers stay is, Tyronn Lue considered him as the leader of the pack, as mentioned by Gilbert Arenas in his podcast.

However, it didn’t last long, as Beastbrook sacrificed his spot in the starting lineup to James Harden and took over the second unit.

Moreover, the coach has brought in a fresh change to the strategy again this month. Lue reduced Harden’s first-quarter timings and brought in more of Westbrook. In the last three outings, the superstar has had average game time of under 5:30 seconds in the first quarter. This ensured more game time for Westbrook in the first half.

The major reason behind this call could be to make use of both talents in the first half as Westbrook’s game time in the first quarter has been considerably reduced since the change. Apart from that, Lue might have tried to protect Harden from fatigue to go harder in the deep end of the season.

Read More – 8x All-Star, Who Publicly Vouched for Russell Westbrook, Sighed in Relief After Clippers’ Star Saved Him From Playing the ‘Black Stallion’

Ty Lue himself responded to the new change. Let’s find out the benefits of the new plan.

A new plan for James Harden

Tyronn Lue applied this new substitution during the Clippers’ win against the Golden State Warriors. He subbed in Westbrook for Harden around the 6:34 mark. He also made Harden play the entire second quarter with the bench unit, automatically encouraging him to be the scorer.

When asked about the new plan and if he will continue to follow this pattern, Lue said, “Yes sir,” reported Sports Illustrated. Notably, Harden came into the side as an orchestrator with an impressive assist record. Ty Lue might look to make some tweaks to it.

What do you make of the Clippers’ new plan? Let us know in the comments below.

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