The Los Angeles Clippers have put the league on notice. After their initial struggles following the James Harden trade, the team turned a new leaf after moving Russell Westbrook to the bench. James Harden and the rest of the squad had an impressive outing against the Indiana Pacers yesterday, which has now extended their win streak to 8 games.
Having played with Harden on the Houston Rockets, Chandler Parsons knew that the Clippers would figure out how to play with Harden in due time, and his hopes are now paying off as the Clippers dominated the in-season finalists in a 151-127 win. “This is a dangerous, dangerous team…When you have this amount of talent in the post season, it’s going to be tough to beat this team 4 times,” said Parsons.
"This is a dangerous, dangerous team…When you have this amount of talent in the post season, it's going to be tough to beat this team 4 times."@ChandlerParsons has high praise for the Clippers 🙌
📺: https://t.co/wdT8I0ST8g pic.twitter.com/LpZ6vEug1b
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) December 19, 2023
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With how the team is playing currently, Parsons knows that the Clippers are an extremely tough opponent to face. Especially in the playoffs, when possessions are much slower than in the regular season, the Clippers have stars who can individually take over games and lead them against any team.
Even with Russell Westbrook not having to do much, the Clippers had an easy time against the Pacers. The team is now clicking on all cylinders. If the stars James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, and Paul George played like they did today, they could take down any team in the NBA.
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Russell Westbrook is the key to the Clippers’ success
Russell Westbrook was starting for the Clippers when they traded for James Harde. But when Harden arrived in LA, the dynamic of the team changed significantly. The coaches tried to play all 4 of them on the court at the same time, but it did not work out as they hoped. Another thing they tried was playing Westbrook and Harden on the court at the same time, which proved to be an even bigger negative for the team.
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As the Clippers struggled to find their first win even after a week since trading for Harden, Westbrook took it upon himself to be the bigger man and told the coaches that he would come off the bench for the team to succeed.
His sacrifice has now worked wonders for the organization, as the stars are slowly figuring out their roles and are currently the hottest team in the NBA.