James Harden successfully surpassed legendary shooter Ray Allen by consecutively scoring two three-pointers, ranking second in the NBA's all-time three-point shooting list. Speaking of the top spot, there is no need for more words; the 09 duo - Stephen Curry and Harden, as the two best three-point shooters currently active, have always been a hot topic among fans.
On the night Harden set his new record, the Clippers celebrated with a victory. The league also seemed to have foreseen this historic moment, cleverly arranging the schedule at the beginning of the season to make this critical moment in Harden's career shine even more.
The game between the Clippers and the Warriors at the Clippers' home court became another peak confrontation between the two three-point shooters, Harden and Curry. In the first quarter, both teams' offenses were somewhat slow, with the Clippers, playing back-to-back games, choosing to conserve energy. Meanwhile, the Warriors made frequent mistakes, giving away five turnovers within the first five minutes, which the Clippers took advantage of, with 10 out of their first 14 points directly benefiting from the Warriors' "generosity."
The Warriors exposed obvious problems on both offense and defense in the first quarter, making continuous mistakes and having leaky defense, causing headaches for head coach Steve Kerr. If it weren't for the Clippers experiencing an offensive outage during the lineup rotation at the end of the first quarter, the Warriors would have found it difficult to catch up and reduce the point difference.
In the second quarter, after a brief stalemate, the Clippers once again stood out. Despite the Warriors implementing a tight double-team on Harden, it was ineffective, instead allowing Batum of the Clippers to seize the opportunity of an open position, hitting all three shots from outside, severely impacting Kerr's defensive strategy.
Changing sides for the third quarter, the Warriors displayed strong offensive firepower, especially Curry finding his three-point touch and hitting three consecutive threes in less than five minutes, leading the team to a 15-7 run and quickly reducing the point difference to only three. However, the Clippers did not give up and worked hard to maintain the point difference. But with the entry of the bench lineup, the Warriors managed to level the score with Hield's three-pointer.
In the final quarter, the Clippers, with a slight lead, engaged in a fierce battle with the Warriors. Harden, with his excellent rhythm control, continuously expanded the Clippers' lead. Facing Hield's close defense, Harden calmly rushed into the restricted area and assisted Kobe with a behind-the-head pass to hit the decisive three-pointer that sealed the game. Although the Warriors made a 7-0 scoring run in the final stages of the game, they ultimately failed to hit the equalizing three-pointer, ending the game with a 102-99 victory for the Clippers, who defeated the top team in the West twice in a row.
Curry scored the highest of the game with 26 points, but unfortunately, a missed three-pointer at the last moment caused him to narrowly miss victory.
Standing opposite him, Harden continued his less-than-stellar shooting form this season, but he clearly excelled in assisting his teammates, using 16 assists to knock the Warriors off their perch as the top team in the West.
In fact, according to the above description, the Clippers had many offensive issues; they repeatedly experienced power outages and disconnections, and there were certainly turnovers in various passes at the home court. However, when the Clippers were unable to fire, the Warriors failed to seize the opportunity to overtake. They only made nine out of 19 free throws. What can save you, my universe Warriors?