Clippers most to blame for disappointing Game 5 loss to Mavericks

James Harden has been turning the narrative of his playoff career around with the way he has emerged as the Clippers’ best player in the series. Harden has been the only consistent force for the Clippers through the first four games, and The Beard took care of business in Game 4 with a 33-point night that he ended with a barrage of floaters to tie up the series.

Harden’s three-level scoring mastery has been on full display thus far to this series. The Clippers star guard has attacked Luka Doncic relentlessly on switches, while PJ Washington hasn’t exactly been the answer for the Mavericks vis a vis the Harden problem. But on Wednesday night, Harden was nowhere to be found for a Clippers team that was in dire need of his scoring.

The 34-year old guard finished the game with just seven points on a dismal 2-12 shooting from the field; he looked like the player fans ragged on for years for disappearing in the playoffs, and the Clippers couldn’t get anything going on offense from the second quarter onward because of it.

The weaknesses in Harden’s game became ever so apparent in Game 5. At 34, he has lost multiple steps, and it showed. He was content with dawdling, pounding the rock with dribble after dribble while getting nowhere productive. The Clippers took too long to get to their sets, and Harden played a huge role in the lethargy that plagued the entire team throughout the night.

Credit must go to the Mavericks defense for putting ball pressure on James Harden, making it difficult for the Clippers to get some early offense. But Harden has to be quicker with his dribbles. He sizes up his man, goes left to right and tries to shake off his man with some herky-jerky shoulder movements, but with a few seconds left on the shot clock, all he can do is barf up a contested shot or pass up the ball in tight spots, only to create a well-defended attempt from his teammate.

Harden’s touch deserted him; on the rare occasions that he got to his spots, he ended up missing. Even his float game, which defeated the Mavericks on Sunday, was nowhere to be seen, as he missed two floaters early in the game and never really got going.

Is it too much to say that James Harden’s legacy is on the line in Game 6? At 34, his time as a top-tier player in the league is running out. He has to deliver now. Perhaps all he and the Clippers need is to sense the desperation that comes with one’s back being against the wall.

Paul George was in the garage

Famous basketball analyst Bill Simmons recently compared Paul George to a cat — “He’ll jump on your lap every once in a while, he’s super lovable and other times you’re like — ‘Where’s Paul George? Oh, he’s in the garage.'” He was in Clippers fans’ laps during Game 4, but no matter how many times you called him in Game 5, he seemed content to hide in the darkest corner of the Crypto.com Arena garage.

Now, this is not to say that George did not try. He most certainly did; he was trying to be aggressive early on in the game, as he tried to put some pressure on the rim with some fearless drives. Alas, George does not have the quick first step or the layup package to capitalize. He ended up losing his rhythm early on as a result.

The Clippers tried to adjust to this by having him come off screens. But all this did was take the ball off his hands. Derrick Jones Jr., who is quickly becoming a Clippers nemesis, was all over George, adjusting well to the way the Clippers star torched the Mavericks in Game 4. George then became too passive as the game went on, as he chose to pass the ball way too often instead of hunting for his own shot.

After scoring 33 on a scorching 11-19 from the field (7-10 from deep), Paul George started the game having made just two of his first eight shots from the floor before making two three-pointers with the game already out of reach. He finished with 15 points — a major disappointment especially after taking into account how well he has played in Game 5s throughout his career.

The Clippers did not survive the Russell Westbrook minutes

Russell Westbrook looked like he had plenty of gas left in the tank when he put up one admirable effort after another during the shorthanded Clippers’ first-round series loss against the Phoenix Suns in 2023. But 2024 has been a different story for Westbrook. The Clippers have looked hamstrung whenever Westbrook is on the court against the Mavericks, and it was the same story on Wednesday night.

Westbrook’s offensive game has damaged the Clippers. He is shooting an ice-cold 25.6 percent from the field through five games, and the Mavericks have encouraged him to take whatever shots he so pleases, as he has missed from all three levels on the court. On Wednesday, Westbrook shot 2-11 from the floor, and it’s always difficult to win when one of the players you rely on to produce puts up that putrid of a stinker.

Whenever Russell Westbrook is on the court, it’s as though the Clippers are playing four on five on offense. The Mavericks leave him open from three, choking up driving lanes for James Harden and Paul George, and Westbrook couldn’t make the Mavs pay.

Westbrook’s struggles in spacing the floor has been known for some time, so the Clippers, at the very least, would hope that he makes up for it with his impact on defense. But in Game 5, the Clippers couldn’t even get that from Westbrook.

He gambled on steals far too often, including two separate possessions in the second quarter where he inexplicably left his man just to try and get a steal from behind. This led to two separate baskets that proved to be backbreaking for the Clippers as they fell behind in the second quarter by double digits and never recovered.

If Russell Westbrook isn’t making shots (he’s even missing layups) and he’s not defending properly in a team setting, can the Clippers even look at him as a viable rotation option? Alas, the Clippers may have no choice but to ride him out and hope that he figures out his touch before it’s too late, especially when the options behind him are as dire as it’s going to get.