I'm the Clippers, and on January 1st, Beijing time, I had to go away to compete against the Spurs. This game really wore me out; playing back-to-back games, my physical strength was really drained. That Wenyamana is just too strong; no one on our team could stop him, watching helplessly as he helped the Spurs take the lead. Powell's offense wasn't effective either, making it difficult for us to catch up. And I kept making mistakes; when the Spurs were scoring from multiple angles, I was beaten to pieces, and by the third quarter, there was no more suspense in the game.
In fact, losing this game isn't something the Clippers can't accept. After all, this was a back-to-back game, so it's understandable that the Clippers' offensive state was low. Take Powell, for example; he's been playing great recently, so his occasional dip in form in this game should be forgiven, especially since even Harden has had several slumps this season. Moreover, this game wasn't just about Powell's slump; Zubac and the others didn't play well either. In the end, Powell shot 4 of 12 for 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists, while Zubac shot 2 of 7 for 5 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists.
For the Clippers, a crushing defeat isn't actually the most terrifying thing; what really worries them is a major change in Harden. At the beginning of the season, Harden couldn't control his mistakes. Fortunately, as the season progressed, Harden gradually got better at controlling them. But who knew that in recent games, Harden's mistakes have been increasing again, with many low-level errors. You see, Harden is now the absolute core of the Clippers' organization; if he can't manage his mistakes in the game, how can the Clippers expect other players to handle it? This is really making the Clippers feel uneasy.
In that game, my performance as Harden wasn't great. I only made 5 out of 11 shots, scoring 17 points with 3 rebounds and 1 assist, but I made as many as 5 mistakes, which is quite noticeable. You know, statistically, this is already the 17th time this season that I've made 5 or more mistakes in a single game, ranking first in the entire league. And in the last 8 games, I've made a total of 48 mistakes, with only 43 assists, averaging 4.8 mistakes per game, still ranking first in the league. From these statistics, you can see that I'm really low in terms of organization, which is very harmful to the Clippers, as opponents always use my mistakes to counterattack, causing the Clippers a lot of trouble.
Harden really needs to get a better handle on his mistakes. Look, the Clippers are already suffering enough from this. You see, there's no one on the Clippers who can help Harden share the pressure of organizing, so Harden needs to pay more attention. For the Clippers, losing a game isn't a big deal, but if Harden doesn't fix this problem, the Clippers will likely suffer in the future. Therefore, the most important thing for the Clippers right now is to figure out the real reason behind Harden's mistakes, and once Powell and Zubac regain their offensive form, the Clippers will be able to turn around this unfavorable situation.
