Paul Pierce says that the Clippers have taken James Harden's moody personality: "It's such a huge discrepancy from his highs and lows"
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The L.A. Clippers are one loss away from an early vacation. If they are ousted in the first round, it will be a disappointing result for Steve Ballmer’s team, which added James Harden at the start of the season to bolster its championship aspirations.
But as with previous seasons, injuries hit the Clippers when it mattered most. Kawhi Leonard has been dealing with a knee injury that forced him to miss three of the first five games of their first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks.
That was a big blow, but with Harden, Paul George, and Russell Westbrook still on hand, the Clippers were supposed to handle business against Dallas. That has not been the case.
“On one hand, you see, one night, they look like they can be in the Western Conference, and then another night, they stink up the gym. It’s like this team is so moody. It’s almost like a front-runner’s mentality,” Pierce said on Undisputed.
Team has taken on James Harden’s personality
The Clippers opened the series with an impressive 106-97 win without the injured Kawhi. But when Leonard returned in Game 2, they scored only 93 points, and the Mavs tied the series. In Game 3, Kawhi and PG combined for only 16 points, and Dallas took a 2-1 series lead. The Clippers fought back with a strong Game 4, as Harden and PG each scored 33.
The Clippers were expected to go all out with the series tied at 2-2 and Game 5 in L.A. Instead, George scored just 15 points while Harden shot 2-12 and finished with just 7 points in a disappearing act that we’ve seen him do so many times before in big games. Having seen that, Pierce thinks that the team has been influenced by Harden’s personality.
“I just don’t know, just mentality-wise, who this team is. I don’t understand the highs and lows from James Harden. It’s like probably they’ve taken on his personality. It’s such a discrepancy from his highs and his lows. It’s like there’s no in-between, and we’ve seen this year in and year out, and I can’t put my finger on it. I don’t know if it’s a mental thing. I’m just not quite sure.” added Paul.
Down to their last out
After losing Game 5, the Clippers are down to their last out, and they will have to win a game in Dallas to extend the series to a winner-take-all Game 7. Sure, they have won before on the Mavs’ home floor. But considering their Jekyll and Hyde personality, Pierce says that it’s hard to trust them.
“The moody Clippers, I can’t trust them. I can’t trust them moving forward. So I really have the Dallas Mavericks closing out this series in six.” concluded Pierce.
To add salt to a wound, a travel company in L.A. put up a “Dallas to Cancun” billboard outside Crytpo.com Arena before Game 5. That was supposed to troll the Mavs. Instead, that ploy backfired. Now, it’s likely that the ‘moody’ Clippers will be the ones to go from Dallas in Game 6 to Cancun the following day.