James Harden finally took the court, but his Los Angeles Clippers were defeated by the New York Knicks.
The saga between the experienced basketball player and the Philadelphia 76ers had been ongoing for a while. It was clear that their cooperation was over, but there was no solution in sight that would satisfy both parties.
However, in the end, the 76ers managed to find common ground with the Clippers, and James Harden moved to Los Angeles in the NBA trade. He had 17 points, three rebounds, and six assists on his debut. As he emphasized, the reason for the loss was the high number of missed shots by his team.
“We had solid three quarters. We couldn’t really catch a rhythm offensively. We missed a lot of easy shots that we’re gonna make. This game came down to one quarter, that fourth quarter. We gave them opportunities. Turnovers and offense rebounds. That simple,” Harden named the reasons behind the loss.
The popular “Beard” points out that, in a way, it was strange to finally play a game since he wasn’t part of the preseason with Philadelphia.
“It felt kind of weird out there, just not really having a pre-season game or an opportunity to participate in a full training camp, none of that. It was just out there basically winging it, but I tried to go off my basketball instincts,” Harden said.
Meanwhile, Clippers head coach Tyronne Lue believes it will take a little bit of time for Harden and the rest of the team to gel with each other.
“So just because you acquire a guy like James Harden doesn’t mean you’re automatically going to winYou’ve got to put the work in, and you’ve got to be ready to sacrifice. It’s not going to happen overnight, and so guys have to sacrifice minutes, shots, touches. If they do that, we can be a really good team, and so tonight’s going to be the start of it,” Lue said.