Paul George & James Harden: Embracing These Moments Without Kawhi, Even Series vs Dallas

“I was just trying to stay in rhythm,” George said after making that huge shot to put his team up two in the 4th. “I got confidence in myself that I can knock any shot down and get any shot off.”

Paul George & James Harden: Avoiding an Uphill Battle

His aggressiveness early to start the game helped set the tone for LA to come out and play like their backs were against the wall. Going down 3-1 heading back to LA for a Game 5 would have been an uphill climb. Coming back from that deficit has only happened 13 times in the history of the playoffs.

After the game, Harden spoke about his team’s mindset coming into the game and not wanting to go down 3-1 in the series.

This is exactly what they brought Harden in to do, and that is to have these moments this time off year when your team needs it the most. He scored 15 of his 33 pts in the 4th, 7 of those points came in the final minute. “Game 1 we knew Kawhi was out and I knew I had to be more aggressive and tonight we knew Kawhi was out so I had to be more aggressive“, James said on his scoring mindset. “So it’s pretty simple for me.”

He came in averaging 16.6 ppg during the regular season. He has elevated his scoring to 26 ppg in this series, while shooting 54% from the field and 50% from 3-pt.

This game pointed to the reason Ty Lue, this organization and the team pushed all their chips to the middle to acquire Harden. “It was huge acquiring James,” Lue said. “When PG or Kawhi are out we have another guy that can step up and take on the scoring load.”

Defensive Minded

Defense for LA has been excellent throughout the series holding Dallas to under 100 pts twice.

“It’s hurting, obviously,” said Luka Doncic, who was 1 of 9 from 3-point range “But it shouldn’t be an excuse. Just came out sloppy. We’ve got to be way better than that.”

He finished with a triple double 29 pts, 10 reb, and 10 ast. But it wasn’t easy as LA harassed him all night, specifically Terance Mann, who has been the primary defender on Doncic in this series. Doncic picked up his second technical foul in the series in the 2nd quarter as frustration continued to build. Mann has done a great job as the primary defender on Doncic as he is only 4-21 from the field.

During the regular season the Clippers were a team that struggled in early afternoon Pacific time zone starts. But according to Dallas coach Jason Kidd, his team hasn’t handled it well either.

“This is like Game 1,” coach Kidd said. “Early game, for whatever reason we just haven’t played well. We’ve gotten off to slow starts. That’s just something that we’ve got to talk about as a team. If there’s another afternoon game, we’ve got to make sure we’re ready to go from the jump and we can’t wait.”

Kyrie was Spectacular

Their second best player in Kyrie Irving was part of the early struggles. He went the first 18 minutes of the game without scoring (0-3 FG). But Irving went on to do what he does once he sees the ball go in just once. He scored 12 straight at one point in the quarter enroute to a game-high 40-pt performance. Then he provided what Dallas fans thought was the basket to completely shift the momentum with 2:15 to put them in front. The dagger in LA’s heart after they came back from that huge 31-pt lead.

“We dug ourselves in a hole,” Irving said. “There’s no time to complain about it or look to each other for any excuses. It was just time to get it going. Fell short, but this is a consistent thing in this series so far where Kawhi doesn’t play and we’re just dealing with a barrage of James Harden and Paul George getting off.”

The reserves for LA outscored Dallas 22-1. Russell Westbrook and big man Mason Plumlee were big late in the 4th scoring 13 of those 22 in the 4th. So without Leonard, LA needs all hands on deck moving forward. But this is the first time they can be without him or George and still feel they have a chance with the addition of Harden.

Game 5 will be huge for both teams. “Prepare like it’s a whole new game,” PG on his approach for Game 5. “Prepare like it’s Game 1. Not get too high about this win, but go home and try to take care of business.”

Game 5: Wednesday 5/1 in LA