Clippers ride winning streak with a ‘new you’ concept – Daily News

When James Harden arrived in the Clippers’ locker room, every player had to take a long look at their games and figure out how to make it work. Could it work with four future Hall of Famers, each with his own star power, alongside a host of talented role players?

The quick answer was no. The Clippers, who suddenly found themselves having to share the ball four or more ways, immediately lost six consecutive games, putting doubt into the success of the trade. Yet, the shock was no different, Paul George said, than what other teams encounter with superstar lineups.

“They all went through some sort of adversity, regardless of the talent,” George said after a recent game. “It’s going to take some time because you got to find how to be yourself when your usage rate isn’t going to be as high as it used to be (or) the possessions you were going to have.”

He added that it would take time for Kawhi Leonard, Russell Westbrook, Harden and himself to find the “new you” in coach Tyronn Lue’s reconfigured system.

In this new approach, players didn’t have to re-invent but re-imagine their games with one more set of hands, one more set of eyes and another set of All-Star credentials on the floor. It took those six losses and another month of practices, film sessions and games to get it right and now the Clippers (13-10) are the hottest team in the league.

They have won five in a row – the longest active winning streak in the NBA – after dismantling the Sacramento Kings 119-98 on Tuesday, with each player contributing nightly during the run.

Leonard said the “new you” concept was a matter of finding a way to be yourself amid the changes.

“I mean that’s it. Just all of us just combining into the defensive end and just wanting to get things going on that end first and then letting, whatever the offense, take care of itself since we got so many scorers,” said Leonard, who is averaging 28.6 points during their run.

“And it’s the other guys off the bench, like Norm (Powell) who could score the ball well, James and Terance (Mann) switching the starting lineup … and just knowing every game isn’t the same. One night might be your night, next night might be somebody else’s.”

For his part, Harden took a backseat early to the Leonard-George tandem, passing up shots to put the ball into their hands. Lue had to sit him down and tell him to be himself, play the game that earned him 10 All-Star nods and three scoring titles (2018-20).

“(Lue) allows me to just be free, be who I am and like I said previously, that’s not just scoring, but just me reading defenses, seeing the different game and putting Kawhi and PG in better positions or in the pick and roll with (Ivica Zubac) getting easy layups or (Daniel Theis) getting easy layups,” Harden said. “It is everything that I thought it would be. It’s taken a little time, but as far as me playing and the chemistry on the court … it’s getting where it needs to be.”

A little more than a month after being traded to the Clippers from the Philadelphia 76ers, Harden has found his shot and voice within the team. He is the team’s third scoring option, averaging 15.3 points and 6.9 assists, and consistently talks to the coaching staff.

Lue said he interpreted the “new you” comment to mean the “easier” you. Now, instead of having to work for open 3-point shots or Leonard and George creating every shot, they can play at their pace and play off closeouts.

“For them, it’s getting easier shots, open threes. Before, they had to take every shot. They had to create every shot,” Lue said. “But now with James here and Russ last year, they have a guy that can create shot opportunities.”

And that, in turn, makes all four better, Lue added.

“They’ve been doing it as of late and they’re getting better at it. We still got a long way to go, but they are getting better at it.”

Even Lue had to adjust his coaching style with the addition of Harden and, to a lesser extent, Westbrook, who joined the team after the trade deadline in February. He said he has had to learn to communicate at a high level and do things differently than in his first three seasons at the helm of the Clippers.

“It’s making me better as well,” Lue said. “I think if you want to be a great coach in this league, you have to deal with a lot of different challenges. You have to face a lot of different challenges. You have to be able to adjust and do things differently to fit your team and who your team is.