NBA regular season continues, with the Clippers hosting the Heat today. Despite a good start by the Heat, the Clippers suddenly picked up momentum in the second half, putting up a 36-20 run in the third quarter, winning the quarter by 16 points. In the final quarter, the Clippers also managed to suppress the Heat's counterattack, eventually securing a comfortable 109-98 victory at home. Harden continued his excellent performance, with his scoring steadily increasing. He is now only 9 points away from breaking Wilkins' scoring record, and the top ten in history is not far off.
Hiro has been performing like a superstar this season, going 9 for 20 in this game, scoring a comprehensive 32 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists. Rozier delivered 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists, while Haismith scored 9 points and grabbed 5 rebounds. Little Melo Harks took down 10 points and 5 rebounds. Veteran Love started and contributed 9 points and 3 rebounds. Coming off the bench, Veil exploded with a double-double of 19 points and 13 rebounds, but the other players were unremarkable, with the team's offensive efficiency being low, making the loss reasonable.
On the Clippers' side, Leonard started and scored 6 points and 5 rebounds before leaving the court to rest. Harden continued his dominant performance, going 9 for 17 from the field, scoring a comprehensive 26 points, 5 rebounds, and 11 assists. Dunn only managed 2 points, mainly contributing on the defensive end. Powell was hot, efficiently scoring 29 points and grabbing 6 rebounds. Center Zubac also dominated Love, exploding for a big double-double of 21 points and 20 rebounds. Although no one from the bench scored in double digits, the team established an advantage in a wave of attacks and successfully secured the victory.
It's worth noting that after scoring these 26 points, Harden's career total reached 26,660 points, leaving him only 9 points short of legendary superstar Dominique Wilkins. If everything goes as expected, it will only take one more game for Harden to officially surpass Wilkins in career scoring records.
Wilkins, known as the "Human Highlight Film," was also a power dunker in the 80s league. At his peak, Wilkins once outscored Jordan to win the scoring title. Even after an Achilles tendon rupture, he maintained a first-class scoring performance. He played in the NBA for a total of 15 years, participating in 1,074 games, averaging 24.8 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 2.5 assists, recognized as a super small forward. His career total score reached 26,668 points, ranking 15th in history.
Harden, on the other hand, is a super shooting guard in today's league. As the 2009 draft pick, he has been in the NBA for 16 years, averaging a comprehensive 24.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 7.1 assists per game. After playing one more game, Harden will surpass Wilkins and enter the 15th place in the historical scoring list. The 10th place in history is Anthony, who accumulated 28,289 points, and the gap between Harden and him is not that big.