Two-time All-Star Isaiah Thomas believes the Los Angeles Clippers should bring James Harden off the bench.
The Clippers are 0-4 with Harden in the lineup.
Harden has finished with a negative plus-minus rating in each game with the Clippers, who have gotten outscored by 67 points with Harden on the court.
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Isaiah Thomas, Los Angeles Clippers, James Harden Updates
Harden is averaging 13.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.5 turnovers in four games with the Clippers. The 2017-18 MVP is shooting 47.2% from the floor and 36.8% from 3.
Harden hadn’t lost four straight games that he played in since his last four games in uniform with the Brooklyn Nets in 2021-22. The 10-time All-Star said after the Clippers lost to the Memphis Grizzlies that everyone in the locker room is sticking together.
“All of us, man, we’re all in this together,” Harden said. “It’s not just one person. We’re all trying to figure it out together. So we all got positive energy, all trying to figure it out, and obviously, it’s tough losing games consecutively. But we’re all in this thing together. We know the bigger picture.”
Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue was extremely frustrated with his team after the Grizzlies game, imploring his guys to play faster.
“I think playing too slow, just playing too slow,” Lue said. “We get rebounds, you get stops, you got to push it. On makes, we got to push it, get up quick and attack early. You know, we can’t just f—— … Sorry. No, I mean, we just can’t just walk around offensively. Like you got to get to the next actions.”
The Clippers were outscored by a team-worst 28 points in Harden’s minutes versus the Grizzlies, who had the worst record in the NBA coming into the LAC game.
“Just play, like just do your thing,” Lue said while describing his discussion with Harden. “Like, if you do it too much, we’ll let you know. And he’s a special player. And so we understand that. And when you come into a new situation that you have really good players, you know, it’s always tough to come in and just try to take over.”
NBA NEWS & RUMORS: Isaiah Thomas, Los Angeles Clippers, James Harden Updates
The Clippers face the Denver Nuggets tonight. They are expected to lose since the Nuggets are arguably the best team in the NBA.
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