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After the Los Angeles Clippers suffered a 30-point loss on their home floor in Wednesday night’s Game 5 against the Dallas Mavericks, many were critical of the performance of former NBA MVP James Harden. However, his head coach wasn’t one of them.
Harden finished with seven points on 2-of-12 shooting while adding seven assists and four turnovers in the 123-93 loss, which put Los Angeles in a 3-2 series deficit. Per ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk, Clippers head coach Ty Lue wasn’t stressing an off-night by one of the team’s top stars.
“Being human,” Lue said after the game when asked what led to Harden’s tough night. “He’s allowed to have a bad game. We didn’t shoot the ball well. They tried to get up and pressure a little bit, which we didn’t handle like we had in the first four games. He played bad. It’s possible. He didn’t play well.”
Harden had strong performances in Los Angeles’ two victories in the series, both of which came without star forward Kawhi Leonard, who is dealing with knee inflammation. The 34-year-old averaged 30.5 points in those two games, including a 33-point performance in Game 4 in Dallas.
Lue went on to add that he feels responsible for getting Harden back to performing at that level when the Clippers and Mavs face each other in Friday’s Game 6, and he’s confident that the 10-time All-Star will rise to the occasion.
“So I got to do a better job getting him in better situations and then being ready for Game 6, which I know he’ll be better,” Lue said.
